stirred by the
prospect of a most spectacular fight. One half the citizens were
congratulating themselves that at last, corruption and the spoilsmen
were to be uprooted, while the other half revelled in the excitement and
turmoil which always attends the witnessing of a deadly combat.

And meanwhile, the few,--the "ring,"--were in anxious consultation. "How
much do you know?" was the question that stirred them. Under an assumed
coolness and indifference, and acting in secret, there were those who
saw to it that a high and mighty representative of the Boulevard Railway
Company came on to arrange bail for Vickery. The board of aldermen was,
apparently, most indifferent of all, and refused to talk of the new
sensation either to reporters or to any one else,--except among
themselves when no outsiders were near. For as yet, none of them could
determine how any information had leaked out or just who had been
implicated.

While events had been leading up to this point, the women of Roma had
not been idle. Even before the "Progressive Workers" had thought of
putting up their candidate for the mayoralty, they had been interested
in the subject of pure food--and this, too, was before Senator Heyburn
had introduced his famous bill to the United States Congress. One of
the liberal churches in the city had called a woman to its pulpit some
years ago; and the story of what she accomplished among the young people
of her parish is too long and too complicated to be incorporated here.
Suffice it to say that one day she was "discovered" by a "P. W." and
invited to join the club. Too earnest and active a worker to sit by and
listen to literary exercises and discussions that did not get anywhere,
she had almost at the beginning of her membership cast about for some
definite work which she--and the rest--might do.

Now, she was a housekeeper on her small salary, and therefore must go to
market for herself. Like thousands of other club women, she had come
away from her provision store or grocery, half nauseated by what she had
seen, or experienced through her olfactory sense. But unlike the average
woman, she refused to endure these things patiently. She began,
quietly, to investigate. She visited the city abattoir, the wholesale
markets, the cattle-pens. Even before the municipal election, she had
laid out a thorough campaign in the interests of pure food, which she
presented to the "Progressive Workers." The previous spring there had
be