SOME TENNESSEE BIRD NOTES. 211 



and size, with some appearance of a com- 

 munity that had been in haste to grow, — a 

 trifle impatient, shall we say (impatience 

 being one of the virtues of youth), to pull 

 down its barns and build greater ; just now 

 a little checked in its ambition, as things 

 looked; yet still enterprising, still fairly 

 well satisfied with itself, with no lack of 

 energy and bustle. As it happened, there 

 was a stir in local politics at the time of my 

 visit (possibly there always is), and at the 

 street corners all patriotic citizens were ex- 

 horted to do their duty. " Vote for Tom 



for sheriff," said one placard. " Vote 



for Bob ," said another, in capitals 



equally importunate. In Tennessee, as 

 everywhere else, the politician knows his 

 trade. Familiarity, readiness with the hand, 

 freedom with one's own name (Tom, not 

 Thomas, if you please), and a happy knack 

 at remembering the names of other people, 

 — these are some of the preelection tests of 

 statesmanship. 



All in all, then, between politics and 

 business, the city was " very much alive," as 

 the saying goes ; but somehow it was not so 

 often the people about me that occupied my 



