"STAR" TALES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9788, 3 March 1910, Page 4

"STAR" TALES.

(By CAMPBELL M'CfULLOOH.)

THE BOSS.

"The morning paper had briefly cliron- . 3<ded the fact' that "Tom" Terry had in the oapital the niglit before, land a villainous ikilf-tone of the political boas from the big city leered forth (from the printed page, and the govor'nor's wife looked at it cursorily as elie r mssed it over to her husband at the 'Breakfast table. t rShe kad heard of Terry. Only the ievjemnjg* before she had pioked up a anagiwne in which many pages were devoted to a detailed history of the city Ijhe. held in the hollow of his hand, and ihad been mildly horrified nfc the tale of .rfot: and extravagance that characterised the Terry control. Glancing up at her husband as he sat across from iiher, she saw his face was drawn into a ftieavy frown. Tho sympathy that had [always existed between the.ni had been jtacitly realised, and it had become a matter of more than, common occurrence for her'to appear suddenly at his office when he was m a difficulty, Also 'more than a few times lie had'left i:is desk in the middle of an important brief and hurried home to find her in some trouble when she had needed him •most. x ! Once in the year and a half tliat lie jhtd oocapied the executive mansion lie lad- ,bfeen confronted with a real dijemma. "Big Frank '' Ferguson, who trad been sentemoed to fifteen years on ■the charge of .manslai Igh ter, and who its-Tra® tacitly agreed should have hern sent to theelectno chair, put in through his-,friends an application for a pardon. Terry himself had backed the petition, and the pressure brought to bear had Jjipen; great. Merwin had been pri.vately told that if he refused it was equivalent to mortally offending the boss, and for a moment he had hesitat--60 likes politics for the zest of honestly believing in the pdßdifyilitjr df clean government; and lie tp, gtay in the chair for the sake of. tn© things that should be done. 3t' was then that Christine liad appear.•d' in tlje office, and he had refused the petition with a sigh of relief. Word mad., reached him that Terry would j'",«piare it up." Now, while the paraifcrapJ* announcing the boss' presence in iovro was staring him in the face, he that the "squaring process" might be beginning, for election Iwas but a scant five months away. He ihad no illusions whatever as to why Terry was in town. Ostensibly it was "to ask a favour, actually it was to make a threat; and'so when Mrs Mex--!mb smiled at him understandingly, lies «miled ruefully in return. "" Terry, I suppose,'' she 'commented. " Thomas Terry, Esquire," he answered. he's come to see you, of course," she went on. '"" He won't be happy till he sees Jne/V he assured her. Bhe carefully buttered a piece of io*Bk _ , ■ | " What does he want, do you think " j |he asked. governor shrugged his shoulders. ! - It-seems a little bit involved, I'm afraid, but I'll try to explain it," he began. - "You see, there's a man down there in Newton named Minzer. He's a. Stolid sort of a German, and he holds the German rote together. You iWnow- a German is always just that, aod save in exceptional cases is very little* mare. In his heart he has en- j sJtrined:- the fatherland, as per the KaiserVorder, and he'd cross a dozen Jiubieonß, each one set with spikes, fpins and broken glass, if someone on Ve other bank warbled ' Die Wacht .»m Rheln.' " She' looked puzzled, but he went on: " Yet they make the best sort of ctti&ena. Now this fellow Minzer is needful to our friend Terry. Terry .wants to lceep the city treasury where it will be most useful to himself and his •friends?: It happens that the city bud- , get next year will be about a hundred million, and the genial , Thomas ; would suffer agonies if anyone but he 'had the spending of it. The municipal election conies on five months from now, and if Minzer should march iis Gferinans over to the other side there would be no patronage for Terry, it is, obvious that a boss with no patronage- is' not much of a boss." " Still, I don't see what that has to do with you—yet," she objected. The governor laughed hardly. " You will when I tell you that I'm going to appoint a commission to investigate the sanitary conditions of the aoilk. establishments in Newton." • ''•'Well?" " Well, Minzer happens to control about two-thirds of those milk-depots." * Mrs Merwin considered for a moinent. <r And Terry does not want the commiesion appointed?" she asked. "Oh, nothing so sweeping as that," he'protested. "In fact, he would tnach prefer that it be appointed, and at work. Only he wants to name the 1 tnemberß of it." ■ I see," she observed. '' Instead of raguoly rumoured charges he would ft positive whitewash for his Irieod. " That's the political term, is it BObP"

"Exactly. Ho mil ask me to appoint dome sane, safe and conservative .--blind men." , ~ , ° /He stirred his cup thoughtfully, and '"without effort she oould fallow lntui*|yi»ly tbe trend of Jiis mind. If he to stavwhere he was he would jiave to knuckle under to thus man. It balancing the evil of this thing .'gainst the potential good of the next JjfflPTO. \ However, he said nothing, .finally he looked up at her. Hgiht task to keep thinking thoughts when you have 'fauftir - at your elbow firing the opriUritas':kind at you," he «aia at last, ■i iniekm; jodded her head. He went 011. fellow one who's going to Jri. you see pretty clearly that |ie can \vieitfcfcyou higher than Gilroy's kite at the.iicat election." " The nominations are next week, aren't they?" ehe asked after a pause. . "Next week," he answered her " gravely, and there was a heavy pucker : between-his brows. 1 " And Terry controls the primaries, : pf course;" she went 011. v/J.'Be saith to this one go. and lie gaeth: and to,this one come, and he ©anrttV " he returned. v v " It'll- getting later than usual," she '/■•id. "You'd Better go, dear." 'Apd coming around to him she bent 'tarn and kissed him as she had done ■morning for twenty years. • «lie governor found Terry waiting him when he entered his office. He •}%Ho(Jcerhands cordially; threw Jus eye .the huge pile of opened mail his (tfiCTBUu-y had left ready for him, and it on one side. This other must jsa saifcled first. Terry drew up a chair The governor considerod him a moment, and frankly owned there much to'like in the man. Getting "flQ'for fifty, tihere was a rugged vigour jpSboat him that spoke well for his own v test, and yet the eyes had the look of Eh* hunted animal. Why don't you shove your desk up

against a wall, Merwin?"' Tcrrv asked peevishly "It gives mo the shivers to talk to a man out here in the centre of a room. 1 can't see all 'round me." The governor .smiled genially. " I like lots of light," lie said easily. " Besides, 1 don't expect, to hnve anything to say that I'm afraid of anyone overbearing. How have you been.?'" "Rotten, thanks," answered Terrv, grumpily. " T s'poso you know what I'm here for. eh?" " I could guess,'' laughed the governor. " Yes. you're a good guesser, ail right," sneered the boss. " Well, how about, it?" About what, ior instance?" fenced Merwin. " Are you goin' to come into camp or play the goat? What about that commission? Straight out. do you want to stay on the job, or 'does" Martin, sit. here next January? That's all. Yes or no." He sat back in his chair, and pulled out a cigar from his side pocket and it. Then he waited. He believed in getting to the point without loss of time, and had never been accused of diplomacy. " I'm not offering vou one," he said, waving his cigar. " You don't smoke." Then, after a pause he went on, " Well, it's up to you." Merwin Was troubled, for he knew that Terry meant exaotly what he said, and that if the boss gave the word, Glenn Martin, a former attorney-gene-ral, who could be depended on to " rim straight with the party." would have the nomination in a week's time. The problem he had to face was whether the part of wisdom lav in temporising with this mail—riving in to him on this point, ami securing the nomination, which virtually meant election for the second term, or throwing up the whole i thine. | " The milk situation is undoubtedly 1 bad," he thought, "but it has been 1 just so bad for years. If I let him whitewash those places now, I can open ; the subject up again in January or Feb- 1 ruary, and I'll be solid for another two j years. That will give me the onpor- j tunity to carry out those other things I —bi?; things. Actually it is only delay- j ing the investigation eight months, and I then "

i He looked up and caught Terry's cold eye fixed upon him, and there was a half smile upon the man's face that seemed to say: "Go on and wriggle, little fish. Wriggle all you want, but you're hooked just the same." In an instant a wave of anger rushed over Merwin, and he gripped thp arms of his swing chair to keep from rising up and turning the politician out of the place, hut he realised that anger in itself was an error and a confession of weakness, and he fought it back. Then the thought, of Christine rose in his mind, and he. felt his rigid muscle® relax just aa Craig, the secretary, put his head-in £he door. • " Mrs Merwin is here, sir." said the secretary. " She wants to know if she may come in just a moment." The governor looted at Terry, who had removed the cigar from ( his mouth, and a grim smile stole to his lips. " Ask Mrs Merwin to come in, Jim," he said, and when the young fellowhad gone he turned, to the boss. "You won't mind for a moment, Terry, I'm sure," he said. "Don't mind me." the other answered, and stood up as Mrs Merwin entered. She came in quickly, and came at once to where the governor stood. "You'll forgive me, I'm sure, Frank," she said; "but I happened to remember " The governor interrupted her with a touch of mirth in his manner. " My dear/' he said easily, " let me present Mr Terry, of whom you have heard me speak. She crossed to the boss at once, and held out her hand. n I've heard of you, Mr Terry," she said. "Pleased to meet you, ma'am," he mumbled gingerly, taking the gloved fingers, and holding them as if he had grasped a stick of dynamite that he was fearful might explode. She turned to her husband. "I was going shopping, Frank," she went on, " and just dropped in to ask if you wouldn't bring Mr Terry to dine with us to-night." She flashed a glance at the embarrassed Terry, who was meditating a bolt through the window since she had cut off escape through the door, and who had just oome to the conclusion that he would have to stick it out. " "VVo will be quite alone, Mr Terry, and we'd sincerely like you to take pity 011 us. Besides, I want to talk to you. We women don't often get a real politician into our clutches, you know. Don't be frightened. I'm not a suffragette —so far." Then, without waiting for an answer, she turned to the door. "I'll run on, now. Until to-night, Mr Terry." The governor chuckled inwardly when she had gone, for he recognised that she had come to his aid just when she was needed, and that he could safe ly leave the rest of the trouble in hei very capable hands. He stole a glance, at Terry, and observed the look of awed interest that still lingered 011 that individual's face. The calm-eyed woman whose presence radiated wholesomeness had made an immediate impres sioti upon the politician ; an influence that would stay with him. " I'm going to take until to-morrw to think your proposition over, Terry," the governor said. "You're staying at the Albermarle, of course. I'll send the car for you this evening. We dine at seven."

Terry took his hat in silence, and opened his mouth as if to speak, but apparently thought better of it, and moved to the doo'\ With his hand upon the knob he turned about. •'J was married—oncet," he said, and went out. In the corridor he met a correspondent who tackled him. at once with an eager look in his eyes. "Been seeing the governor, eh?" said the newspaper man. " Anything doing?" Terrv shook his head.' "No-thin' doin', I guess," he said, and went on down the marble steps, leaving the other looking after him in a puzzled manner. , "Guess he didn't pull it, off, he muttered. '"' Looks like the governor had more sand than he's had credit for." Dinner was half over that ovenmg, and Terrv had begun to feel some of the , discomfort he had experienced wearing off. He was surprised to find that he had commenced to enjoy himself, and was glad that the first panicky frig t that had prompted him to think of telephoning an excuse on the plea of » sudden and wholly fictitious illness had not P 'Mrs'Merwin had tactfully conducted the conversation on such luies as left, the boss little to do but anxiously pick out the proper forks and glasses and answer ves and no until he iound hn - self; the governor had watched the gradual thawing of his antagonist with secret amusement. He knew 1© .. could talk when he was so minded, and

he'd had more than one example of the latter's rude philosophy. He caught his wife's eye and received a slight nod of reassurance, which caused him to grin a little as he recalled Commodore Perry's famous remark on Lake Erie. " I've been, told you know more of the inside of Newton than most people, Mr Terry," she said. "I've seen it," he answered. " And life in the poorer quarters is a complex problem, isn't it?" she went on. "It's hell," replied Terry, quickly, and flushed dully. " Beggin' your pardon. I know, too. I was born down there." He looked up at her gravely. " I guess there ain't much that I've missed. And I've seen their side of it. There's som« of the settlement workers that think they know all about what they call the ' slums.' They're jokes, them people, when it comes to the real thing. It takes a bartender to know 'em right. He gets in close. I've been a bartender," he concluded simply. " But the missions are doing good work, I'm sure," she suggested. He ponnitted himself a smile. " I guess so," he agreed, without enthusiasm. " But hymns and prayers and promises that ain't kept don't mean muah to the follow that's hungry. I'm not sayin' that religion ain't alf right for folk's that has got time to fool with it. I ain't had the time. And a man that's got to hustle with a pick to keep his wife and kids from starvin' ain't worryin' about some gaudy things he's maybe goiri' to get after he's been planted. He ain't what you'd call a real enthusiastic listener. They don't seem to interest him somewav."

Mrs Merwin smiled at this example of that philosophy she'had heard of. " I can imagine that condition without any effort," she agreed. , Terry was interested in his subject, and continued. " That's tlie trouble with most reformers," he said, and she knew his interest was genuine, inasmuch as he failed to look at the governor. "Thoy ain't practical. Now, the man thats scratohin/ 1 for a dollar and a half a day can't get excited about a heavenly home, lie's havin* all the trouble lie can stand right here, and when vou come to plant a blazin' hell on him every time he walks into a saloon, lie's very apt to figure that he's gettin' about all the hell he can stand right here. And then heaven and hell, beiiu' couplei-in the bettin', so to speak, he just chucks them both overboard. What lie's interested in is the religion that will do him some good while he's here and can use it. You don't excite him with a harp and a gauzy wardrobe. But I guess there's no religion like that." Sirs Merwin laughed outright with frank delight. This was better than she had hoped for. " Would it surprise yon if I told you there was a religion like that—that would do something for a man who needs help here? Something that he doesn't have to die to use, as you put it " " You're a lady. Go as far as you like," he answered' slowly* " I'll stand for anything you say." " Thank you," she said. "Go on, won't you? " Well, the way those folks talk and act you'd think poverty was a crime, and a man ought to get six months for it. Of course, they don't say so, but they act like ii. Sometimes they make me tired." "But, Mr Terry," she said, "poverty is a crime, you know. There sno valid excuse for it." He looked at her gravely and shook his head. " I didn't think you was that kind," he said. '' The trouble with poverty is just poverty, ma'am. They can't help it. It's a disease, I guess." " Exactly, and has no more reason than any other disease," she insisted. He played with a fork. " Socialist P" he inauired. " No." she answered brightly. "Just human." He laughed outright for the first time.

" We ain't all doctors," lie said. "But we should be," she answered him. " Moral doctors, at least, and soon the physical curing will come by itself. Perhaps you can t see that, just now, but you will some time. Now, take your case, for instance: You have ?ower— real power among the poorou could cure them of a great deal of poverty. You know poverty is contagious. You said it wasn't their fault that they wore poor. It's somebody's fault, isn't it? Why, a few real men could euro poverty in a very few years." Ho moved uncomfortably in his chair and cast a look of appeal at the governor, but that official was considering the tip of hip cigar that he hadi lighted when the coffee was brought. He was enjoying himself hugely, too, and so the boss, finding himself thrown back upon his own resources, was compelled to go on. "I've got some money," he said at last, " but I don't believe it'd go far to ' curin' ' them Guineas and. Huns and wops in general. I'd see the bottom of my barrel in a hurry." She leaned over the table toward him. ''l didn't mean money, Mr Terry," she told him. "I meant—love." She watched him closely to see how he would take it, and saw him look up at her in honest perplexity. He held her gaze for a full minute, and then grinned. " I didn't know you was kiddin'." he said at last. "T must bo slow on the pick up." " I was not ' kidding.' I meant it," she assured him. She threw the governor a look, and he got up hastily, but with elaborate unconcern. "You'll exouse me for a short time, won't you?" ho said. "I've got some things to look over." He looked at Terry. " That water bill that Hazard introduced." When they were alone, Mrs Merwin betran again. " Perhaps you've never thought much of love," r<he said. "Well, I've heard a good deal about it," he replied cautiously, feeling his way into what he felt was a delicate situation. In his world such matters, while tacitly recognised as being existent, were carefully and' even ostenta-

tiously hidden away, like insanity or an enforced period of residence at tlie State's expense. " I've noticed it right after the annual chowder mostly. It gets epidemic in summer." She considered him gravely. " The love 1 mean is different," she told him- "It is kindness and mercy and charity and right. It costs so little and means so much. The reward for right is so great. And for wrong so heavy. All the wickedness and evil in the world come from wrongdoing and thinking. You will understand because you are a leader." He did not look up, but said : " I don't just get that, ma'am." " Mr Terry, suppose all the workers under you who carry out your orders do exactly what you tell them, and do it in exactly the way you tell them everything moves smoothly and easily, doesn't it?" He nodded and drew his chair a little nearer, but did not speak. "Now, suppose you had planned a i great coup and had it all worked out ! to the last detail, and apportioned the work of carrying it out to your lieutenants. And suppose that just one of j your men begins thinking that your way is not rigbt and perfect— perhaps Ihe doesn't know all the details you have in. mind, or what the end is to be—" "You can bet lie don't," Terry interrupted fervently. " And begins thinking exactly the reverse of the way you have been thinking, and you want him to think, and he goes on that way, and then, when the time comes to act, suppose he acts according to his wrong way, what happens? If that mail's work was important, and all work is important, yonr big plan fails, doesn't it? -And .if it had been intended to benefit a lot of people, they suffer, don't they? You see, if all your lieutenants do your work perfectly and sincerely and earnestly, it is for the sake of doing it ■well. That is really—love. The big, world-wide love." He looked at her thoughtfully for some time, and she waited to see what he would evolve from this new idea. " And you believe that doing—crooked things brings on them troubles —poverty ana all?" he asked at length. Surely," she answered quiokly. 'lf we all dia just right and took of everything no more than our just share, and if Instead of being selfish and narrow and grasping and mean, we did our best to make some others happy and better, how long do you think poverty would oontinue in the world P' " About an hour, maybe," he replied. " But I guees this love don't fit in with j practical politics." i She leaned toward him. j "If you believe that, why did you ' feed three thousand homeless men last winter, and the winter before? And why did vou give them three thousand pairs of snoes. and three thousand pairs of mittens P she flashed at him quickly. " Did you do it to keep their votes?"

" No, ma'am," he snapped quickly. "I was sorry fftr those guys." She leaned back and. laughed gently. "You eee," ethe said. ''That wae love, and you say it won't work in practical politics. Suppose two hundred otlier men wanted the same thing?" He waited some time in digesting that bit of arithmetic, and then turned to her slowly. " There's a lot of folks wouldn't believe that," he said. "They believe the other way. They think the right way to reform a crook Is to beat his head off."

"Yes," she answered. "That's been the method for a good many thousand years. It hasn't worked very well, lias "They've been callin' it Christianity, ain't they?" h© demanded. " What does it matter what you call a thing if it is not true?' eh© asked. " Not much, I guess," he replied thoughtfully. "You believe that for sure, do you? I don't quit© get it, myself." She leaned back in her oh air and gazed at him thoughtfully. "Mr Terry," she said, "I'm going to tell you a story. It won't be long, but it's true. Some years ago—about eighteen—a young lawyer lived in Newton. H© was married,, and they had a boy about a year old. Clients were not very many then, and money was scarce. One day the bov fell ill, and the doctor agreed that lie was poorly nourished, fie ordered milk—lots of milk. You see, it was poverty again. This was in the city, you see, and so tho milk came from a dairy. Somehow, the milk did nob seem to have the proper effect, and the young lawyer and his wife watched their boy getting worse day by day. One night he died, and it seemed as if the world had com© to an end. Do you know what killed the boy?" " No, ma'am," he said. "No one else did for a time., until an epidemic of fever broke out. Then it was discovered that the dairy where "the milk came from was not Slean: that it—well, we won't go into that now." "That was bad," he commented. "Now, suppose the men who kept that dairy had kept it with love m their hearts instead of selfish greed and something like hate, do you think the—baby would have diedP If had known the truth, those men, and had practised it, do you think the mother of that boy would have to fight against the grief that comes to her one day in every June?" She picked 4 up a locket that hung from a slender chain about her neck and opened It. She held It out to him and he took it carefully. "There are other babies—thousands of them," she said slowly. " They need truth and love as badly as that one did." Ho sat with the locket in the palm of his big hand for a long time. Finally he closed it and handed it back to her. Then he stood up. " I saw a desk in the next room," he said at last. "I'd like to us© it a minute." Without a word she led the way, and sitting down ho wroto a few words on a sheet of paper, folded it, and stood up. " There's a train back to the city at midnight," he said. "I guess I'll take it." She put out her hand to him and he took it. looking down on it curiously. "If I com© this way again I'd like to see you, ma'am. I guess I don't want to se© the governor before I go. I've got a reason, but I'll ask you to hand him this. Good night." At the door he turned ba&k a moment. looking down at his shoes. "The name of mine was Pete," he said. "What was yours." " Prank.." she answered him, and he wont out slowly, leaving her with the bit of paper in her hand. She was looking at it curiously—almost reverently, when the governor came in. " Hello," he said. "Where's Terry?" "Gone." she answered him. "Gone?" he repeated. "Yes, and he left you this," she said, handing him the note. Merwin stood beneath the chandelier and opened it. When he had read it he handed it back to her and stood thoughtfully. She read it. It was quite brief." and very_ characteristic of the man. He had. written:—.

"I'm going back to fix your nomination. You naioe that commission. I've learned something about love, and Minznor can go to hell. - ' The governor kissed his wife on the forehead for tlio third time that day.