A Woman for Mayor | Page 7

yours, John Allingham, Chairman.'
There! What do you think of that?"
"I'm not surprised," answered Gertrude. "Did you not perceive how
uncomfortable he was when he discovered who our candidate
was--after all his talk about the influence of women in public affairs?
He began to crawl and hedge even then."
"I know it," Mrs. Bateman replied, "but I didn't think he would go
against us. He's always been such a nice boy. But now,--"
"Moreover," interrupted Gertrude, "I've just heard that the League will
combine with the Burke forces, if it comes to a choice between us."
"Oh--not so bad as that," said Mrs. Bateman. "What are you going to do?
It doesn't frighten you?"
"My dear," and Gertrude's gentle tone had a ring that was familiar to
those who had known the Senator, "did you ever know a Van Deusen to
scare easily? They may defeat me, but they will not frighten me. I've
sent for Bailey and after I've had a good long confab with him, I'll run
over to talk with you."
"That's good. You're true blue," was the response.
As Gertrude turned from the telephone, Bailey Armstrong was entering.
"Well, well, what's this I hear?" he exclaimed, coming forward with
outstretched hand. "You'll have Roma shaken to its foundations if you

keep on.--And I suppose you'll keep on?" he added, with a keen look
into her eyes.
"I am my father's daughter," she replied, and led the way into the
library, where she told him her latest news.
"I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't been there last night myself,"
said Bailey. "There was a pretty hot discussion. Some of us want to
help you, but the majority want a precedent back of them. And there's
no precedent for a woman-mayor, you know. Say, Gertie, are you fully
determined to run?--because the Augean stables aren't exactly what
you've been accustomed to,--and that's what you will find."
"I'm fully determined," answered the other quietly.
"That settles it, then," said the young man. "Now let's plan out the
work."
"Then you're going to help, Bailey."
"Sure thing. Want me?"
"Of course we do."
"Not 'we,' Gertie,--I," he answered in a voice as quiet and as
determined as hers. "Now, I've been through several campaigns and am
not only a good fighter, but I'm conceited enough to believe I'm a pretty
good organizer,--and that's a hundred times better."
"Well, tell me just how to go to work to enlist the multitude, to win the
populace;--in short, to get votes," said Gertrude. "How do I begin?"
"Well, there are two ways," answered the young man. "If you were a
man I would say, you can break in by sheer force of audacity, without
definite purpose; or, you can enter quietly, with a fixed principle in
mind which you wish to see worked out in public life. The first is the
old idea, the latter is the new."
"And the old way?" said Gertrude.

"Well, if you enter in the old-fashioned way, you will have to place
yourself at the disposal of the chairman of some campaign committee
in the city; you will read a great deal of 'literature' prepared by the
committee, mostly vituperative nonsense about the opposing party; you
will learn this by heart, follow the red light and the brass band to the
nearest 'stump,' and mixing what you have read, but not thought out,
with some stories of considerable age and questionable humor, will
deliver it all to a bored and weary audience, confident that you have
established a reputation for eloquence.
"By this time you will feel like a full-fledged politician; you will
become mysterious and tell everybody everything you know in
confidence; secret conferences will be held behind closed doors; old
clothes and a slouchy manner will be brought out to catch the labor
vote; you will speak to all sorts of people, and call them by their first
names, thinking all the time that, if a candidate, you would lead your
ticket. As a matter of fact, you may have lost hundreds of votes."
"Yes," said Gertrude with spirit, "and then I would be taken up by the
machine. They would call me a budding genius and I should look upon
the boss as a great man."
"Yes," pursued Bailey, "until you begin to think for yourself. Then it
will occur to you as strange that in a representative government you
should be selected as a candidate of your party recommended as you
have been; still more strange that the platform upon which you are to
run was set up in type in the newspaper offices several hours before the
convention which nominates you met, and had been submitted to the
president of the railroad that runs through your town for his approval or
revision."