es
of the office so efficiently during the past year."

Now the battle royal began. Mr. Tobias Smith next obtained the floor and
nominated Mr. Wallace Stackpole.

"In presenting this nomination, Mister Moderator, I do it out of justice
to an old soldier who served the country faithfully, and who lost the
election a year ago on account of an untrue statement that was widely
circulated and which could not be refuted in time to affect the question
of his election. I hold in my hand three documents. The first one is a
certified copy of the war record of Wallace Stackpole, who entered one
of our regiments of Volunteers as a private, served throughout the war,
and was honorably discharged with the rank of captain. This record shows
that during his four years of service he was three times wounded; in one
instance so badly that for weeks his life hung by a thread, and it was
only by the most careful treatment that amputation of his right arm was
avoided. I hold here also the war record of the present incumbent of the
office. From it I learn that he entered the army as a private and was
discharged at the end of two years still holding the rank of private,
and sent home as an invalid. He is not to blame for this, but inspecting
his record I find that within a month after he joined the army he was
detailed for service in the hospital, and during the two years of his
connection with the army he was never engaged in a single battle, not
even in a skirmish."

Cries rose from certain parts of the hall in opposition to the speaker,
and Deacon Mason remarked that while it was perfectly proper to compare
the war records of the two candidates for the position, it must be borne
in mind that because a man was a soldier, or, rather, because he did a
little more fighting than the other one, was no reason that he would
make a better tax collector.

The Moderator's remarks were greeted with applause, and Strout's face
brightened.

"I am glad to see the Deacon's bound to have fair play," said he to an
old farmer who sat next to him.

"Waal, I guess you're more liable to git it than you are disposed to
give it," drawled the old farmer, who evidently was not an adherent of
the present incumbent of the office.

Mr. Tobias Smith continued his remarks:

"I acknowledge the correctness of the remarks just made by our honored
Moderator, and desire to say that I hold in my hand a third document,
which is a statement of the taxes due and collect