"And I suppose you intend to vote the straight ticket right along?"
"I may or I may not," said the youth, with some spirit. "I reserve for myself the right to vote for the best candidate, especially in local affairs."
"Then,—ahem—perhaps you haven't got into just the right place. This is a straight organization, you know. Maybe you can find an 'independent'" (pronounced with scorn) "organization somewhere in the ward. I rather think that is where you belong. We have found these 'independents' a sort of obstruction to the transaction of business,—a kind of kickers, you know, though of course, you might not turn out so. Still,"—with decision,—"you really don't belong here."
"I was mad clear through," said the youth, in relating the story later. "I was disgusted with the looks of the man and with those who were in there with him. I just turned on my heel and left, and I haven't darkened that door again."
Was that patriotic? Was not that boy deliberately turning over the government of his city to "boodlers" and "grafters"?
"But," you may say, "should he have stayed on where he was not wanted?"
Certainly he should. He had a right there, as any citizen had. He should have taken time to find other voters like himself, which he could no doubt have done, and together they could have maintained themselves. He saw that this man and his companions were not proper persons to have control of an organization of his party, and he should have done his best, even at the sacrifice of considerable time, to oust them and get better men in. He was no patriot.