Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1876-10-05
THE GREAT RALLY :!
Immense Success Of a Repub-
lican Meeting.
Cleveland a head
Twenty-Five Thousand People
Present.
Speech Of Col. r. G. IngersoIl Of
Illinois.

Editor Of Wood Go. Reporter:--
Has the din of our great Republican
rally in Cleveland of Sept. 10Th repeat
ed its echoes until it has already re
sounded among the hills and valleys
of Wood County, or is it left for me to
record one of the most brilliant pa
geants of this Presidential campaign !?
The people Of Cleveland have spoken;
let all the world hear If action is In
sympathy with the heart, then arc we
doubly treasured of the political senti-
ments of our city About twenty-five
thousand people were present and the
enthusiasm manifested was such as to
leave no doubts of their confidence in
the men who have been chosen to rep
resent them in the political world.
The day was bright and beautiful
though preceded by one Of incessent
rain, and the evening was all that the
day prophesied. Before dark the peo-
pie began to pour in from every point
of the compass--men women and chill
dren, each elbowing his or herself in
among the crowd, determined to hear.
until ''wedged in" almost failes to con-
vcy an idea of the pressure to which
they were subjected.
This mass of humanity continued to
press square-ward, md long before the
hour for the commencing of the exer-
cises, the grounds around the speakers
stand seemed converted into sea of
heads, with nowhere a place for the
cone more" Shortly after seven
o clock the first gun Of the ffty-gun
salute was fred, followed in due time
by the others. A band added its notes
to the general excitement, which in no
wise dampened the ardor of the
throng. The meeting opened by mu-
sic from the Central Glce Club. "Vote
for Hayes and Wheeler was finely
rendered and in answer to our encore,
Held the Fort for Hayes and Wheel
err was given. A deafening applause
again rent the air, and once more the
club responded in ''Grandly the Hosts
are marching" after which the Presi-
dent and Officers for the evening were
chosen. At this point the speakers
having arrived, Judge Anderson an
nounced Col. Robert G.. Ingersoll, the
first speaker of the evening. He was
greeted with vociforous applause.
Acknowledging this simply by a bow,
he began his address, and here your
imagination. for want of time and
space, must do its own work. I
thought at first to extract the pith of
the Grafton and send it along, but it is
inopossib le,-it is ali pith and point
He led his audience back to the found
alton Of the Democratic party and
dragging it all the way down to the
light of the present, through the cess
pools of its own corruption held it up
to view still reeking with its own rot
tenness. The Democratic party shou Id
be left alone, ''to enjoy the primal
curse" son thy belly shalt thou crawl
and dust shalt thou eat all the days of
thy life" Every honest, candid mind
must have been exercised upon the
questions-What has the Democratic
party done for its country that it
should have any claims to the highest
place within the gift of the people p
Where was it in the trying ordeal
through which our country passed, the
shadow of which, from its brow "shall
be lifted nevermore.' His wit, humor
and sarcasm was of a quality that must
have made many Democratic heart
beat almost inperceptibly under its
shirt-front for fear of detection.
Throughout his address his illusions
to the Republican party showed the
master-hand. the master-mind. The
summing up of the two parties would
read about thus.
/ REPUBLICAN.
Open record-W done Princi
-Reason-Science- -Educatiou--
Liberty, no respect to color--Union
one and inseperable.
DEMOCRAT.
Let bygones be bygones-P Promises
The end justifes the means--Mob--
Tar and Feathers-Ignorance-Bon
Blood-hounds- Aristocracy-Se-
cession-Southern Confederacy.