from Letcher and feudal Harlan,
beyond the Big Black--and not a man
carried a weapon in sight, for the stern
spirit of that Police Guard at the Gap
was respected wide and far. Into the
town, which sits on a plateau some twenty
feet above the level of the two rivers that
all but encircle it, they poured, hitching
their horses in the strip of woods that runs
through the heart of the place, and broad
ens into a primeval park that, fan-like,
opens on the oval level field where all
things happen on the Fourth of July.
About the street they loitered--lovers hand
in hand--eating fruit and candy and drinking
soda-water, or sat on the curb-stone,
mothers with babies at their breasts and
toddling children clinging close--all
waiting for the celebration to begin.

It was a great day for the Hon. Samuel
Budd. With a cheery smile and beaming
goggles, he moved among his constituents,
joking with yokels, saying nice things to
mothers, paying gallantries to girls, and
chucking babies under the chin. He felt
popular and he was--so popular that he
had begun to see himself with prophetic eye
in a congressional seat at no distant day;
and yet, withal, he was not wholly happy.