Those Hard Shelled Democrats

Our thanks once again to the folks at The Potash Kettle and Harold Waite for offering this recollection from the Coolidge years.

Vermont used to be known as the Rock Ribbed Republican state, but even with Cal Coolidge in the White House, almost every town still contained a hard shelled Democrat. One July morning in 1925, I was on the platform of the East Wallingfor railroad station when the telegraph operator bustled out. "Charlie," he shouted to the freight agent, "the president's train is coming through in fifteen minutes. Go up and make sure the crossing is clear."

Charlie had grabbed a red flag and started up the track when the operator called him back, "I just remembered, you are one of thsoe ornery Democrats -- you aren't thinking of flagging him down are you?"

"Well, it sorta crossed my mind," Charlie replied, "but as we don't need him up here, I'll let the little cuss go right on through."

Source: The Potash Kettle, Quarterly Publication of the Green Mountain Folklore Society, Vol. 47, No. 4, Fall 1999.