a new member, whatever his prominence in the financial world, to be
pushed forward too quickly. And unless I am mighty mistaken, Mr. Crewe,"
he added, with his hand on the new member's shoulder, "you will make
yourself felt without any boosting from me."

"I did not come here to remain idle, General," answered Mr. Crewe,
considerably mollified.

"Certainly not," said the general, "and I say to some of those men, 'Keep
your eye on the gentleman who is Chairman of National Affairs.'"

After a little more of this desultory and pleasant talk, during which
recourse was, had to the bathroom for several tall and thin glasses
ranged on the shelf there, Mr. Crewe took his departure in a most equable
frame of mind. And when the door was closed and locked behind him, Mr.
Manning dipped his pen in the ink, once more produced from a drawer in
the table the salmon-coloured tickets, and glanced again at the general
with a smile.

"For Mr. Speaker and Mrs. Speaker and all the little Speakers, to New
York and return."

MR. CREWE'S CAREER

By Winston Churchill
BOOK 2.

CHAPTER XI

THE HOPPER

It is certainly not the function of a romance to relate, with the
exactness of a House journal, the proceedings of a Legislature. Somebody
has likened the state-house to pioneer Kentucky, a dark and bloody ground
over which the battles of selfish interests ebbed and flowed,--no place
for an innocent and unselfish bystander like Mr. Crewe, who desired only
to make of his State an Utopia; whose measures were for the public good
--not his own. But if any politician were fatuous enough to believe that
Humphrey Crewe was a man to introduce bills and calmly await their fate;
a man who, like Senator Sanderson, only came down to the capital when he
was notified by telegram, that politician was entirely mistaken.

No sooner had his bills been assigned to the careful and just
consideration of the committees in charge of the Honourable Brush Bascom,
Mr. Botcher, and others than Mr. Crewe desired of each a day for a
hearing. Every member of the five hundred was provided with a copy; nay,
nearly every member was personally appealed to, to appear and speak for
the measures. Foresters, road builders, and agriculturists (expenses
paid) were sent for from other States; Mr. Ball and others came down from
Leith, and gentlemen who for a generation had written letters to the
newspapers turned up from other localities. In two cases the largest
c