Show the un ale Us my by ETHEL HUESTON 0 bobbi co service savl THE STORY TIMS FAR FAB lett left orphans by a tragic automobile accident which claimed the lives ot of their mother and father three sisters helen adele and limpy are visited by their aunt olympia Olymp la politically minded wife of senator delaporte delaporta Slop shire she insists that the girls return with her to washington to make their home with them in addition to loving the girls aunt olympia knows they will be a terrific political asset senator Slop shire has as his political opponent one brother wilkie a minister whose political campaign Is furthered by seven u unspeakable brats who sit on the rostrum with him while he makes speeches aunt olympia and the senator kind and loving nevertheless know that their three nieces will mean votes tor for the senator senator Slop shire a pleasantly foggy individual iwho who depends on the astuteness of his wife prepares tor for their coming though limpy the youngest Is 16 and helen the oldest Is 21 the senator buys them all the toys and gifts he can find feeling that children should be occupied when they first meet their uncle laney lancy as he Is to be known the girls take him to their united bosom soon adele most beautiful of the sisters meets len hardesty publicity man tor for brother wilkie wilkle though it Is lens job to help defeat the senator lie be promptly falls in love with adele CHAPTER IV continued 6 the senator coughed deprecatingly ashes joking adele this Is pre election stuff before election day shell be telling me with force tul ful if inelegant expletives that if I 1 ever run tor for anything again shell divorce and probably deneck de neck me this is before the campaign stuff my very words sold said aunt olympia complacently 1 I forgot my quotes admitted uncle lancy what a cocky little fool I 1 was brick helen wrote home to iowa to think I 1 could learn this racket in one year aunt olympias been in it right from the cradle or at least from the marriage al altar and she says its still so much haywire to her it seems to be mostly luck and getting the breaks and of course seizing opportunity before the opposition gets hold of it aunt olympia says it if she watch every breath the senator draws hed get himself impeached before breakfast but I 1 am learning a little I 1 think theres one thing ive learned and this is important weve got to get over that provincial feeling that political opponents are social lepers to be snubbed and ostracised ostracized and passed by on the other side aunt olympia says it is a sign of superiority to hobnob with the opposition except at the polls of course she says it ft is only little fry who carry political animosities further than the congressional record and I 1 must say she lives up to her philosophy ive met quite a number of republican wives and they are very nice to me and ask me to their meetings and teas and aunt olympia encourages me to go sometimes she goes with me really brick they are amazing uncle laney lancy and she take len hardesty tor for instance he I 1 is s here half the time mooning over aver adele mostly but always showing up pt at the dinner table and the cocktail tray and last week who should breeze in unexpectedly but brother wilkie the governor running against uncle laney lancy he phoned and auntie asked him to dinner and he came they were lovely to him and aunt olympia asked him to ask the blessing aunt olympia was far deeper in the campaign than either the girls or the senator realized she spent two hours every morning carefully conning the important dailies from home and making notes of things to be attended to cards of congratulations from herself and the senator to everyone having babies or getting married condolences for illness and death approval of the activities of clubs and church organizations with pertinent suggestions and offering operation cooperation co and she painstakingly with well concealed bitterness received every constituent who happened to be in washington and telephoned or called by the first of april olympia had completed plans for the campaign entourage deciding g on a motor trailer to insure the domesticity of the family with beds kitchen and cozy dinette we wont have to eat there much she assured the girls kindly just enough to get good photos of how domestic and homey we are with you girls tripping prettily around at your work well have hilda send us a crate of cooked food every day she campaign with wilh us oh no nol except in the scandinavian districts where she sits at the table with us not in the rest of the state the average voter thinks if a senator can afford a mald maid hes getting too much money there would be a sound truck for the senators speeches and in addition to their own big car a couple of secondhand fords tor for the staff visiting reporters et al she fretted a good deal over tha sound truck having ideas of her own on that important matter it must have microphones both inside and on the drivers seat on the drivers seat to show the senator off in good weather and inside for rain raina the senator catches cold if he gets wet 0 after consulting and personally inspecting every make of trailer and sound truck on the market she decided to buy from some home dealer of course old rundown run down antiquated cars that could be rebuilt the shabbier the better on the outside she explained to the girls to take some of the gravel off that new cars look royal but dont worry well tave lave the best and most modern en ines installed under the rusty foods like ilk uncle joe cannon with silk underwear under his homey homespun well have them rebuilt from the tires up on the inside fortunately the works dont show aunt olympia knew her congressional record better than her alice in wonderland she went straight back to the campaign sho she sent up to maysville het hei home town and the state capital for a moor moor dealer and had him come to washington at the senators expense to get her ideas she had drawn rough drafts of what she desired both in trailer and trunk but the expert did not comprehend them readily why its as simple as a a logarithm she said irritably for the sound truck we want a secondhand rundown run down delivery wagon an enclosed one of course put in the best works you can get hold of get a good sound man to wire it with miles on the drivers seat as well as inside build cabinets of shelves and drawers along the inside to put papers and books in and leave room for a good easy chair for the senator because his feet swell before the end of the cam the senator coughed ly ashes joking my dear he said palan and put in long narrow windows on each side for ventilation that simple cimpi e enough what color you want this painted 1 I dont want it painted she said exasperatedly no haintl I 1 want rust and mud and scratches and dents but no paint if its painted when you get it you set fire to it or soak it in acid Is that clear the month of april she devoted to planning the girls campaign wardrobes on these she spared neither time talent nor expense she had the best dressmakers and designers in washington at work there were graceful girlish dresses tor for afternoon and for dinner here were sport clothes bath tog ng suits riding costumes there were fetching little costumes of finest gingham for their dainty housework about the trailer aunt olympia persistently referred to these as their cottons why cotton Aun auntie tle demanded limpy we dont raise cotton up there do dowe we no darling said aunt olympia beaming approval tor for tier her acumen we dont raise cotton but we we have nineteen large cotton mills and they employ at ai least ten thousand constituents although oil all their dresses were what aunt olympia called vote getters to the last ribbon and the smallest button she reserved her most passionate interest tor for what whai she called their windup wind up ensembles the senator winds up with a huge rally the big night you catch a lot of vote voters rs floaters they are it if you handle the windup wind up right your windup wind up costumes are to be chef doeu absolutely chef doeu it cant be the s same ame as hors doeu limpy assured her sisters not even aunt olympia would expect them to eat us 1 I trust len hardesty said aunt olympia Olymp la not if adele looks as well as I 1 expect let me see that will be the first week of 0 november fall fail dresses felt hats wide sweeping black tor for helen with litle white doodads doo dads droopy white tor for limpy with long ion g black streamer 1 1 I suppose im to go bareheaded said adele no no dar darling lingi I 1 not quite teeny black and white something or other with a bit of a veil and my only y regret Is that len hardesty wont be there to see it hed strangle the brats with his bare hands helen did not follow the preliminary campaign activities as closely as tier her sisters studying the political racket kept her fairly busy she read the congressional record conscientiously if borelly bo she spent hours visiting the ae senators commit tees bees and trying to make heads and tails of things which make sense to an average intelligence like hers she hung over the gallery of the house as if she had become a fixture there aunt olympia at last reached a stage of her preparations where she felt impelled to ask the senators advice del how about a publicity man tor for our campaign why were going to have dave cooper hes the best we can get since lens tied up ive already spoken to him about it lies hes work ing on it now yes of course tor for you she said significantly but how bow about the girls here the senator wisely said nothing but the girls rose to it for weve had enough publicity to last us a life lifetimes timet heavens auntie do we rate a publicity man oh hell only be an assistant to dave cooper but well need someone to handle our end of it davell be pretty busy we need someone more sentimental for sob stun stuff heart interest human appeal let me see um ahl del what would you think of well what would you think of say someone like cecil dodd the senator came to with a snap cecil dodal cecil dodd my dearl dear the senator put on an extra pair of glasses to regard her more severely why ollie cecil dodd know the first wing about poli hed never get to first base in fact hed never even get to bat hes never been in a campaign in his life cecil dodd well cecil dodd is what I 1 call a sofa sitter but ive heard tt it expressed more forcibly and perhaps with more truth oh hes not so dumb olympia rose to the argument hes chock full of human appeal full of adjectives why he knows adjectives I 1 ive ve never even heard oil hes the loudest exponent of youth and beauty in washington do you remember those articles he wrote when sissy graves was killed in an airplane accident A dozen people were killed and some of them important but he wrote about Sissy with so much heart appeal that everybody forgot all about the rest of them and made tt ft her exclusive fatality I 1 know it brought tears to my eyes 1 I dont go in tor for tears in a campaign he said more on the defensive than the girls had ever seen him there going to be anything milksop about this campaign its going to be muddy hes a fine dancer he rides horseback and plays tennis and golf and has taken prizes tor for swimming and diving del try to forget your personal political aspirations for once in your life and think of these poor dear chil childrens childre drent nl dont you want them to have any amusement do you expect them to listen to you make speeches and shake hands for six months with no exercise no fresh air and no no young companionship ion ton ship this put a different light on the matter the senator took off kofl both pairs of glasses and set to wiping one so he assented 1 I mean to be selfish my dear the children come first of course but I 1 dont suppose we can get him I 1 dont think he could tear himself away from the sofas long enough we can get him said olympia ive already spoken to him just tentatively you understand asking why he get into the political end of it and he said he wanted to but never got the breaks we can get him A happy smile her face walt wait till len hardesty hears chist len hardesty was not long hearing it it ile he dropped in on them the next night iladio had to fly down tie he said cheerfully got to fly back too the governors going tightwad on me im glad you came len said olympia heartily almost fondly 1 I want to ask your advice about something A guarded guarded expression settled over his face oh you do eh then youre up to something im against ile he braced himself to re ceide it all right lets leta have it its deau wrong and you know it olympia laughed happily oh its really nothing or I 1 be asking your advice its a mere amere detail its about a publicity man tor for the campaign you know those publicity I 1 y gangsters better than we do len who had thought he was prepared for iny anything thing was genuinely surprised publicity mant man why you dumb cluck arent you having dave coop er if youre not better gel gei him and get him quid quick lies hes tops dont be silly len of course having him for the sen a ator tor but weve got to have an assistant you see theres going to be quite a cavalcade of us what with the trailer and the tent and the sound truck and three cars we dont want anybody to work day and night tor for us were not lik like some candidates who expect a pool publicity man to live move and have his being with seven brats and a trumpeting beldame bellame bel dame 1 I smell a rat said len har desty you never gave me an a assistant ssi stant but were a much larger party this year you silly dunce no definitely I 1 am for or you laboring classes and I 1 will not have poor old dave imposed on and worked to death not even for the senator but well vell expect his assistant chiefly to handle our end of it mine and the girls when the senator and dave are oft off on their flying junkets and were cooped up in the trailer well need someone rather young and fairly presentable dont you think so he can be a sort of companion to the girls when dancing and riding and swimming and you know yourself len that fairly presentable sen table publicity men are hard to ket get J dont know that ive ever seen one im sory sorry I 1 spent the money to fly down he said grimly it if im to pick out a man for you seems to me you ought to pay the bill out of your expense account unfortunately we a per club like the governor she disclaimed quickly besides darling I 1 dont expect you to pick him out what I 1 was afraid of he admitted gloomily now lets get gel this straight ollie you speak ol of your cavalcade of tars ars it to be A campaign for reelection re election or a specially conducted young ladies tour with a presentable escort I 1 the election comes first of 0 course but after all the senator un uncle cle laney lancy and I 1 cannot overlook our responsibility to these poor dear children we must provide for them as best we can even in tho the exigencies of a campaign who would you suggest t 1 I suggest anybody id suggest putting the girls in jail till I 1 get rid of the governor they dont need an escort dave cooper can handle them true hes no don auant hes forty and tat fat and married and chews tobacco but he con can give you all the pu publicity you need and more than you merit 1 I was thinking of someone like well how about cecil dodd cecil dodal lord ollie it I 1 you upholster your trailer in purple du vety betyn n and silken cushions elect the governors Gover norl cecil dodal ollie weve had our occasional cas ional differences but ive always a admired you as a straight shooting shoulder to shoulder old trooper cecil dodd I 1 do you want to shatter a 01 young ol mans fondest illusions cecil 11 do you lantto want to shatter shii iter a young mans fondest illusions dodal youre not taking him to play politics youre taking him to gum up my works lie he writes very beautiful and |