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Main > Fairy tale > All authors > Frank Baum > Fairy tale "Aunt Jane's Nieces at Work"

Aunt Jane's Nieces at Work

He was himself a large stockholder in a

breakfast-food factory, which painted signs wherever it could secure

space. These signs were not works of art, but they were distinctly

helpful to business, and only a fool, in the opinion of the Honorable

Erastus, would protest against the inevitable.

What brought the legislator to the meeting was the fact that he was

coming forward for re-election in November, and believed that this

afforded a good chance to meet some of his constituents and make a

favorable impression. So he came early and shook hands with everyone

that arrived, and afterward took as prominent a seat as possible.

Indeed, the gathering had at first the appearance of being a political

one, so entirely did the Representative dominate it. But Mr. Watson took

the platform and shyly introduced the speaker of the evening.

The farmers all knew Mr. Watson, and liked him; so when Kenneth rose

they prepared to listen in respectful silence.

Usually a young man making his maiden speech is somewhat diffident; but

young Forbes was so thoroughly in earnest and so indignant at the

opposition that his plans had encountered that he forgot that it was his

first public speech and thought only of impressing his hearers with his

views, exulting in the fact that on this occasion they could not "talk

back," as they usually did in private when he tried to argue with them.

So he exhorted them earnestly to keep their homes beautiful and free

from the degradation of advertising, and never to permit glaring

commercialism to mar the scenery around them. He told them what he had

been able to accomplish by himself, in a short time; how he had redeemed

the glen from its disgraceful condition and restored it to its former

beauty. He asked them to observe Webb's pretty homestead, no longer

marred by the unsightly sign upon the barn. And then he appealed to them

to help him in driving all the advertising signs out of the community.

When he ended they applauded his speech mildly; but it was chiefly for

the reason that he had spoken so forcibly and well.

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