There are, as we know, two kinds
of activity on these occasions, one being set to observe
the other; and Walter Winter's boys, while presumably
neglecting no legitimate opportunity of their own, claimed
to have been highly successful in detecting the methods
of the other side.
The Indians owed their holdings, their allowances, their
school, and their protecting superintendent, Squire
Ormiston, to a Conservative Government. It made a grateful
bond of which a later Conservative Government was not,
perhaps, unaware, when it added the ballot to its previous
benefits. The Indians, therefore, on election-days, were
supposed to "go solid" for the candidate in whom they
had been taught to see good will. If they did not go
quite solid, the other side might point to the evolution
of the political idea in every dissentient--a gladdening
spectacle, indeed, on which, however, the other side
seldom showed any desire to dwell.
Hitherto the desires and intentions of the "Reserve" had
been exemplified in its superintendent. Squire Ormiston
had never led his wards to the polls--there were strong
reasons against that. But the squire made no secret of
his politics, either before or, unluckily, after he
changed them. The Indians had always known that they were
voting on the same side as "de boss.
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