Produced by Rick Niles, John Hagerson, Josephine Paolucci, and the
Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
[Illustration: THE SENATOR AND "BUD" HAINES.]
Founded on the popular play of the same title
_Here is a story of an epoch-making battle of right against wrong,of honesty against corruption, of simplicity and sincerity againstdeceit, bribery and intrigue. It is the story of to-day in thiscountry. It vitally concerns every man, woman and child in the UnitedStates, so far-reaching is its influence.
The warfare is now going on—the warfare of honest men against corruptpolitical machines.
The story tells the "inside" of the political maneuvers in Washingtonand of the workings of bosses there and elsewhere—how they shape menand women to their ends, how their cunning intrigues extend into thevery social life of the nation's capital. You will find inspiration inthe career of the honest old Southern planter elected to the UnitedStates Senate and the young newspaper reporter who becomes his privatesecretary and political pilot. Your heart will beat in sympathy withthe love of the secretary and the Senator's youngest daughter.
You will read of the lobbyists and find that not all of them are men.You will see how avarice causes a daughter to conspire against herfather. You will hear the note of a gripping national tragedy in thewords of Peabody, the "boss of the Senate." But cause for laughter aswell will not be found lacking in this truly many-sided narrative._
A Gentleman from Mississippi
* * * * *
That bids him flout the law he makes;
That bids him make the law he flouts.
—Kipling.
In buoyant spirit the Hon. Charles Norton rode up the bridle pathleading through the Langdon plantation to the old antebellum homesteadwhich, on a shaded knoll, overlooked the winding waters of the PearlRiver. No finer prospect was to be had in all Mississippi than greetedthe eye from the wide southwest porch, where on warm evenings theLangdons and their frequent guests gathered to dine or to watch thegolden splendor of the dying sun.
The Langdon family had long been a power in the South. Its sons foughtunder Andrew Jackson at New Orleans, under Zachary Taylor in the warwith Mexico, and in the Civil War men of that name left their bloodon the fields of Antietam, Shiloh, the Wilderness and Gettysburg. Butthis family of fighting men, of unselfish patriots, had also markedinfluence in the ways of peace, as real patriots should. Generationso