Chapter Eight
A NEW SENATOR—A RAILWAY JOURNEY—THE ROSE OF THE FIELD AND THE ROSES OF THE GARDEN
Crane was in nowise disappointed at the sensation
his published letter made. The justice of his position
was at once apparent. But it was equally apparent
that he was making a serious break in the
political dykes which held the party together in his
State against the ocean of the party opposed to it.
Under Senator Bicknell's rule, insubordination had
gradually crept in. The late landslide, which had
elected a Congress in opposition to the party in
power, increased the importance of States like
Crane's, where the balance of power shifted about
every ten years between the two parties. Senator
Bicknell, in the seclusion of his boudoir—for such
was his luxurious den in reality—tore his hair and
used all of the expletives permissible in polite society.
In a week or two Governor Sanders, without
