time again -- within five or six weeks the voters of the
country would select a President; and he heard the
wretches with whom he associated discussing it, and saw
the streets of the city decorated with placards and banners
-- and what words could describe the pangs of grief and
despair that shot through him?

For instance, there was a night during this cold spell.
He had begged all day, for his very life, and found not a
soul to heed him, until toward evening he saw an old
lady getting off a street-car and helped her down with her
umbrellas and bundles, and then told her his "hard-luck
story," and after answering all her suspicious questions
satisfactorily, was taken to a restaurant and saw a quarter
paid down for a meal. And so he had soup and bread,
and boiled beef and potatoes and beans, and pie and
coffee, and came out with his skin stuffed tight as a foot~
ball. And then, through the rain and the darkness, far
down the street he saw red lights flaring and heard the
thumping of a bass-drum; and his heart gave a leap, and
he made for the place on the run -- knowing without the
asking that it meant a political meeting.

The campaign had so far been characterized by what
the newspapers termed "apathy." For some reason the
people refused to get excited over the struggle, and it was
almost impossible to get them to come to meetings, or to
make any noise when they did come. Those which had
been held in Chicago so far had proven most dismal
failures, and tonight, the speaker being no less a person~
age than a candidate for the vice-presidency of the nation,
the political managers had been trembling with anxiety.
But a merciful Providence had sent this storm of cold rain
-- and now all it was necessary to do was to set off a few
fireworks, and thump awhile on a drum, and all the home~
less wretches from a mile around would pour in and fill
the hall! And then on the morrow the newspapers would
have a chance to report the tremendous ovation, and to add
that it had been no "silk-stocking" audience, either, proving
clearly that the high-tariff sentiments of the distinguished
candidate were pleasing to the wage-earners of the nation.

[[339]]

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v?