The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-03-19
AT THE LINCOLN CLUB.
A Delightful Informal Reception to Mr..
Reed Last Evening.

The Lincoln Club gave Mr.. Reed a de-
lightful informal reception at their club
rooms in Monument square last evening.
The notice of the reception had not been
advertised very extensively and the eve
ming was anything but propitious. Yet
the club rooms were well filled with
members and their friends. Mr.. Reed
arrived soon after o'clock, and was re-
ceived with three hearty cheers. For a
few moments after arriving Mr.. Reed
shook hands informally with old ac-
quaintances, while others whom he met
for the first time were introduced by
President Morrill,, E. P. Chase, Esq, and
other officers of the club.
After the reception, President Morrill,
invited Mr.. Reed to address the club, in
PRODUCING him with few very appropri-
ate remarks.
Mr.. Reed was received with loud APP
plause, and proceeded to address those
present informally in a conversational
tone, but with all the wit and originality
for which he is so famous the country
over. He said that when he came he
had not the slightest idea of addressing
the members of the club; but he was
very glad of the opportunity, as there
was no place where he liked so much to
be as Portland and the State of Maine,
and no other people whom he liked SO
well to meet. He could not look upon
an audience like this without seeing IA
miliar faces that reminded him of every
step in his public life. For all the IA
vors that had been shown him he said he
felt the iveliest gratitude. The magniti-
cent vote which had been given in this
district at the last Congressional cleo
ton had been support to the whole
party in the trying days which came
later with the Democratic triumph.
s'For the wicked said Mr.. Reed, "were
very exuberant at the last session of the
Fifty-frst Congress-" 1t was singular
thing, he said, how at times the people
are unwilling to accept the fulfillment OF
their own mandates. For if ever the
people expressed their wishes definitely
and unequivocally, it was in the election
of 1888, and those wishes were carried
out to the letter by the Fifty-frst Con
gress, especially by the House of Repre-
sentatives. Yet the people had turned
upon the majority party of that Con-
gress, and inflicted upon them a defeat
from which they were just recovering.
1t was an old saying that the voice of
the people is the voice of God. But it
was only the sustained and continuous
voice of the people that reached that at
titude. We all have our whims and
grievances, which go on multiplying UNI
til there is a general kickup. Then the
atmosphere is cleared and things go on
smoothly and prosperously. Mr.. Reed
said he had noticed that in the city of
Portland we sometimes get into just that
state. But we had had the kickup, and
the time was now come for true Repub-
licans to brace themselves and show that
they can touch elbow to elbow along the
whole line. The Lincoln Club was one
Of the most effective instrumentalities
for this Republican reorganization.
Mr.. Reed closed with a witty descrip-
ton of the relative attitudes of the two
parties to the great questions of the day,
the Republican attitude being one of pro-
gress, the Democratic one of obstruction.
Nh. Reeds speech was in his happiest
vein, and was the delight of his hearers,
who interrupted him frequently with
shouts of laughter and applause.