"No."
"Did you ever see it?"
"No."
"How do you know, then?"
"I am in the newspaper business, and I have ways of getting information that the ordinary person does not have," declared Springer with an air and tone of great importance.
Two Klansmen, standing near, heard this conversation. Each one had contributed to the funds for the colored Baptist Church and the Widow Armstrong donations; they had each paid only ten dollars initiation fee and knew that the organizer received only a small part of that; they had each taken the solemn obligation of a Klansman binding himself to support to the full extent of his ability the Constitution of the United States. As they moved away one remarked, "Springer is certainly a malicious liar or an ignoramus."
"'Verily, he hath his reward,'" the other remarked.
"Pray tell me what it is."
"I have heard that Aesop once said that there is a compensation for everything. A friend said, 'You are wrong! What compensation hath the fool?'
"Aesop replied, 'The fool has the joy of being wise in his own conceit.' If Aesop is correct, Springer should experience a great deal of joy."