The Kinsley graphic. [volume] (Kinsley, Kan.) 1890-1940, 1900-07-13
Democratic Convention.

The editor of this paper went to
Kansas City last week at the invita-
tisn of the chairman of the democratic
national committee and attended the
great convention. In fairness to the
convention we will admit that it was
worth the price. We were given a
ticket OF admission to all the sessions
of the convention, the railroad pro-
vided US with pass and we boarded
with relatives.
The convention was a great success
and would probably have gone off
just as we'll it we had not been there,
but we would not have had SO much
fun out of it. Old convention gOers
say that the like of this convention
has never been seen in this country,
for enthusiasm.
We arrived early in the first ses-
sion and found a fairly good seat in
the first balcony with an ice-water
barrell right behind US. This water
was free.
The Convention Hall is so large
that the people down by the speakers
got up to talk before the crowd had
subsided into silence il was like a
moving picture. You could gee that
he was talking by his motions but you
could not hear a sound. When any
thing particularly pleased, the people
who could hear they would yell and
then those farther away would yell be-
cause the others did, and in this way
what was called demonstrate on
would get started. These demOnstra
tions were like the breath of scandal
mighty easy to start and apparently
harmless, but once under full swing
nothing could stop them but pure ex
haustion. During one of these dem
OnStrations we saw about a hundred
men stand up in the middle of the hall
and give three cheers. They were only
short distance away and it was
plainly apparent what they were do
ing, but the din was so OverpOwering
that they seemed to be giving pan
tOmime. During one of these waves
when the band had broken in in a
vain endeavor to still the troubled si-
lence, they began II patriotic air, and
in a few moments that vast audience
had caught it up and 30 600 people
were singing. This brought to our
minds the scriptural quotation, "Mus-
ic hath charms to soOthe the savage
beast That's as near as we recOl-
lect it.
One of the favOrite pastimes was to
fix your gaze on some notable on the
floor and then try to point him out to
some neiyhbOr. We discovered after
q while that as n rule we did not look
at the same person as the person who
assumed to know the illustriOus, but
we also made the discovery that we
had got just as much satisfaction out
of the one we had fixed our optics on
as the guide had, which lea us to the
conclusion that It made but little diff
erence who you actually looked at;
the satisfaction to be derived was from
thinking you we're seeing some noted
character. After making this discov-
cry we became excessively atfable and
pointed ont the nOtableS to any one
who wanted to see them, always Sc
lecting someone convenient TO point
at, so rs not 10 put those we were en-
Jertaining to any great amount of
trouble. Our success in this line
as due largely to the fact that the
people we were acting as eyes for did
not know any more than we did about
the distinguished visitors to the con-
ventlOn.
One curious sensation was when the
mass of people got up and then all sat
down tOgel her. 1t is like the moving
though You would be seaslck IN just IL
minute If they would but do it again.
Another curious sensation of the
convent on was the effect of kissing.
If you have ever been in the wOOus
when the locusts are swartning you
can imagine the sound made by
thousands of people hissiug in unison.
One very prett, demonstration came
when the platform was adopted. .'Thous-
;tnds of small flags had been distrlb-
uted through the hail and when the
vote was taken these flags appeared.
creating the impression Of IL perfect
SEA of waving flags.
These are but side lights. for the
req ular business OF the convention
was running right along. A person
can get n better idea of the work done
by reading the papers closely than 10y
actually seeing the show. But these
great conventions are worth attending
once. IL gives you new sensation,
ana that's worth something. When
il comes to- considering The question
of attending another We are reminded
of what tue father of 4 large family
said about his children: ~. Oulu no.
take a million for any of them nor
give Il cent for any more.
Kansas City will be congratul ated
by hundred Thousand tongues or
the stupendOuS task she ACCOMPLISHED
when she reared the Convention Hall
from its ashes, and taking to her
hearth stones unnumbered thousands,
entertained them in such manner that
when they departed the air was filled