ry; but while she did not propose to discharge good
men, she found that there must be good counsellors at hand for her own
safety. At the end of her first week she called for the resignation of
the city solicitor, McAdoo, who was rather glad than otherwise to "cut
loose from petticoat government," as he expressed it. His place she
filled at once by giving Bailey Armstrong the position.

The Common Council was made up of eighteen men, about half of whom were
new to the position, so that it remained to be seen how far they could
be depended upon to support any radical reform instituted by the new
mayor; but as Geoffrey Mason and Albert Turner had finally consented to
run on "the woman ticket" and had been elected, she felt that she might
count on their influence, at least, and hoped to win over others. There
were perhaps half a dozen, besides, on the "woman ticket"--every one of
whom were men who would have declined to serve with any other mayor; but
having pledged their word to "see her through" and been elected, they
fulfilled their pledge now, like the staunch, good citizens they were.
With this backing she felt that she might hope to carry out the work she
had undertaken.

There were many things to harass her, however, chief among them being
that the board of aldermen were strongly against her, men of the old
regime mostly, ready to fight against any radical reforms and to begin
work already to defeat her most cherished plans.

"She's in for two years, worse luck," said one of them. "But we'll tie
her hands so she can't do too much mischief. A mayor's only a mayor,
after all," with which significant utterance he winked solemnly to the
reporter who was interviewing him for the _Screamer_.

But the new mayor went serenely on with her new duties, and if she knew
all these things, gave no sign; apparently, the machinery of municipal
government was running on well-oiled wheels until even the most ardent
of her supporters began to wonder when she was "going to get busy."

But she was busy. The new mayor had a constructive imagination and did
not fear big ideas. She dreamed already of a warfare against
privilege--the privileges of the franchise corporations, the privileges
of unjust taxation, and ultimately the privilege of private monopoly.
Graft must be stamped out of the city administration, and a high order
of men elected to the bench. Some big things must be accomplished in the
city.

She had arrived at the conclu