A Hoosier Chronicle

d Harwood in July. In five lines Bassett asked Dan to meet him

. Fitch's private room. On these occasions Dan was aware that Bassett's presence caused a ripple of interest to run through the office. The students in the library generally turned from their books to speak of Bassett in low tones; and Mr. Wright, coming in from a journey on one of these occasions and anxious to see his par

old story and the home-keeping sons were deficient in initiative and energy. Dan, with his ampler outlook, grudged them nothing, but the home needs were to be reckoned with in the disposition of his own time. He had now a regular assignment to the county courts and received a salary from the "Courier." He was usually so tired at the end of his day's work that he found i

e assembly representing favored interests cooperated, to the end that no legislation viciously directed against railways, manufacturers, brewers and distillers should succeed through the deplorable violence of reformers and radicals. Apparently without realizing it, and clearly without caring greatly, Bassett was thus doing much to destroy the party alignments that had in earlier times nowhere else been so definitely marked as in Indiana. Partisan editors of both camps were glad when the sessions closed, for it had been no easy matter to defend or applaud the acts of either majority or minority

he schismatic national convention at Indianapolis and nominated the Palmer and Buckner ticket on a gold-standard platform. He had continued to reelect himself to the senate without trouble, and waited for the political alchemists of his party to change the silver back to gold. The tariff was, after all, the main issue, Bassett held; but it was said that in his business transactions during these vexed years he had stipulated gold payment in his contracts

, with a turnover collar and a blue tie. He pulled up his creased trousers when he sat down, and the socks thus disclosed above his tan Oxfords proved to be blue also. His manner was cordia

. I was to be in town for the day and n

sy at Lake Waupegan. I remember y

t Dan's quickly;

on some business; and when I struck Waupegan I found that matters had been accumulating at home and I only sp

d a vacation," remarked Dan. "In fa

id that. How are th

d to be a newspaper man in spite of myself. I like it well enough, but

subject of it I should be tempted to say that it showed what I believe they call the literary touch. Mrs. Bassett liked it; maybe because there was

's office. But I have to eat and the 'Courier' takes care of that pretty well; I've had to give less time to study. I don

ng on at the law, but I had other interests that conflicted. But I'm a member of the ba

"is susceptible of

in my head; it's in a w

Here was a man who stood four square to the winds, undisturbed by the cyclonic outbursts of unfriendly newspapers. In spite of the clashing winter at the state house and all he had heard a

a good many interests. You may have gathered that I am a very practical person. That is

the tip of his tongue to say that such should be

open for me. I've been looking about and there are some rooms in the Boordman Building that I think would be about right. You might call the position I'm suggesting a private secretaryship, as I should want you to take charge of correspondence, make appointments, scan the papers, and keep me advised of the trend of things. I'm go

eply which Basse

d me pretty well. I read all the other sketches in that series and the different tone in which you wrote of me gave

away. It widens all my horizons. I have been questioning my destiny lately; t

have heard a good deal of talk about me-most of it unflattering. You have heard that I drive hard bargains. At every session of the legislature I am charged with the grossest corruption. There are

e of politics; it's full of traps I've nev

anybody who had political ambitions of his own, or who had mixed up in any of these local sq

s. I appreciate this more than

t. Take a week to it, then drop me a line to Fra

y event I appreciate your kindness. It's the

aid all he had to say in the matter an

a printing-office before they were bound; you will notice that some of the pages are slightly singed. As you saw at my house, I'm interested in getting hold of books relating to the a

lumsily encased in boards, and drew his

d never find a copy, and this was on top of a pile of trash in a se

treasure and bade Dan good-bye without re

e benefit from his services, and such services would not, of course, be in the line of the law. They were much more likely to partake of the function of journalism, in obtaining publicity for such matters as Bassett wished to promulgate.

ions, might, as Bassett's star rose, prove to be another Springfield or Fremont or Canton, shrouding a planet destined to a brilliant course toward the zenith. He did not doubt that Bassett's plans were well-laid; the state s

arty had sought to destroy the Union and that the Republican Party alone had saved it. Throughout his boyhood on the Harrison County farm, he had been conscious of the recrudescence of the wartime feeling in every political campaign. His admiration for the heroes of the war was in no wise shaken at New Haven, but he first realized there that new issues demanded attention. He grew impatient of all attempts to obscure these by harking back to questions that the war had finally determined, if it had served any purpose whatever. He broke a lance frequently with the young men who turned over the books in Wright and Fitch's office, most of whom were Republicans and devout believers that the furnace fires of America's industries were brought down from Heaven by

ened a growing feeling that his wiser course was to throw in his fortunes with Bassett. In various small ways Mr

He was, in his own phrase, "thinking out a brief." He fanned himself in a desultory fashion with a palm leaf. Da

stated Bassett's offer succinctly, telling of his visit to Fraserville

it's a good offer. It gives you a chance to read law and to be asso

oubts. Bassett stands for some things I don

te square with your

that is it,

n's brown eyes, and his fingers pl

e those ideals of y

tty strong,

the desk, opened a drawer, a

-the little man's eyes twinkled-"he doesn't trust Wright!-and he trusts me because we are alike in that we keep our mouths shut. You must have impressed him very favorably. He seems willing to take you at face value. It would have been quite natural for him to have asked me about you, but he didn't. Do you know Thatcher-Edward G

Thatcher

d boy; I guess that's one place whe

with his face turned to th

me, everything running smoothly, he asked you to do something

, sir," answered

odded g

to any man: I don't understand Morton Bassett. I've known him for ten years, and I know him just as well now as I did the day I first met him. That may be my own dullness; but i

but I can't think him hal

n, as though just recalling Dan's presence: "May I ask you whether, aside from that 'Courier' article, you ever consc

ir; nothing

verted to the cornice-"that you might have some informa

d Dan, the least bit uncomfor

liberately, "that you ever had any dealings

eyond what I'

mpted to do things that you know are crooked, think of Billy Sumner, and act accordingly. It's getting to be truer all the time that few of us are free men. What's Shakespeare's phrase?-'bound upon a wheel of fire';-that, Mr. Harwood, is all of us. We have valuable clients in this offic

as immensely pleased by the lawyer's friendl

the young man's

at seven if you're free. My folks are away and I'd like to swap views w

ptance of Bassett'