Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 February 1910 — It Had Grown Crooked. [ARTICLE]

It Had Grown Crooked.

Everybody who had known old Henry admired him for the charity of his tongue when he spoke of his neighbors. ,It was his most marked characteristic—except the Independence which he manifested in his political affiliations. It made a young man who was visiting in the neighborhood curious, and one day he managed to lead up to the subject and ask the old man what had taught him to keep such a good watch on his tongue. “It was my father,” replied the old man, quietly. “A splendid man, as I remember him. He always disliked

to hear folks gossiping unkindly about each other. I’ve seen him, when they began it, get on his feet, just like a cow, grazing and gradually working toward a hole in the fence, and before any one knew it he’d be out of the room, so’s he couldn’t hear ’em. “He talked to me about it. ‘Henry ’ he’d say, ‘when you’re of age, never say anything about a man if you can’t say good of him, and always vote the straight party ticket.’” “But you don’t vote that way.” “Well, sir,” said Henry, “you see, my father said the straight party ticket; and when I came along to vote the pesky thing had got so crooked that I don t believe he’d have recognized it.”