Aunt Janes Nieces at Work | Page 8

He was himself a large stockholder in
a breakfast-food factory, which painted signs wherever it could secure
space. These signs were not works of art, but they were distinctly
helpful to business, and only a fool, in the opinion of the Honorable

Erastus, would protest against the inevitable.
What brought the legislator to the meeting was the fact that he was
coming forward for re-election in November, and believed that this
afforded a good chance to meet some of his constituents and make a
favorable impression. So he came early and shook hands with everyone
that arrived, and afterward took as prominent a seat as possible.
Indeed, the gathering had at first the appearance of being a political one,
so entirely did the Representative dominate it. But Mr. Watson took the
platform and shyly introduced the speaker of the evening.
The farmers all knew Mr. Watson, and liked him; so when Kenneth
rose they prepared to listen in respectful silence.
Usually a young man making his maiden speech is somewhat diffident;
but young Forbes was so thoroughly in earnest and so indignant at the
opposition that his plans had encountered that he forgot that it was his
first public speech and thought only of impressing his hearers with his
views, exulting in the fact that on this occasion they could not "talk
back," as they usually did in private when he tried to argue with them.
So he exhorted them earnestly to keep their homes beautiful and free
from the degradation of advertising, and never to permit glaring
commercialism to mar the scenery around them. He told them what he
had been able to accomplish by himself, in a short time; how he had
redeemed the glen from its disgraceful condition and restored it to its
former beauty. He asked them to observe Webb's pretty homestead, no
longer marred by the unsightly sign upon the barn. And then he
appealed to them to help him in driving all the advertising signs out of
the community.
When he ended they applauded his speech mildly; but it was chiefly for
the reason that he had spoken so forcibly and well.
Then the Honorable Erastus Hopkins, quick to catch the lack of
sympathy in the audience, stood up and begged leave to reply to young
Forbes.

He said the objection to advertising signs was only a rich man's
aristocratic hobby, and that it could not be indulged in a democratic
community of honest people. His own firm, he said, bought thousands
of bushels of oats from the farmers and converted them into the
celebrated Eagle-Eye Breakfast Food, three packages for a quarter.
They sold this breakfast food to thousands of farmers, to give them
health and strength to harvest another crop of oats. Thus he "benefited
the community going and coming." What! Should he not advertise this
mutual-benefit commodity wherever he pleased, and especially among
the farmers? What aristocratic notion could prevent him? It was a
mighty good thing for the farmers to be reminded, by means of the
signs on their barns and fences, of the things they needed in daily life.
If the young man at Elmhurst would like to be of public service he
might find some better way to do so than by advancing such crazy
ideas. But this, continued the Representative, was a subject of small
importance. What he wished especially to call their attention to was the
fact that he had served the district faithfully as Representative, and
deserved their suffrages for renomination. And then he began to discuss
political questions in general and his own merits in particular, so that
Kenneth and Mr. Watson, disgusted at the way in which the Honorable
Erastus had captured the meeting, left the school-house and indignantly
returned to Elmhurst.
"This man Hopkins," said Mr. Watson, angrily, "is not a gentleman.
He's an impertinent meddler."
"He ruined any good effect my speech might have created," said
Kenneth, gloomily.
"Give it up, my boy," advised the elder man, laying a kindly hand on
the youth's shoulder. "It really isn't worth the struggle."
"But I can't give it up and acknowledge myself beaten," protested
Kenneth, almost ready to weep with disappointment.
"Well, well, let's think it over, Ken, and see what can be done. Perhaps
that rascally Hopkins was right when he advised you to find some other

way to serve the community."
"I can't do better than to make it clean--to do away with these
disreputable signs," said the boy, stubbornly.
"You made a fine speech," declared Mr. Watson, gravely puffing his
pipe. "I am very proud of you, my lad."
Kenneth flushed red. He was by nature shy and retiring to a degree.
Only his pent-up enthusiasm had carried him through the ordeal, and
now that it was over he was chagrined to think