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The Right of Way: Cynthia

The spiritual leader of the Church party was the clergyman. His lovely daughter, Cynthia, filled a large place in the eyes of Jethro, and she was drawn to him by the unmistakable signs of power apparent under his awkward exterior. They used sometimes to meet by chance, and, unlike as they were in point of cultivation, they were really very much in love with each other, a circumstance that had rather to be inferred because Jethro was little likely to exercise the initiative and say anything about it. Once when in Boston he bought a beautiful locket and had engraved upon it, "Cynthy from Jethro," but he never mustered up the courage to present it. When the political tempest was rising Cynthia, who sympathized strongly with her father's party, decided to go to Jethro and plead with him to stop the fight. Before he knew her purpose he broke his silence and declared his love. Perhaps if he had been given a chance for reflection and had not been so upset by his own confession he would have granted her request, but that did not seem possible at the moment. Cynthia took his refusal as a decree of separation, and she left him, never to see him again, and he set out upon the career which ended in his becoming the uncrowned king of his state.

The town-meeting fight went on and Jethro was chosen first selectman, the only office he ever held and in which he continued for thirty-six years. Cynthia went to Boston, where she became teacher in a high school, and in the course of time married William Wetherill, the clerk who had sold Jethro the locket. She first learned about the locket from her husband and confessed to him her love for Jethro. After a few years she died, leaving a little girl who bore her name. Wetherill moved to Coniston, taking young Cynthia with him, and went to keeping the village store.

In the years that had gone by Jethro had found Coniston too small and was engaged in carrying on the government of the state. He had his lieutenants in every county and possessed such an organization that he was able to select most of the men who held the important offices and to control their actions afterward. In brief, he became the "boss" of the state and the people who desired legislation or offices found it necessary to visit him. Avarice did not seem to be the motive that controlled him. Railroads were being built, manufacturing developed, and he took pride in making himself indispensable in what was going on. When little Cynthia appeared at Coniston he at once loved her as he would have loved his own daughter. Her father was unable to meet his obligations at the bank. Jethro quietly bought the mortgage and had it assigned to himself. Cynthia used to call him Uncle Jethro and loved him as she did her father.

After a time the railroad corporations decided to consolidate. Jethro, whether he feared that they would become too large for the state or for him, did not approve of consolidation. Thereupon they decided to overthrow him. The fight began over his home post-office. He was known to favor an old soldier named Eph Prescott who had been badly wounded in the Wilderness and whom he had helped in his uphill fight as he had helped many another person. The railroad party decided to defeat Jethro's candidate in order to weaken his prestige in the state, and it had the support of many men who had formerly done his bidding and of the "Congressman from the district," the usual autocrat in the distribution of offices of that class.