ut. There was one series in particular which was addressed once a
week by men of international renown. It was a liberal education in
itself. Many of my neighbors attended.

But as for Dick he was too busy with his studies and Ruth was too glad
to sit at home and watch him, to go out at night.

What spare time I myself had I began to devote to a new interest.
Rafferty had first roused me to my duty as a citizen in the matter of
local politics and through the winter called often enough to keep my
interest whetted. But even without him I couldn't have escaped the
question. Politics was a live issue down here every day in the year.
One campaign was no sooner ended than another was begun. Sweeney was
no sooner elected than he began to lay wires for his fellows in the
coming city election who in their turn would sustain him in whatever
further political ambitions he might have. If the hold the boss had on
a ward or a city was a mystery to me at first, it didn't long remain
so. The secret of his power lay in the fact that he never let go. He
was at work every day in the year and he had an organization with
which he could keep in touch through his lieutenants whether he was in
Washington or at home. Sweeney's personality was always right there in
his ward wherever his body might be.

The Sweeney Club rooms were always open. Night after night you could
find his trusted men there. Here the man out of a job came and from
here was recommended to one contractor or another or to the "city";
here the man with the sick wife came to have her sent to some
hospital which perhaps for some reason would not ordinarily receive
her; here the men in court sent their friends for bail; here came
those with bigger plans afoot in the matter of special contracts. If
Sweeney couldn't get them what they wanted, he at least sent them away
with a feeling of deep obligation to him. Naturally then when election
time came around these people obeyed Sweeney's order. It wasn't
reasonable to suppose that a campaign speech or two could affect their
loyalty.

Of course the rival party followed much the same methods but the man
in power had a tremendous advantage. The only danger he needed to fear
was a split in his own faction as some young man loomed up with
ambitions that moved faster than Sweeney's own for him. Such a man I
began to suspect--though it was looking a long way into the
future--was Rafferty. That winter he took out his naturalization
papers