Welcome back, everyone to 1001 classic short stories and tales. This is your host and storyteller, John Haggardorn. I've got a short story today

from Meredith Nicholson. You might not remember him. We did a, we actually did a novel of his

called House of a Thousand Candles at 1001 Stories for the Road. Of course, it's still there.

I had a blast doing that story. That was a great story. He's a very good writer.

I didn't know he had done short stories until just recently when I came across his

collection called The Man in the Street. It's a collection of essays written in the early

20th century by Nicholson. The work reflects on various facets of American life, including

literature, politics, and society,

offering insights into the character of the average American citizen.

This would be around 1920.

You're going to find there's not a whole lot of difference between the average American from then and today.

Nicholson's writing captures a range of topics that aim to foster a greater understanding

of the intricate tapestry of American culture. There should be a boulevard of rogues in every small

town, that is, people who have mishandled or misused, their city's government. On what street

does yours exist?

And now our story.

Nothing was ever funnier than Barton's election to the city council.

However, it occurs to me that if I'm going to speak of it at all,

I may as well tell the whole story. At the University Club, where a dozen of us have met for lunch

in every business day for many years, Barton's ideas on the subject of municipal reform were

always received in the most contumliest fashion.

We shared his rage that things were as they were,

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