Show E the honorable uncle lancy lan C y 1 by ETHEL HUESTON I 0 bobbs morrill mal co THE STORY THUS FAR FAB lett lef t sot 0 orphans 7 ans by a tragic automobile accident which claimed the lives ol of their mother and ather three sisters listers helen adele and campy are visited visit edby by their aunt olympia Olymp la politically minded wife ol 01 senator delaporte to hire that the guru return with her to washington to mako heir air home them in addition to loving the garli aunt olympia knori they will be a c political asset senator hai ai hla political opponent one 0 brother r jtb ea r a minister whose political campaign it furthered by seven unspeakable brats who sit on the rostrum with him while he makes speeches aunt lymp olympia a and the senator kind and loving nevertheless know that their three nieces ec wi will U mean votes tor the senator senator a pleasantly foggy individual dual who depends on the astuteness astute neis of his wife prepares or their coming though limpy the youngest Is in 16 26 and helen the ate a oldest est Is 21 the senator buys a them em an all the 0 toys toy and gifts gift he can find fee feeling 9 that children should 0 d be b 0 occupied cu e when en they e first st meet their uncle lancy as he Is to be known the e gir girls take a him M to their e united bosom soon adele most beautiful of the sisters meets len n harde hardesty publicity man tor for brother wilkie though it Is leas job to bel help defeat the senator he be promptly falls in love with adele CHAPTER IV continued 4 ahe a senator coughed deprecating ty y shea joking adele this Is ii pre election stuff before election day shell be telling me with forceful if inelegant expletives that if I 1 ever run for anything again shell divorce and probably deneck de neck me this is before the campaign stuff 1 zy my very words said aunt baia pia complacently r forgot my quotes admitted f uncle lancy what a cocky little fool I 1 was ar brick I 1 ck 11 helen wrote home to iowa to think I 1 could learn this racket in one year aunt olympias Olymp lat been in it right from the cradle or r at least from the marriage altar and she says bays 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 if she watch every breath the senator draws hed get himself impeached before breakfast but I 1 am learning a little I 1 bink ink theres eres one thing ive learned tand rid 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 Is only little fry who carry t ical animosities further farther than the gressional Bress ional a I 1 record and I 1 must nf she lives fives 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 g uncle lancy and she take ken n hardesty tor for instance he is are re half the time mooning over ivadele dele mostly but always showing up p at the dinner table and the cocktail tray and last week who should breeze in unexpectedly but brother wilkle wilkie the governor running against uncle 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 t olympia was far deeper in the campaign than either the girls or the senator realized she spent two hours every morning care carefully full y 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 for illness and death approval of the activities of clubs and church viburch 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 nad completed plans for the campaign entourage deciding on a motor trailer to insure the domesticity of the family with beds kitchen and 0 O dinette dinette we wont have to eat there much uch she assured the girls kindly just enough to get good photos TO 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 us oh not 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 maid hes getting too much money there would be a sound truck tor for the senators speeches and in addition ti on to their own big car a couple of secondhand fords for the staff visiting reporters et al al she fretted a bood deal over the sound truck flang ng ideas of her own on that imant matter it must have microphones both inside and on the drivers pr rivers ivers seat on the drivers seat to show the senator oil off in good weather and inside for rain the senator catches cold it if he gets wet 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 alec new cars look royal istle but dont worry well have lave the best and postmodern most modern engines installed under the rusty load floods like 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 she sent up to maysville her home town and the state capital tor for a motor dealer and had him come to washington at the senators expense to get her ideas she had drawn rough drafts pt of what she desired both ta 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 a s 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 bis feet swell before the end of the cam 7 4 the S senator nato r coughed deprecate ig ly ashes joking my dear he said palan laign and put in long narrow windows on each side for ventilation that simple enough what color you want this painted 1 I don dont t 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 ot of april she devoted pretty largely 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 tor for dinner here were sport clothes bathing 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 we no darling said aunt olympia beaming approval tor for her acumen we dont raise cotton but we have nineteen large cotton mills mill s and they employ at least ten thousand constituents although 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 she called their windup wind up ensembles the senator winds up with a huge rally thais the big night you catch a lot of voters floaters they are 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 same 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 not if adele looks aswell as I 1 expect t let me see that will be the first week of november fall dresses felt hats wide sweeping black tor for helen heen with little white doodads doo dads droopy white for or limpy with ion long black stream streamers ets 1 I suppose im to go bareheaded said laid adele no mo no dar darling lingl not quite teeny black and white something or other with a bit of a veil and my only regret li Is that len hardesty wont be there to tee see it hed strangle the brats with his bis bare hands 1 helen did not follow the pre preliminary liml campaign activities as closely 81 as her sisters studying the political cal racket kept her fairly busy she read the congressional record conscientiously if borelly bo she spent hours visiting the senators committees and trying to make heads and tails of things which make sense to an average intelligence like hers she hung over the gallery oj 01 the house as it 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 hes working on it now yes of course for you she said significantly but how about the girls here the senator wisely said nothing but the girls rose to it for weve had enough publicity to last us a lifetimes 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 stuff heart interest human appeal L let at me see um ahl del what would you think of well what would y you OU think of say sor someone neone like cecil dodd the senator came to with a snap cecil dodal cecil dodd my dearl the senator put on an extra pair of glasses to regard her more severely verely ee why ollie cecil dodd know the first thing about politics political hed never get to first base in fact hed never even get to bat hes never been in a campaign in his bis life cecil dodd well cecil dodd is what I 1 call a sofa sitter but ive heard 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 ive never even heard of 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 w were ere 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 ma made de it 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 bad ever seen him there going to be any thing milksop about this campaign its going to be muddy hes a fine dancer he be rides hel horseback h orsea k and plays tennis and gou golf and has taken prizes for swimming and diving del try to forget your personal political aspirations for once to in your life and think of these poor dear chil children drent 1 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 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 Olymp la ive already spoken to him lust 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 bears thial len hardesty was not long hearing it he dropped in on them the next night had to fly down 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 1 want to ask your advice about something A guarded expression settled over his face oh you do eh then youre up to something im against he braced himself to receive it all right lets 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 detail its about a publicity man tor for the campaign you know those publicity gangsters better than we do len who had thought he was prepared tor for anything was genuinely surprised publicity mant why you dumb cluck arent you ha having ving dave coor 1 er it if youre not better get him an and get gel him quick hes tops lop dont be silly len of 0 course we were re having him for the senator but weve got to have an bislis assistant you see theres going to be quite a cavalcade of us what whal with the trailer and the tent and the sound truck and three cars we dont want anybody to work day and night for or us were not like uk some c candidates andi dates who expect a poor 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 hardesty you never gave in me e an assistant but were a much larger party this year you silly dunce no definitely I 1 am for you laboring classes and I 1 will pot have poor old dave imposed on and worked to death not even for the senator but well expect his assistant chiefly to handle our end of it mine and the girls when the senator and dave are off on their flying junkets and were re 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 get I 1 dont know that ive ever seen one im sorry I 1 spent the money tc fly down he said grimly if im to pick out a man for you seems to me you ought to pay the bill out of your expense account I 1 unfortunately we ha vent a percentage club like the gove governor anor she disclaimed quickly besides darling I 1 dont expect you to pick him out what I 1 was afraid of he ha admitted gloomily now lets gel this straight ollie you speak of 0 your cavalcade of cars it to be A campaign for reelection election re or a specially conducted young Is ladles adles tour with a presentable escort the election comes first ol of course but after all the senator uncle lancy and I 1 cannot overlook our responsibility to these poor poo r dear children we must provide tor for them as ai best we can even in 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 thi the governor they dont need an escort dave cooper can handle them true hes no don juall hes forty and tat fat and married and chews tobacco but he can give you all the publicity you need and more than you merit 1 I was thinking of someone me like well how about cecil dodd cecil dodal lord ollie it if you upholster your trailer in purple du betyn and silken cushions elect the governors Gover norl Jec cecil ll dodal ouie ollie weve had our occasional cas ional lonal differences but ive always admired you as a straight shooting shoulder to shoulder old |