Aunt Jane's Nieces at Work

  CHAPTER XIII

  THE BOOMERANG

  The lawn fete was a tremendous success, and every farmer's wife wasproud of her satin badge bearing the monogram: "W. P. L.," and thewords: "FORBES FOR REPRESENTATIVE."

  Certain edibles, such as charlotte-russe, Spanish cream, wine jelliesand mousses, to say nothing of the caviars and anchovies, were whollyunknown to them; but they ate the dainties with a wise disregard oftheir inexperience and enjoyed them immensely.

  The old butler was a general in his way, and in view of the fact thatthe staff of servants at Elmhurst was insufficient to cope with such athrong, he allowed Louise to impress several farmers' daughters intoservice, and was able to feed everyone without delay and in an abundantand satisfactory manner.

  After luncheon began the speech-making, interspersed with music by theband.

  Louise made the preliminary address, and, although her voice was notvery strong, the silent attention of her hearers permitted her to begenerally understood.

  She called attention to the fact that this campaign was importantbecause it promised more beautiful and attractive houses for the farmersand townsmen alike.

  "We had all grown so accustomed to advertising signs," she said, "thatwe failed to notice how thick they were becoming or how bold andoverpowering. From a few scattered announcements on fence boards, theyhad crowded themselves into more prominent places until the barns andsheds and the very rocks were daubed with glaring letters asking us tobuy the medicines, soaps, tobaccos, and other wares the manufacturerswere anxious to sell. Every country road became an advertising avenue.Scarcely a country house was free from signs of some sort. Yet thepeople tamely submitted to this imposition because they knew no way toavoid it. When Mr. Forbes began his campaign to restore the homesteadsto their former beauty and dignity, a cry was raised against him. Butthis was because the farmers did not understand how much this reformmeant to them. So we gave them an object lesson. We painted out all thesigns in this section at our own expense, that you might see how muchmore beautiful your homes are without them. We believe that none of youwill ever care to allow advertising signs on your property again, andthat the quiet refinement of this part of the country will induce manyother places to follow our example, until advertisers are forced toconfine themselves to newspapers, magazines and circulars, their onlylegitimate channels. This much Mr. Forbes has already done for you, andhe will now tell you what else, if he is elected, he proposes to do."

  Kenneth then took the platform and was welcomed with a hearty cheer. Hemodestly assured them that a Representative in the State Legislaturecould accomplish much good for his district if he honestly desired to doso. That was what a Representative was for--to represent his people. Itwas folly to elect any man who would forget that duty and promote onlyhis own interests through the position of power to which the people hadappointed him. Mr. Forbes admitted that he had undertaken this campaignbecause he was opposed to offensive advertising signs; but now he hadbecome interested in other issues, and was anxious to be elected so thathe could carry on the work of reform. They needed more school-houses fortheir children, and many other things which he hoped to provide as theirRepresentative.

  During this oration Beth happened to glance up at the house, and hersharp eyes detected the maid, Eliza, standing shielded behind thehalf-closed blind of an upper window and listening to, as well aswatching, the proceedings below. Then she remembered how the girl hadbeen laughing and talking with Mr. Hopkins, when she first saw her, andwith sudden dismay realized that Eliza was a spy in the service of theenemy.

  Her first impulse was to denounce the maid at once, and have herdischarged; but the time was not opportune, so she waited until thefestivities were ended.

  It had been a great day for the families of the neighboring farmers, andthey drove homeward in the late afternoon full of enthusiasm over theroyal manner in which they had been entertained and admiration for thegirls who had provided the fun and feasting. Indeed, there were morekindly thoughts expressed for the inhabitants of Elmhurst than had everbefore been heard in a single day in the history of the county, and thegreat and the humble seemed more closely drawn together.

  When the last guest had departed Beth got her cousins and Kennethtogether and told them of her discovery of the spy.

  Kenneth was at first greatly annoyed, and proposed to call Martha andhave the false maid ejected from the premises; but Patsy's wise littlehead counselled caution in handling the matter.

  "Now that we know her secret," she said, "the girl cannot cause us morereal harm, and there may be a way to circumvent this unscrupulousHopkins and turn the incident to our own advantage. Let's think it overcarefully before we act."

  "There's another thing," said Beth, supporting her cousin. "I'minterested in the mystery surrounding the girl. I now think I was wrongin suspecting her to be the lost Lucy Rogers; but there is surely someromance connected with her, and she is not what she seems to be. I'dlike to study her a little."

  "It was absurd to connect her with Lucy Rogers," observed Kenneth, "forthere is nothing in her character to remind one of the unhappy girl."

  "Except her looks," added Beth. "She's the living image of Mrs. Rogers."

  "That isn't important," replied Louise. "It is probably a merecoincidence. None of us have ever seen the real Lucy, and she may notresemble her mother at all."

  "Mrs. Rogers claims she does," said Beth. "But anyhow, I have a wish tokeep this girl at the house, where I can study her character."

  "Then keep her, my dear," decided Kenneth. "I'll set a couple of men towatch the gates, and if she goes out we'll know whom she meets. The mostshe can do is to report our movements to Mr. Hopkins, and there's nogreat harm in that."

  So the matter was left, for the time; and as if to verify Beth'ssuspicions Eliza was seen to leave the grounds after dusk and meet Mr.Hopkins in the lane. They conversed together a few moments, and then themaid calmly returned and went to her room.

  The next day Mr. Hopkins scattered flaring hand-bills over the districtwhich were worded in a way designed to offset any advantage his opponenthad gained from the lawn fete of the previous day. They read: "Hopkins,the Man of the Times, is the Champion of the Signs of the Times. Forbes,who never earned a dollar in his life, but inherited his money, istrying to take the dollars out of the pockets of the farmers bydepriving them of the income derived by selling spaces for advertisingsigns. He is robbing the farmers while claiming he wants to beautifytheir homes. The farmers can't eat beauty; they want money. Thereforethey are going to vote for the Honorable Erastus Hopkins forRepresentative." Then followed an estimate of the money paid the farmersof the district by the advertisers during the past five years, amountingto several thousands of dollars in the aggregate. The circular ended inthis way: "Hopkins challenges Forbes to deny these facts. Hopkins iswilling to meet Forbes before the public at any time and place he mayselect, to settle this argument in joint debate."

  The girls accepted the challenge at once. Within two days every farmerhad received a notice that Mr. Forbes would meet Mr. Hopkins at theFairview Opera House on Saturday afternoon to debate the question as towhether advertising signs brought good or evil to the community.

  The campaign was now getting hot. Because of the activity of theopposing candidates every voter in the district had become more or lessinterested in the fight, and people were taking one side or the otherwith unusual earnestness.

  Mr. Hopkins was not greatly pleased that his challenge had beenaccepted. He had imagined that the Forbes party would ignore it andleave him the prestige of crowing over his opponent's timidity. But heremembered how easily he had subdued Kenneth at the school-house meetingbefore the nominations, and had no doubt of his ability to repeat theoperation.

  He was much incensed against the girls who were working for KennethForbes, for he realized that they were proving an important factor inthe campaign. He even attributed to them more than they deserved, forUncle John's telling activities were so quietly conducted t
hat he waspersonally lost sight of entirely by Mr. Hopkins.

  Mr. Hopkins had therefore become so enraged that, against the advice ofhis friends, he issued a circular sneering at "Women in Politics." Thenewspapers having been subsidized by the opposition so early in thegame, Mr. Hopkins had driven to employ the circular method ofcommunicating with the voters. Scarcely a day passed now that his corpsof distributors did not leave some of his literature at every dwellingin the district.

  His tirade against the girls was neither convincing nor in good taste.He asked the voters if they were willing to submit to "petticoatgovernment," and permit a "lot of boarding-school girls, with moreboldness than modesty" to dictate the policies of the community. "Thesefrizzle-headed females," continued the circular, "are trying to makeyour wives and daughters as rebellious and unreasonable as they arethemselves; but no man of sense will permit a woman to influence hisvote. It is a disgrace to this district that Mr. Forbes allows hisgirlish campaign to be run by a lot of misses who should be at homedarning stockings; or, if they were not able to do that, practicingtheir music-lessons."

  "Good!" exclaimed shrewd Miss Patsy, when she read this circular. "IfI'm not much mistaken, Mr. Hopkins has thrown a boomerang. Every womanwho attended the fete is now linked with us as an ally, and every one ofthem will resent this foolish circular."

  "I'm sorry," said Kenneth, "that you girls should be forced to endurethis. I feared something like it when you insisted on taking a hand inthe game."

  But they laughed at him and at Mr. Hopkins, and declared they were notat all offended.

  "One cannot touch pitch without being defiled," said Mr. Watson,gravely, "and politics, as Mr. Hopkins knows it, is little more thanpitch."

  "I cannot see that there is anything my girls have done to forfeitrespect and admiration," asserted Uncle John, stoutly. "To accuse themof boldness or immodesty is absurd. They have merely gone to work in abusiness-like manner and used their wits and common-sense in educatingthe voters. Really, my dears, I'm more proud of you today than I've everbeen before," he concluded.

  And Uncle John was right. There had been no loss of dignity by any oneof the three, and their evident refinement, as well as their gentlenessand good humor, had until now protected them from any reproach. It hadremained for Mr. Hopkins to accuse them, and his circular had a wideinfluence in determining the issue of the campaign.