them to
take some new man. But if they should insist on nominating me, I'm
afraid I'd have to--h'm, what--what do you think I'd have to do?"

"Well, being a pious man and a reformer, I should think you'd at least
have to pray over it."

The Hon. Perfidius Ruse gave a keen, quick glance at the Hon. Doyle
O'Meagher, and slightly frowned.

"I should certainly consider it with care," he said stiffly.

"So should I."

"Is that all you will say?"

"No, I'll say more," and he picked up the sheet of paper on which he had
written the names of the Tammany candidates. "Look here," he continued.
"This is my list of nominees. The space for the head of the ticket is
still blank. I have not told any one whom I mean to present for the
Mayoralty, but I will promise you now to insert there the name of the
man nominated by your Citizens' meeting to-morrow night."

"Whoever he may be?"

"Whoever he may be."

"And I may rely on that?"

[Illustration: "I SHOULD CERTAINLY CONSIDER IT WITH CARE," HE SAID
STIFFLY.]

"Did I ever tell you anything you couldn't rely on?"

"No."

"All right. Good-by."

They shook hands, and Mr. Ruse departed wearing an expansive smile. As
he left the room, Mr. O'Meagher smiled also and picked up his pen. "I
may as well fill in the name now," he said softly, "and save time," and
with great precision he proceeded to write: "For Mayor, the Hon. Doyle
O'Meagher. Assessed in the sum of--" but there he stopped. "We'll
consider that later," he said.

The personal history of the Hon. Doyle O'Meagher strikingly proves how
slight an influence is exerted in this young republic by social prestige
and vulgar wealth, and how inevitably certain are the rewards of virtue,
industry, and ability. I am credibly told that Mr. O'Meagher first
opened his eyes in a little ten by twelve earth cabin in the County
Kerry, Ireland, though I can not profess to have seen the cabin. Being
from his earliest youth of a reflective disposition, he became
impressed, when but a small lad, with the conviction that thirteen
people, three pigs, seven chickens, and five ducks formed too numerous a
population for a cabin of those dimensions. In the silent watches of the
night, with his head on a duck and a pig on his stomach, he had
frequently revolved this idea in his young but apt mind, and at last,
though not in any spirit of petulance, he formed the resolution which
gave shape and purpose to his later career.

He had communicate