CHAPTER IV.
KENNETH TAKES A BOLD STEP "This man Hopkins gets on my nerves," said Mr.Watson, a week or two after the eventful meeting in the school-house.

He was at the breakfast table opposite Kenneth, and held up a big, glaring post-card which was in his mail.
"What is it now ?" asked the boy, rousing himself from a fit of abstraction.
"An announcement offering himself for renomination at the primaries.
It's like a circus advertisement.

Isn't it a shame to think that modern politics has descended to such a level in our free and enlightened republic ?" Kenneth nodded, stirring his coffee thoughtfully.

He had lost his spirit and enthusiasm since the meeting, and was fast relapsing into his old state of apathy and boredom.

It grieved Mr.Watson to note this.
"Hopkins isn't fit to be the Representative for this district," observed the old gentleman, with sudden energy.
The boy looked at him.
"Who is Hopkins ?" he asked.
"His mother once kept a stationery shop in town, and he was stable boy at the hotel.