Chapter 33
The Governor’s Ear
Tor opened the boarding house door for Rosie. She hung their coats and her scarf on the hall tree. He took a seat in the parlor along with Chief Namakagon, Willard and Mildred Rogers, and his father. Before them, near the front window, stood a ten-foot Christmas tree decorated with hundreds of tiny paper snowflakes. On the end of each branch perched a single, white candle. A satin angel looked down from the top and a bright red ribbon spiraled, around to the bottom. The fresh scent of balsam filled the air.
Rose went to the kitchen to help her mother prepare supper while Tor picked up a copy of Harper’s Weekly from the window sill. He paged through it, thinking more about Rosie than the words and pictures in the magazine.
A half hour later Rose returned to the parlor. Seating herself at the piano, she entertained the guests with her songs. Ingman returned from Pete Foster’s saloon, joining the others in the parlor and singing much louder than the rest. Supper was served at five o’clock sharp.
The next morning, bright red and green ribbons decorated the depot platform. The governor was coming.
Hayward’s own five-piece marching band was warming up in the waiting room when the train arrived. They rushed out onto the platform and lined up against the depot wall in the frigid morning air.
Four stomps from the right foot of the tuba player and they all broke into The Battle Hymn of the Republic, the only tune they knew. Blowing off steam, the locomotive rolled to a stop, brass bell ringing. A large group of onlookers stretched to see the governor through the frosted windows of his brightly painted car.
The conductor stepped out of the next car, followed by three uniformed policemen. Two newspaper reporters emerged. One set up a large camera on a larger wooden tripod. He fiddled with the equipment before giving a wave to a man looking on from the governor’s private car.
Out stepped Governor Jeremiah Rusk, waving his top hat at the cheering crowd and smiling for the camera.