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bold and valiant enough to pom- out deluges of hero
blood to erus*h an insurrection, which armed officers
of the law, police and militia, shrink from confront
ing.
Nevertheless, indications are not wanting that lead
to the conviction that the Leaguers have some people
guessing. Their long inaction is the puzzling thing.
Nobody thought in the beginning that tlie L. and 0.
L.'s dogs of war could be held in leash more than a
couple of hours after being given the scent. All
sorts of rumors are rife and countless conjectures
put forth to account for the delay. Adherents are
(piite numerous to the theory that the host is await
ing equipment before the inauguration of an ad
vance, such equipment to consist of drums and big
horns and like noisy adjuncts to militarism, and a
supply of honor medals to be awarded the survivors
of the first engagement with the implacable enemy,
that is, if there should be any survivors.
The suggestion has even been advanced by irre
verent persons that just as the onslaught was about
to begin, the League battalion discovered, to its im
mense chagrin, that in the confusion attending the
ceremonies of organization, the trivial matter of
mustering in some privates was overlooked and that,
consequently, the command is made up exclusively
of commissioned officers. If this state of affairs
exist, then the situation is complicated indeed. His
tory gives no precedent to guide the bewildered
commander —or commanders. Even the battalion of
mighty warriors created by the playwright, the late,
lamented Charles 11. Hoyt under the folds of ‘‘The
Milk White Flag.” boasted one private. But, be it
remembered, Hoyt enlisted his lone private for an
altogether unwarlike purpose; the private’s duties
were restricted to furnishing amusement for the
officers.
The Leaguers don't want any amusement, where
fore the necessity for a private in the ranks’ Is it
not known of all men that he who returns from the
field of sanguinary conflict and takes up the onerous
duties of public office (purely from motives of pat
riotism always), is a shoulder-strapper every time?
What good is a private anyhow, except to furnish
the dull background for the shining and resplendent
portrait of the commissioned officer ? Away with the
private!
(lo further onward, and you will meet a contin
gent ready with still another explanation. The
forces do not move because there is dissension in
camp as to where the bloody work shall begin. One
faction wants to start at the bottom and go upward.
This coterie avers that all substantial structures are
built that way. But, say the dissenters, water-wells
and post-holes and such like are pretty useful things,
and whoever heard of a post-hole having been be
gun at the bottom ? Besides, we desire that our
course of procedure shall syrflbolize to the wretches
the direction in which their souls shall travel should
they persist in their defiance of this command.
But there is an element —a large and distinguish
ed element, too —of Savannah’s citizenship who
find it impossible to speak of the Law and Order
Leaugue in a jocular vein. These are solid business
men and women of affairs who regard very seriously
the formation of an organization, the birth of which,
they say, heralds to the whole country that Savannah
is a hopelessly and helplessly lawless community
THE REASON
at this time, and that the exigencies of tin* situation
necessitate a resort to extreme measures for pro
tection by the calling into service of a body of citi
zens, banded together after the manner of the Vigi
lantes of Falifornia in 1549 and a part of the ”>os,
when orderly government had hardly been attempt
ed, and later in Galveston, Tex., covering the period
of tin* reign of terror which followed upon the heels
of the destruction of that city by the elements. No
one sent their families nor their capital to those sec
tion* during the troublous times. It it reasonable to
assume that prosperity will be hastened back to
Savannah by the publication broadcast that the local
and State authorities are inadequate to the task of
upholding the law?
One criticism which is frequently heard is that
the League is composed very largely of men who are
not in a position to suffer material loss by any dis
aster of n financial or commercial nature which
might visit the city, and that, therefore, it is peculi
arly exasperating that those persons should take
action inviting such disaster.
A DRAWN BATTLE.
The battle ends soon the Fourth of June
Will bring us rest from a blooming pest;
Hooray Hooray! Heaven speed the day,
When the scroll rolls down on Smith and Brown
When the bell is rung on pen and tongue;
When straw-vote fake, and vile muck-rake,
Shall scurry along, at the sound of a gong,
To lie in sleep, in a dungeon deep;
And no more lie in telling us why
‘‘They can’t beat Brown " or, “Smith gains
ground;”
Or, “Joe is dejected because Hoke is elected.”
Or, “Smith is done so he run for?”
Or “Joe has retreated, admittedly defeated.”
So, it can't be denied, “Somebody has lied.”
Brown seems to think lie's a winner with ink;
Smith’s got a tip, he can't lose with lip.
Joe writes: “Hoke is a pig in a poke,”
Hoke replies: “Joe would bring us great woe.”
“The bearer of woe,” pens little Joe,
“Is a pompous stiff, by the name of Smith.”
“Tis false,” cries Hoke, “you little-big bloke!
“You can only write, you dare not fight.”
“Fight, do you say? Sure, in my way,”
And Brown right then yanks up his pen:
Ho lands on Smith, with a corking biff,
And Hoke doth sink, 'neatb a flood of ink.
“Don't run, you chump,” yells Hoke from the
stump;
Joe skips back and, Zounds! what a whack!
’Tis a windpipe jolt that Smith has dolt
Brown's got a hunch, ’twas a rhetorical punch.
“Hold!” writes Joe, “for you darn well know,
“1 can't WRITE-hook a pneumatic crook.”
“Then 'tis a draw." says lie of the jaw.
“I can't soak a-blink a tank full of ink.”
—AI. Revd.
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