Miss Caroline Wynn
Bles Alwyn was seated in the anteroom of Senator Smith’s office in Washington. The Senator had not come in yet, and there were others waiting, too.
The young man sat in a corner, dreaming. Washington was his first great city, and it seemed a never-ending delight‚ÅÝ‚Äîthe streets, the buildings, the crowds; the shops, and lights, and noise; the kaleidoscopic panorama of a world‚Äôs doing, the myriad forms and faces, the talk and laughter of men. It was all wonderful magic to the country boy, and he stretched his arms and filled his lungs and cried: ‚ÄúHere I shall live!‚Äù
Especially was he attracted by his own people. They seemed transformed, revivified, changed. Some might be mistaken for field hands on a holiday‚ÅÝ‚Äîbut not many. Others he did not recognize‚ÅÝ‚Äîthey seemed strange and alien‚ÅÝ‚Äîsharper, quicker, and at once more overbearing and more unscrupulous.
There were yet others‚ÅÝ‚Äîand at the sight of these Bles stood straighter and breathed like a man. They were well dressed, and well appearing men and women, who walked upright and looked one in the eye, and seemed like persons of affairs and money. They had arrived‚ÅÝ‚Äîthey were men‚ÅÝ‚Äîthey filled his mind‚Äôs ideal‚ÅÝ‚Äîhe felt like going up to them and grasping their hands and saying, ‚ÄúAt last, brother!‚Äù Ah, it was good to find one‚Äôs dreams, walking in the light, in flesh and blood. Continually such thoughts were surging through his brain, and they were rioting through it again as he sat waiting in Senator Smith‚Äôs office.