epers. But beyond them, anybody in Mariposa who says
that he has no politics is looked upon as crooked, and people wonder
what it is that he is "out after."

In fact, the whole town and county is a hive of politics, and people
who have only witnessed gatherings such as the House of Commons at
Westminster and the Senate at Washington and never seen a Conservative
Convention at Tecumseh Corners or a Liberal Rally at the Concession
school house, don't know what politics means.

So you may imagine the excitement in Mariposa when it became known that
King George had dissolved the parliament of Canada and had sent out a
writ or command for Missinaba County to elect for him some other person
than John Henry Bagshaw because he no longer had confidence in him.

The king, of course, is very well known, very favourably known, in
Mariposa. Everybody remembers how he visited the town on his great tour
in Canada, and stopped off at the Mariposa station. Although he was only
a prince at the time, there was quite a big crowd down at the depot and
everybody felt what a shame it was that the prince had no time to see
more of Mariposa, because he would get such a false idea of it, seeing
only the station and the lumber yards. Still, they all came to the
station and all the Liberals and Conservatives mixed together perfectly
freely and stood side by side without any distinction, so that the
prince should not observe any party differences among them. And he
didn't,--you could see that he didn't. They read him an address all
about the tranquillity and loyalty of the Empire, and they purposely
left out any reference to the trouble over the town wharf or the big row
there had been about the location of the new post-office. There was a
general decent feeling that it wouldn't be fair to disturb the prince
with these things: later on, as king, he would, of course, _have_ to
know all about them, but meanwhile it was better to leave him with the
idea that his empire was tranquil.

So they deliberately couched the address in terms that were just as
reassuring as possible and the prince was simply delighted with it. I
am certain that he slept pretty soundly after hearing that address. Why,
you could see it taking effect even on his aides-de-camp and the people
round him, so imagine how the prince must have felt!

I think in Mariposa they understand kings perfectly. Every time that
a king or a prince comes, they try to make him see the bright side