Upon the tables were immense sheets, yards in diameter, with lists of names. Back of the tables were immense piles of caps, badges and canes12. As fast as the owners of the names on the list appeared their names were checked and their invitation cards, which they threw down cheerily upon the table in company with a five-dollar bill, were marked paid and passed back for further use. At the other tables these cards were then good for a cap, a cane11, and two badges, all of which the members were expected to wear.
Energetic as were the half-dozen deputy commissioners,50 police sergeants, detective sergeants, ex-assemblymen and the like, who labored13 at this clerical task without coats or vests, they were no match for the throng15 of energetic Tammanyites who filed in and out, carrying their hats and canes away with them. Hundreds of clerks, precinct captains, wardmen, street-cleaners, two-thousand-dollar-a-year clerks, swarmed16 the spacious17 lobby and greeted one another in that perfunctory way so common to most political organizations. The “Hellos,” “Well, old mans,” “Well, how are things?” and “There goes” were as thick and all-pervading as the tobacco smoke which filled the rooms. Tammanyites in comfortable positions of all degrees moved about in new clothes and squeaky shoes. Distinct racial types illustrated18 how common is the trait of self-interest and how quick are the young Germans, Irish and Jews to espouse19 some cause or profession where self-interest and the simultaneous advancement20 of the power of some particular individual or organization are not incompatible21. Smilingly they greeted one another, with that assumption of abandon and good fellowship which was as evidently assumed for the occasion as could be. In the case of many it was all too plain that it was an effort to be as bright and genial22 as they appeared to be. However, they had mastered the externals and could keep a straight face. How hard those straight mouths could become, how defiant23 those narrow protruding24 jaws25, only time and a little failure on some one’s part would tell.
While the enthusiasm of this labor14 was at its highest51 Mr. Powers put in an appearance. He was as pictured. On this occasion, his clothes were plain black, his necktie black, his face a bright red, partially26 due to a recent, and very close shave. He moved about with catlike precision and grace, and everywhere politicians buttonholed or bowed to him, the while he smiled upon every one in the same colorless, silent and decidedly secret way.
“Mr. Powers, we’re going to run out of caps before long,” one official hurried forward to say.
“Dugan has that in charge,” he replied.
“I guess we’ll have a full attendance,” whispered another of those high in his favor.
“That’s good.”
While he was sitting in his rosewood-finished office at one side of the great room dozens of those who had come from other districts to pay their respects and buy a ticket looked in upon him.
“I’ll be with you in the morning, Michael,” said a jolly official from another district.
“Thank you, George,” he replied smiling. “We’ll have a fine day, I hope.”
“I hope so,” said the other.
Sitting about in their chairs, some of the older officials who had come to the club on this very special occasion fell into a reflective mood and dug up the conditions of the past.
“Do you remember Mike as an alderman, Jerry?”
“I do. There was none better.”
“Remember his quarrel with Murtha?”
“Brave as a lion, he was.”
“He was.”
“There’s no question of his nerve to-day.”
“None at all.”
“He’s a good leader.”
“He is.”
“How did Powers ever come to get his grip upon the district?” I inquired of an old office-holder who was silently watching the buzzing throng in the rooms before him.
“He was always popular with the boys,” he answered. “Long before the fortieth was ever divided he was popular with the boys of one section of it. Creamer was leader at that time.”
“Yes, but how did he get up?”
“How does anybody get up?” he returned. “He worked up. When he was assistant mechanic in the Fire Department, getting a hundred and twenty a month, he gave half of it away. Anybody could get money off him; that was the trouble. I’ve known him as a lad to give seventy-seven dollars away in one month.”
“Who was he, that he should distribute money so freely?”
“Captain of two hundred, of course. He wasn’t called upon to spend his own money, though.”
“And that started him?”
“He was always a smart fellow,” returned the speaker. “Creamer liked him. Creamer was a fighter53 himself. Mike was as brave as a lion. When they divided the district he got John Kelly to give Powers the other half. He did it, of course, because he could trust Powers to stand with him. But he did it, just the same.”
“Kelly was head of Tammany Hall then?”
“He was.”
While we were talking a cart-driver or street-cleaner made his way through the broad street-door towards the private office where so many others were, taking off his hat as he did so and waiting respectfully to one side. Dozens of young politicians were trifling29 about. The deputy commissioner8 of highways, the assistant deputy tax commissioner, the assistant deputy of the department of sewers, and others were lounging comfortably in the chief’s room. Three or four black-suited, priestly-looking assistants from the office of the chief of police were conferring in that wise, subtle and whispering way which characterizes all the conversation of those numerous aspirants30 for higher political preferment.
Some one stalked over to the waiting newcomer and said: “Well?”
“Is Mr. Powers here this evening?”
At the sound of his name the leader, who was lounging in his Russia-leather chair within, raised his head, and seeing the figure in the reception area, exclaimed:
“Put on your hat, old man! No one is expected to put off his hat here. Come right in!”
He paused, and as the street-sweeper approached he turned lightly to his satellites. “Get the hell out of here, now, and let this man have a chance,” he said54 quickly, the desire to be genial with all being apparent. The deputies came out of the room smiling and the old man was ushered31 in.
“Now, Mr. Cassidy,” I heard him begin, but slowly he moved around to the door and closed it. The conversation was terminated so far as we listeners from without were concerned. Only the profuse32 bowing of the old man as he came out, the “Thank ye, Mr. Powers, thank ye,” repeated and repeated, gave any indication as to what the nature of the transaction might have been.
While such incidents were passing the evening for some, the great crowd of ticket-purchasers continued. Hundreds upon hundreds filed in and out, some receiving a nod, some a mere33 glance of recognition, some only a scrutiny34 of a very peculiar35 sort.
“Are these all members of the club?” I asked of a friend, an ex-assemblyman and now precinct captain in the block in which I voted.
“They’re nearly all members of the district organization,” he replied.
“How many votes do you claim to control?”
“About five thousand.”
“How many votes are there in the district?”
“Ten thousand.”
“We’ve got to have,” he replied significantly. “There’s no going into a fight under Powers, unless he knows where the votes are. He won’t stand for it.”
While sitting thus watching the proceedings36, the hours55 passed and the procession thinned down to a mere handful. By midnight it looked as if all were over, and the leader came forth37 and quietly took his leave.
“Anything more, Eddie?” he asked of a peaked-face young Irishman outside his office door.
“Nothing that I can think of.”
“You’ll see to the building?” he asked the deputy commissioner of taxes.
“It’ll look like a May party in the morning, Chief.”
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收听单词发音
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1
loyalty
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| n.忠诚，忠心 | |
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palatial
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| adj.宫殿般的，宏伟的 | |
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chambers
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| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
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4
arena
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| n.竞技场，运动场所；竞争场所，舞台 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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6
afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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7
commissioners
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| n.专员( commissioner的名词复数 )；长官；委员；政府部门的长官 | |
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8
commissioner
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| n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员 | |
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9
sewers
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| n.阴沟，污水管，下水道( sewer的名词复数 ) | |
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10
sergeants
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| 警官( sergeant的名词复数 )； （美国警察）警佐； （英国警察）巡佐； 陆军（或空军）中士 | |
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11
cane
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| n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的 | |
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12
canes
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| n.（某些植物，如竹或甘蔗的）茎( cane的名词复数 )；（用于制作家具等的）竹竿；竹杖 | |
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13
labored
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| adj.吃力的，谨慎的v.努力争取(for)( labor的过去式和过去分词 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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14
labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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15
throng
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| n.人群，群众；v.拥挤，群集 | |
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swarmed
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| 密集( swarm的过去式和过去分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
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17
spacious
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| adj.广阔的，宽敞的 | |
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18
illustrated
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| adj. 有插图的，列举的 动词illustrate的过去式和过去分词 | |
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19
espouse
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| v.支持，赞成，嫁娶 | |
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20
advancement
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| n.前进，促进，提升 | |
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21
incompatible
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| adj.不相容的，不协调的，不相配的 | |
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genial
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| adj.亲切的，和蔼的，愉快的，脾气好的 | |
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23
defiant
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| adj.无礼的，挑战的 | |
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24
protruding
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| v.（使某物）伸出，（使某物）突出( protrude的现在分词 )；凸 | |
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25
jaws
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| n.口部；嘴 | |
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26
partially
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| adv.部分地，从某些方面讲 | |
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27
odds
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| n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别 | |
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28
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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29
trifling
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| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
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30
aspirants
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| n.有志向或渴望获得…的人( aspirant的名词复数 )v.渴望的，有抱负的，追求名誉或地位的( aspirant的第三人称单数 )；有志向或渴望获得…的人 | |
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31
ushered
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| v.引，领，陪同( usher的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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32
profuse
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| adj.很多的，大量的，极其丰富的 | |
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33
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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34
scrutiny
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| n.详细检查，仔细观察 | |
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35
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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36
proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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37
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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