Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1896-11-02

me bodily harm. but as he WIS n strong
partisan and WIS on the opposite side tn
me in that campaign his friends finally
persuaded him II let mo 60 on making
speeches, hoping tina: would benefit his
party in the tour.
After the election, when lad business
at that mining camp, went armed like a
brigand, for my side actually won again.
Governor Mctiraw, tie present guberna-
torial incumbent out there, was elected
and am still on his military staff, unless
have been mustered out of service with
out being consulted OF even advised. I
have not seen the governor for nearly two
years, but i am confidently assured that
the state is safe. Some say it is safe for
silver, and some say it is safe for gold. At
any rate, it is safe.
In the present campaign I have been
briefly to Michigan to do some spellbind-
ing. But l think Michigan il safe with
out me. That's one of the reasons why /
came back. There were other reasons. but
we will let them pass. At the first place
where l arrived in Michigan there was no
brass band to meet me, and the people On
the Platoon ut the railway station didn't
seem to care whether I was there or not.
In fact, they seemed to be looking for some
body else. One man only was looking for
somebody that apparently he didn't know.
Finally be looked at me.
BE you tic speaker" he asked
said, 81 be-
81 mistrusted rs much" he continued.
"Clam into the Vaughn, there, ard I'll
| draw you up to TIE tavern
1 ''clamnIetl'' in. and he drew ne up;
| also he drew me ont. He was commit
| tecman, but l didn't feel as pleasant to-
4,
| like that word 'mistrustcd, even If it was
| a localism. 1t turned out that he used the
| word advisedly. l have already mentioned
the fact that my stay in Michigan was
\ brief
| / met two other spellbinders Of our side
| up there. One was a really brilliant and
modest man; the other, good fellow with
more gall than gray matter. The brilliant
| man was little mentioned, and his oppor-
tunities were not near so desirable as those
| of tine other fellow. / was inquisitiyc
about it, and the other fellow told me how
he worked it.
| "Don't give it away" he said ard
haven't. He is back now and il makes no
difference if tell you confdentially.
- make myself solid with the commit
teemen,'' he continued. "1hcre are ways
to do it, you know-a familiar slap on the
| shoulder, a pocketful of good cigars, some
funny stories; on thp side, other things
which we won't mcntion-this wink will
do-and then, when the meeting is clos
ing, work in three cheers and "tiger"
for the head Of the ticket and see that
the chairman works in three cheers and
the trimmings for the speaker. This looks
well in the town paper ard is good to clip
out and send to headquarters and else
where. Then get tine committeeman in
that town to- write letter to the county
chairman telling what a spellbindcr am,
| what IN overwhelming turn out there was,
how l inthr:lled the audience and how
many votes probably changed, and get
a copy of that letter which goes to head
quarters There are no flies on me. and
I'm rs solid as cannon hall. The man
who doesn't do that lacks system. Sec"
did see, but my modest friend lacked
system. So did /.
| But the story telling stump speaker l.
liable to meet with severe Disappointment
at times-that is, he may run up against
the wrong stump Occasionally he strikes
an audience that prefers figures on the tar.
if, and all that, in place of figures OF
speech. For such he should be well sup
piled with wealth of interesting stats
tics If he doesn't know what the marke,
| VI tut sN.illits VI tAiO icriOH III u
speaking in were in 1892 and other previ
Gus periods and what they are now, he i:
in n bad row for stump speaking Hence
great research in those lines is necessary
before venturing from the city into tn,
farming districts AS I cannot remember
a number long enough to successfully turf
from the telephone directory to the an
nunciator, l shall hereafter confine my
stump speaking tours to the urban dis
tricts where people DO not care SO much
to know what the price Of wheat was in
1879 rs they do about what the price Of
rolls is this morning and where the prict
is coming from.
have found that city audience gener
ally likes a good story. A country audi
ence frequently takes time to think whcth
er it likes the story or not, and the speak
er sometimes fails to obtain the decision
before it is time TO go to the next stand
made n speech in the Chicago Twelfth
ward one Saturday night not long az,
and told story ut the start which wa
received with such applause and approba
ton that had to wait quite time befor,
l could proceed with the discourse Oh
the following Monday night / told til,
same story TO an audience up in tn
'thumb" of the ''ni:ten" Of Michigan
Instead Of having to wait for the applaus
to subside, the audience looked as if it wer
waiting for me to subsi6e.