F. Colburn (Francis Colburn) Adams
Chapter 38
the prison cook. This dignitary has always laid something aside for
Spunyarn; he knows Spunyarn has something laid aside for him, which
makes the condition mutual.
"A new loafer let loose on the world!" says the vote-cribber,
entering the domain of the inebriate with a look of fierce scorn.
"The State is pestered to death with such things as you. What do
they send you here for?-disturbing the quiet and respectability of
the prison! You're only fit to enrich the bone-yard-hardly that;
perhaps only for lawyers to get fees of. The State 'll starve you,
old Hardscrabble 'll make a few dollars out of your feed-but what of
that? We don't want you here." There was something so sullen and
mysterious in the coarse features of this stalwart man-something so
revolting in his profession, though it was esteemed necessary to the
elevation of men seeking political popularity-something so at
variance with common sense in the punishment meted out to him who
followed it, as to create a deep interest in his history,
notwithstanding his coldness towards the inebriate. And yet you
sought in vain for one congenial or redeeming trait in the character
of this man.
"I always find you here; you're a fixture, I take it--"
The vote-cribber interrupts the inebriate--"Better have said a
patriot!"
"Well," returns the inebriate, "a patriot then; have it as you like
it. I'm not over-sensitive of the distinction." The fallen man drops
his head into his hands, stabbed with remorse, while the
vote-cribber folds his brawny arms leisurely, paces to and fro
before him, and scans him with his keen, gray eyes, after the manner
of one mutely contemplating an imprisoned animal.
"You need not give yourself so much concern about me--"
"I was only thinking over in my head what a good subject to crib, a
week or two before fall election, you'd be. You've a vote?"
Tom good-naturedly says he has. He always throws it for the "old
Charleston" party, being sure of a release, as are some dozen caged
birds, just before election.