



Produced by Rick Niles, John Hagerson, Josephine Paolucci, and the
Online Distributed Proofreading Team.





[Illustration: THE SENATOR AND "BUD" HAINES.]




A GENTLEMAN FROM MISSISSIPPI

A NOVEL

Founded on the popular play of the same title


PRODUCED UNDER THE MANAGEMENT OF WM.A. BRADY AND JOS.R. GRISMER




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS


THE SENATOR AND BUD HAINES

"FROM NEW YORK, EH? THE VICKSBURG OF THE NORTH"

"STRANGE, HOW THE LANGDON'S TREAT HIM AS A FRIEND"

THE SENATOR ACCEPTS AN INVITATION TO TEA

THE LANGDON FAMILY

"YOU'LL HAVE TO TAKE YOUR MEDICINE LIKE A MAN"

"TO-MORROW, AT 12.30"

"AFTER I HAVE FINISHED, I DARE ONE OF YOU TO DENY A WORD"




_INTRODUCTION_


_Here is a story of an epoch-making battle of right against wrong,
of honesty against corruption, of simplicity and sincerity against
deceit, bribery and intrigue. It is the story of to-day in this
country. It vitally concerns every man, woman and child in the United
States, so far-reaching is its influence.

The warfare is now going on--the warfare of honest men against corrupt
political machines.

The story tells the "inside" of the political maneuvers in Washington
and of the workings of bosses there and elsewhere--how they shape men
and women to their ends, how their cunning intrigues extend into the
very social life of the nation's capital. You will find inspiration in
the career of the honest old Southern planter elected to the United
States Senate and the young newspaper reporter who becomes his private
secretary and political pilot. Your heart will beat in sympathy with
the love of the secretary and the Senator's youngest daughter.

You will read of the lobbyists and find that not all of them are men.
You will see how avarice causes a daughter to conspire against her
father. You will hear the note of a gripping national tragedy in the
words of Peabody, the "boss of the Senate." But cause for laughter as
well will not be found lacking in this truly many-sided narrative._




A Gentleman from Mississippi

       *       *       *       *       *




CHAPTER I

PRACTICAL POLITICS

  That bids him flout the law he makes;
  That bids him make the law he flouts.

_--Kipling_.


In buoyant spirit the Hon. Charles Norton rode up the bridle path
leading through the Langdon plantation to the old antebellum homestead
which, on a shaded knoll, overlooked the winding waters of the Pearl
River. No finer prospect was to be had in all Mississippi than greeted
the eye from the wide southwest porch, where on warm evenings the
Langdons and their frequent guests gathered to dine or to watch the
golden splendor of the dying sun.

The Langdon family had long been a power in the South. Its sons fought
under Andrew Jackson at New Orleans, under Zachary Taylor in the war
with Mexico, and in the Civil War men of that name left their blood
on the fields of Antietam, Shiloh, the Wilderness and Gettysburg. But
this family of fighting men, of unselfish patriots, had also marked
influence in the ways of peace, as real patriots should. Generations
of Langdons had taken deepest pride in developing the hundreds of
acres of cotton land, whose thousands of four-foot rows planted each
April spread open the silvery lined bolls in July and August, and the
ripened cotton fiber, pure white beneath the sun, gave from a distance
the picture of an expanse of driven snow.

The Hon. Charles Norton had reason for feeling well pleased with the
world as he fastened his bay Virginia hunter to a convenient post
and strode up the steps of the mansion, which was a characteristic
survivor of the "old South," the South of gilded romance and of
gripping tragedy. Now in this second year of his first term as
Congressman and a promising member of the younger set of Southern
lawyers, he had just taken active part in securing the election of
Colonel William H. Langdon, present head of the family, to the United
States Senate, though the ultimate action of the Legislature had been
really brought about by a lifelong friend of Colonel Langdon, the
senior Senator from the State, James Stevens, who had not hesitated to
flatter Norton and use him as a cat's-paw. This use the Hon. Charles
Norton seemed to consider an honor of large proportions. Not every
first-term Congressman can hope for intimacy with a Senator. Norton
believed that his work for Langdon would win him the family's
gratitude and thus further his ambition to marry