Two incidents in the campaign showed that he had not forgotten his father’s four words of advice. A man approached him one day and said that a ten-dollar contribution to an influential farmer would ensure the votes of the farmer’s relatives. “I’m not trying to buy the office,” Rayburn replied. “I’m asking the people to give it to me.” He and his opponent, Sam Gardner of Honey Grove, became friends and, near the end of the campaign, rode from town to town together in a one-horse buggy; arriving in a town, they would take turns standing in the back of the buggy and speaking. In one town, Gardner
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