Part 23 (2/2)
And I will be honest and respected, even as President.
”What a commentary on human frailty the records of our latter day Chief Magistrates present. Each has been of humble origin. He has risen by virtue of fearless champions.h.i.+p of the cause of the ma.s.ses. Once in the office of the Presidency, all uprightness and independence has left him and he has wors.h.i.+ped at the feet of the Idol of Gold.
”To win the Presidency will be to inaugurate an era of real National prosperity, in which the labor of the people will be insured just remuneration. To win Ethel will be to abolish the distinction of cla.s.s.”
At the very hour Harvey Trueman is pondering over the grave conditions that keep him from making Ethel his wife, she is thinking of the mockery of her riches, which furnish her with every attribute to happiness but one--that eclipses all others--the heart's desire.
From the days that she had first known Harvey as the brilliant counsellor, she has felt that inextinguishable love which thrives on hope, and which will not diminish, even when hope is banished. Harvey and she had been friends. His brains had won him admittance to the social cla.s.s in which she moved. When their attachment had grown to love, and he had asked her father's consent to their marriage, Gorman Purdy, the man of millions, had not hesitated to sanction the union.
What a joy had filled her heart when Harvey told her of his love! What happiness could have equalled hers when she received the news from Harvey that her father was willing that they should marry?
What has caused their separation?
This is the question that remains as yet unanswered in her mind.
”Is it possible that there can be such a divergence in the views of two men on a question of right and wrong,” she asks herself, ”that they will sacrifice the happiness of the one woman they profess to love, rather than agree upon a compromise, or one or the other change his views?”
”My father loves me; he lavishes his wealth upon me; I am his only child, his only comfort. He remains a widower so as to give me an undivided love. Yet he will not consent to my speaking of wedding Harvey Trueman. He tells me that Harvey is an enemy of mankind; a man who is seeking to disrupt civilization; that every word he utters is intended to inflame the minds of the people; to incite them to anarchy.
”And Harvey, can his words be false when his actions are so generous?
What prompted him to give the miner's widow a thousand dollars? Was it a desire to do an act of charity, or was it as my father tells me, the act of a demagogue?
”How am I, a woman who knows nothing of politics or the principles of government, to decide a question that divides nations?
”What does all the advanced civilization of to-day amount to when it stands as a barrier to happy marriages?
”I cannot exchange places with a woman of the mining districts. My life has been so different that I should be miserable.”
As she philosophises Ethel glances about her boudoir. It is midnight.
From her open window a refres.h.i.+ng breeze comes from the sea. Venetia, on the Long Island sh.o.r.e, where Gorman Purdy has built his palatial residence, is always fanned by ocean breezes. On this particular night in August the moon s.h.i.+nes full and bright. It gives a soft tone to the luxurious apartment in which America's richest heiress lies tossing restlessly on her bed.
”How impossible it would be for a miner's wife to exchange places with me,” Ethel sighs.
”I am envied by every woman in the land. And still I am unhappy; O, so unhappy.
”The fetters of wealth are as binding as those of poverty; they are not appreciated by the world, and those who wear them are never pitied. If only Harvey is elected President, and my father's fears are not verified, perhaps--”
Ethel does not dare to express the hope that wells in her heart.
CHAPTER XVII.
OPENING THE CAMPAIGN.
A National Headquarters at the height of a Presidential election is of all places in the world the busiest. Men there seem to concentrate the pent-up energy of four years in the four months that are devoted to the campaigning; they work day and night, regardless of sleep or food. A few hours rest, taken when a momentary lull will permit, must suffice; a hurried meal must appease their appet.i.te. Meetings have to be arranged; funds distributed to the various committees; literature has to be prepared and distributed; doubtful districts need the attention of the ablest spell-binders; the movements of the opposing parties have to be met and counteracted.
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