... Surely, to wait two brief years
for the institution, with the positive assurance of it then, could be no
hardship to a State which had got along very well without it for all the
years of its lifetime. Surely not. Plonny Neal, whose sharp horse sense
he would back against any man in the State, was absolutely sound there.
He tried to consider the question with chill judiciality, and believed
that he was doing so. But the fervor which Plonny had imparted to it,
and the respect which he had for Plonny's knowledge of practical
conditions, stood by him, unconsciously guiding his thoughts along the
line of least resistance.... Though nobody dared admit it publicly, the
party was facing a great crisis; and it was in his hand to save or to
wreck it. All eyes were anxiously on the _Post_, which wielded the
decisive power. The people had risen with the unreasonable demand that
progress be checked for a time, because of the cost of it. The leaders
had responded to the best of their ability, but necessary expenses were
so great that it was going to be a narrow shave at best--so narrow that
another hundred thousand spent would land the whole kettle of fish in
the fire.
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