"mere man," he had been pursuing his course with as much attention to
electioneering technique as the most emancipated woman among us.

On the afternoon following Carry's little difference with Mrs Bray,
Ada Grosvenor called to invite us to accompany her to hear Olliver
Henderson, the ministerial candidate, who was to address the women at
the hall first, and the men at Jimmeny's pub. afterwards, and we all
went. Next morning at breakfast, when we had set to work upon the
"dosed" porridge, Andrew again catechised his grandma concerning the
casting of her vote.

"I'm goin' for young Walker of course; as for that other feller!"
said she cholericly, "I was that sick of his stuttering and muttering,
an' holdin' his meetin's at Jimmeny's (we all know that that means
free drinks), an' after waitin' all my life fer it I'm not goin' to
cast the only vote that maybe I'll live to have, for a feller that
buys his votes with grog. There's precious little to choose between
them. They only want the glory of bein' in parliament for theirselves,
and for the time bein' have rose a flute about the country goin' to
the dogs and them bein' the people to save it; but once the election's
over that's all we'll hear of 'em, and though they'd lick our boots
now, they're so glad to know us, they'd forget all about us then. The
one who can blow the loudest will get in, and as it must be one it
might as well be this feller that can talk, an' could keep up his end
of the stick in parliament, as there's no doubt this talkin' an' blow
has become such a great trade one has to go to the wall without it."

"Well, I'm going for Walker too, because he's something to look at,"
said Carry.

"The women was goin' to put in _clean_ men an' do strokes," sneered
Uncle Jake, "an' it turns out they'd vote for the best-lookin'
man,--nice state of affairs that is."

"Ah! it's all very fine for a man to buck w'en a thing treads on his
own toes; it would be thought a terrible thing for a woman to vote for
a good-lookin' man an' pass over merit, but that's what's been done to
women all the time. The good-lookin' ones got all the honours, whether
they deserved 'em or not, and those complainin' agen this was jeered
at an' called 'Shrieking sisters,' but it's a different tune now."

"Uncle, _darling_, who are you going to vote for?" inquired Andrew.

"For Henderson, of course, an' I reckon all the women here with votes
ought, too."

"And why, pray?" asked grandm