Davies Herkimer, the noted political economist, said of modern politics
in an address on reform that he recently delivered:
"Modern politics are entirely too tricky. The average candidate when he
enters the political struggle lets plain dealing go by the board. What,
then, is the result? The result is something altogether worthless,
something that reminds me of a Western clergyman.
"This clergyman was very fond of cider. His congregation, meeting
secretly last autumn, decided that it would surprise him with a hogshead
of the beverage he loved and arranged to hold a surprise party at the
manse, each guest to bring a demijohn of cider and to empty it into a
huge hogshead in the garden. The party duly came off. The guests brought
their demijohns, emptied them into the hogshead and feasted afterward in
the manse on apples, nuts and gingerbread.
"At the height of the feasting the clergyman host was told of the full
hogshead that stood without the door, and, overjoyed, the good man said
to his servant:
"'Jane, take a pitcher, fill it at the hogshead, and bring it in that we
may sample it.'
"The maid withdrew into the darkness and soon returned with a pitcher
brimming with--clear water!
"Each tricky guest had filled his demijohn at the pump, thinking that
amid so much cider his aqueous contribution would escape unnoticed. But
this trickery, like the trickery of modern politics, had been a little
too unanimous."