Mordaunt, Son of Trouble

MORDAUNT, SON OF TROUBLE 775 a mere summer flirtation to her had left him scarred for years. The woman that he afterward married became an invalid. That taught him patience. He had been sent as a buffer between disgruntled set- tlers and the stockholders of an irrigation project. He emerged from this experience at the end of five years with little but courage. His partner died and left him with unsettled debts. Somehow he had paid them. It taught him resourcefulness. Elected county com- missioner he had antagonized the boulevardiers by building good roads for the farmers. His son, a foolish youth, was an automobile fiend and had injured a child. At the state convention Stokes, a professional politician, and Baker, an industrial millionaire, had tied for the governorship. Steve Mordaunt, the dark horse, had been led out and raced to victory. The Governor, before Hamer arrived, had gone into his secret chamber to pray. On the wall hung a picture of the martyr president, Abra- ham Lincoln. He had decreed that one human being could not own another. To carry his point he had plunged a nation into the red destruction of war. That he had carried it through to its successful conclusion was because he had been trained to it by the vicissitudes of life. Mordaunt remembered as a schoolboy that he had counted up thirty-two things that Abe Lincoln had tried before he became presi- dent of the United States. The governor wondered if the hardships that he had been through would make him any match for Hamer, the Richelieu of the state — the man who was not heard of much in pub- lic, but whose Italian hand was felt everywhere. Mr. Hamer was announced. The interview that followed sap- ped Mordaunt's strength. He had met a "foeman worthy of his steel." Victory lies with the offensive and the governor threatened to attack the mine owners' patents on information unearthed by the attorney general before Hamer finally capitulated. He agreed to get the stockholders to compromise with the workers. The governor had won, Hamer extended his hand. "Mordaunt, when we chose a governor, we had to have a man with integrity, one who would stand for the right as he saw it. New enterprizes were opening in the state and we wanted a man we could depend on. I thought you were such a one. I have found I was not mistaken. Strangely spent, Mordaunt sank into a chair. The words of an old doctor came to him, "When nature wants to make a beautiful landscape, before she arranges her foliage, she brings out her scrub- bing brush, gets down on her knees and goes to work. She grinds the rock, launches the storm, directs the water, and works for ages before she plants her seed." So Mordaunt had learned to do the unpleasant things of life. He thought, "When God wants to make a man, he trains him with -ordeals and trouble, that he may become strong to do his work."