ome of the old
liners were there, reciting parts of the proclamation, and the boys down
in the Ripton House are having the time of their lives."

Austen took the Guardian, and there, sure enough, filling a leading
column, and in a little coarser type than the rest of the page, he read:

DOWN WITH RAILROAD RULE!

The Honourable Humphrey Crewe of Leith, at the request
of twenty prominent citizens, consents to become a candidate
for the Republican Nomination for Governor.

Ringing letter of acceptance, in which he denounces the
political power of the Northeastern Railroads, and declares
that the State is governed from a gilded suite of offices in
New Pork.

"The following letter, evincing as it does a public opinion thoroughly
aroused in all parts of the State against the present disgraceful
political conditions, speaks for itself. The standing and character of
its signers give it a status which Republican voters cannot ignore."

The letter followed. It prayed Mr. Crewe, in the name of decency and good
government, to carry the standard of honest men to victory. Too long had
a proud and sovereign State writhed under the heel of an all-devouring
corporation! Too long had the Northeastern Railroads elected, for their
own selfish ends, governors and legislatures and controlled railroad
commissions The spirit of 1776 was abroad in the land. It was eminently
fitting that the Honourable Humphrey Crewe of Leith, who had dared to
fling down the gauntlet in the face of an arrogant power, should be the
leader of the plain people, to recover the rights which had been wrested
from them. Had he not given the highest proof that he had the people's
interests at heart? He was clearly a man who "did things."

At this point Austen looked up and smiled.

"Tom," he asked, "has it struck you that this is written in the same
inimitable style as a part of the message of the Honourable Asa Gray?"

Tom slapped his knee.

"That's exactly what I said I!" he cried. "Tooting wrote it. I'll swear
to it."

"And the twenty prominent citizens--do you know any of 'em, Tom?"

"Well," said Tom, in delighted appreciation, "I've heard of three of 'em,
and that's more than any man I've met can boast of. Ed Dubois cuts my
hair when I go to Kingston. He certainly is a prominent citizen in the
fourth ward. Jim Kendall runs the weekly newspaper in Grantley--I
understood it was for sale. Bill Clements is prom