new his men--the real men of influence;
not men that have big reputations created by active but less widely
known under-workers, but the under-workers themselves. Simon dealt with
these, and he rarely mistook his men. Now I was well known in those
parts--kept on the right side of the boys, and the boys tried to keep on
the right side of me, and Simon knew it. No red tape fettered Simon, as
the boys say it tied our generals the other side of Sharpsburg in order
to let the Rebs have time to cross. If the measures that his shrewd
foresight saw were necessary for the suppression of this Rebellion, at
its outbreak, had been adopted, we would be encamped somewhat lower down
in Dixie than the Upper Potomac--if indeed there would be any necessity
for our being in service at all.

"He was not a man of old tracks, like a ground mole; indeed like some
military commanders who seem lost outside of them; but of ready
resources and direct routes, gathering influence now by one means and
then by another, and perhaps both novel. Now Simon set me at work in
this wise.

"'Tom,' one morning, says an old and respected citizen of our place, who
knew my father and my father's father, and me as an unlucky dog from my
cradle, 'Tom, did ever any idea of getting a permanent and profitable
position--say, as you are an excellent penman--as clerk in one of the
departments at Harrisburg or Washington, enter your head?'

"At this I straightened up, drew up my shirt collar, pulled down my
vest, and said with a sort of hopeful inquiry, 'Why should there?'

"'Tom, you are wasting your most available talent. Do you know that you
have influence--and political influence at that?'

"Another hitch at my shirt collar and pull at my vest, as visions of the
Brick Capitol at Harrisburg and the White one at Washington danced
before my eyes.

"'Did you ever reflect, Tom, upon the source of political power?'
continued the old gentleman, and without waiting for an answer,
fortunately, as I was fast becoming dumbfoundered, 'the people, Tom, the
people; not you and I, so much as that miner,' said he, pointing to a
rough ugly-looking fellow that I had kicked out of my wife's
bar-room--or, rather, got my ostler to do it--two nights before, 'That
man, Tom, is a representative of thousands; we may represent but
ourselves. Now these people are controlled. They neither think nor act
for themselves, as a general rule; somebody does that for them. Now,' as
he spoke, try