Connecticut western news., 1875-11-05
SOLEMN ENTHUSIASM. :.

C
 How One of Tom Corwin's Speeches was
 Received in the Western Reserve. H
 It was one of Corwin's campaign
 years, way back in the fifties, or may be
 the forties, and he had been making the
 circuit of Ohio in behalf of the Whie
 ticket. He had gone through the south
 ern and middle counties, and had been
 assigned to the Reserve to wake up the
 Yankees, as he said, and so had lighted
 down at Gainesville. The meeting was
 morning one, after the old fashion. and
 the farmers from all around the country
 had come to town to hear ssthe great
 MT: Corwine, ' ss they called him, make
 speech, When the, organization had been effected and the speaker intro.
 duced, he felt that he must do some
 thing worthy of his reputation as 'sthe
 great MT. Corwine." He laid down his
 stock of facts and figures in systematic
 order, building from them an argument that he thought irresistible, working at
 it patiently until he thought the lstruc-
 turei complete but upon looking into
 the faces of his auditors was unable to
 catch single responsive lock- There
 they sat, bolt upright before him, digni- fled and quiet-so silent, indeed, that
 Tom could hear the ticking of the old
 clock at the far end of the room. There
 wasn't a ripple of applause though, nor
 smile nor clap of hand. II :
 This discouraged Oorwin little, but he thought he could wake them up with some of his oratory. 7, So he sailed in with some of his impassioned flights of rhetoric, and no orator that America has produced had 8 more glowing fancy or could utter more eloquent things than he. Still there was no response. There his audience still. sat, upright, unmoved as so many gate posts. Then he con- cluded he would try the virtue of his | funny stories, and told string;0f them | as only Tom Corwin could tell a story. | Selecting 8 particularly dignifed old fel- low, in front of him, he, directed his f budget of side-splitting yarns at him, but ne'er smile broke from his lips or those of any one present. Then he went to making faces at them-the funniest l faces that ever a man made-faces such as only Tom Corwin could make. Still not a smile,. not hint even that any body enjoyed the performance. There they sat before him, giving that digni- fled attention which they thought the occasion required but no one opened his mouth or moved hand or foot in the way of response. Finally MT. Corwin sat down disgusted. ..,... ~#..
 Then tall, lank, cadaverous- looking individual, sitting off in one corner of the room, slowly rose to his feet, and, clearing his throat very leisurely, said: " MT. Chairman, in view of the fact that we have had the great MT. Corwine here with us to-day, greatly to our edifcation, l therefore move, sir, that we now pro- ceed to give MT. Oorwine three cheers" So saying, he sat down. .' '.
 Then another lank, cadaverous indi- vidual, on the other side of the room, rose to bis feet slowly as the other, and said: MT. Chairman, I second that motion" And he sat down. '.
 Then the chairman with due solemnitv assumed perpendicular to put the question. Fellow-citizens, '' said he. it has been moved and duly seconded hat this town meeting proceed to give ;hree cheers to the Honorable Mir. Cor vine for the able and masterly address 10 has delivered in our presence to-day. ( All who are in favor of that motion will signify the. same by saying aye.'' A l lozen or more voted in, the affirmative. tThose of contrary mind will say mo-" { There were none. fThe motion is 'dopted. Then he sat down, and Silence I gain reigned. >tse "s.- l
 Presentlyaa little, dried up, weazen- aced old man in the back part of the hall ,ot up, and in cracked voice called out MT. Chairman, hooray for MT. Cor vine!" And he took his seat. t
 And then the dignifed party in the < middle of the audience, at whom the I okes had been directed, rose in his ' eat, cleared out his throat, and, in dig c ified tones, said: "Mr. Chairman, | looray for the great MT. Corwine," and e at down again. I
 Finally, an old, gray-haired veteran, t 7ho sat up in the amen corner, got on n is legs, and, leaning on his cane, d alled out, in the querulous voice of c ge: "Mr. Chairman, hooray for Mir, a 'orwine !'' t The three cheers having been thus l iven for the speaker, the meeting ad- d burned with due solemnity, and Corwin b 'ent to his room at the hotel, vowing k nat he'd never make another speech in tl 1e Reserve. And he didn't. s Still," e lid he, "I never blamed them much. fl hat was their way of showing enthu- v asm. They'd never had any missiona- b