Chapter 7

Torchlight Parade for a President

Late one September afternoon, Eddie lay on his stomach in the front yard, looking for a four-leaf clover. He had heard that finding a four-leaf clover would bring a person good luck. “What are you doing over there?” called his father.

“I’m looking for a four-leaf clover,” he said. “But so far I haven’t been able to find one.”

“Ach, is that all you have to do?” asked Papa, shaking his head. “You can find more important things to do than that.”

“Well, I’ve already fed the goats and put them in the pen back of the barn,” said Eddie. “While they are eating I thought I might find a four-leaf clover.”

“Forget that foolish stuff, son,” said Papa, starting on toward the house. “You can’t find luck. You make it.”

Eddie climbed to his feet and put his hands deep in his overall pockets. “Maybe Papa is right,” he thought. “I should make my own good luck instead of trying to find it.”

Later at the supper table, when Papa finished eating, he pushed back his plate and looked across the table at Eddie and Bill. “How would you boys like to go downtown with me tonight to see a torchlight parade for President William H. McKinley?” he asked. “The President is coming to Columbus to campaign for election to another four-year term.”

“Oh, great!” cried Bill. “I want to go.”

“So do I,” said Eddie excitedly. “Today I saw a big picture of President McKinley on a building downtown. Is he really a great President?”

“Yes, I think he is,” replied Papa. “He helped our country to win a quick victory in the war with Spain and he has helped working people to have better times. I’m getting along better with my work and making more money.”

“I know,” agreed Mama. “We have more money to spend on food and clothes.”

“That’s right,” said Papa, looking across the table. “For some time you have wanted me to build an addition to the house. Well, the way things are going, I think I can afford to build a couple of rooms this fall.”

Mama’s face flushed with happiness. “Now we won’t have to stay in the kitchen all the time.”

In a few minutes Papa and the two boys boarded a horse-drawn streetcar to go downtown. As they rode along Eddie said, “Today when I saw the picture of President McKinley there was a picture of another man beside him and it said, ‘Elect McKinley and Roosevelt.’ What is Mr. Roosevelt running for?”

“That was Theodore Roosevelt, who is running for Vice-President with President McKinley,” explained Papa. “He was a colonel in the Spanish-American War, and won an important battle.”

“Will he be in the parade tonight with President McKinley?” asked Eddie.

“No, I don’t think so,” replied Papa. “He probably is campaigning tonight in some other part of the country.”

When Papa and the boys arrived downtown, they saw a big banner reading, “Welcome President McKinley” over the street. The sidewalks were crowded with people waiting for the parade to start. Some were looking out of high windows and some were even hanging onto electric light poles to see.

A drummer boy came first, followed by some boys blowing horns. Next came columns of men carrying lighted torches which flashed and flickered in the darkness. After them came several brass bands with men in fancy uniforms playing lively music. Groups of men carrying signs urging people to vote for McKinley and Roosevelt walked between the bands. One sign which Papa especially liked read, “Vote for four more years with a full dinner pail.” (Image 7.1)

Image 7.1: A drummer boy came first, followed by some boys blowing horns.

Last in the parade came President McKinley, riding in a carriage drawn by four high-stepping bay horses. Every now and then he bowed and waved to the people, and they shouted wildly in return. “He certainly looks like a great man,” Eddie said to Bill as they stared admiringly at the carriage.

The parade ended at the state capitol building in the center of the city. The President left his carriage and climbed the broad steps of the building to make a speech. The torchbearers, bands, and people from the streets all poured onto the statehouse grounds and crowded around to listen. Eddie thought that he never had spent such an exciting evening in his life.

That fall, Eddie felt that he was old enough to get a job somewhere to begin to earn money. “Maybe I can get a job delivering papers,” he said to himself. One day he walked two miles downtown to the offices of a newspaper. He got a morning newspaper route that paid a dollar a week. “You’ll have to come early in the morning every day to pick up your papers,” said the man. “Can we count on your being here on time?”

Eddie quickly thought over the work he would have to do before going to school. First he would have to deliver his papers and afterwards do all his chores. “Yes, sir,” he replied. “I’ll be here on time every morning.”

During the following months, he trudged to the newspaper office before daylight each morning to pick up newspapers to deliver on his route. Many people praised him for delivering their papers early so they could read them before they went to work.

In late spring, he heard of a job picking straw-berries. This job would last only a few weeks, but he could make much more money each week than he was making on the paper route. He took this job, but it was extremely boring. Many times he wished he was back delivering papers again.

He found other things to do that did interest him. One day Eddie discovered that a pair of robins had built a nest in one of the trees in the back yard. After the eggs hatched, Eddie dug up worms to give to the robins for their babies. He watched them grow and even gave them scraps of food.

One Sunday morning after Eddie had dressed for church, he decided to go out and check on the robins before he left. As he looked up, he saw a big gray cat on the limb near the baby robins in their nest. “Hey, you old cat!” he called. “Come down from there.”

The cat simply crawled closer and stared at the baby robins. Trixie came and barked, and Eddie tried to frighten the cat by throwing a stick near it. The cat fell, landing on his head. Trixie jumped up on him trying to reach the cat—and the two adult robins flew down, trying to chase it away.

Almost immediately the cat leaped to the ground and ran fast for the barn, with Trixie chasing it. Then the two robins flew up to their baby birds in the nest. Once more everything was calm and peaceful in the back yard. Eddie reached up to rub the scratches on his head and went on to church. “How lucky I was to come out here when I did,” he thought.