The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1904-07-29
n N
II

tnere was again that passionate cry OIL
the savage at his rising He came to
the speakers stand rather heavy sci
middle-aged man, not the boy orator
who, eight years before to day, had
set the Democratic Convention wild
with his voice. He stopped little, for
he had not worn his eight years well,
and he was broken from loss of sleep.
The lines that have bitten deeply into
| his face since the campaign of SO were
shaded by the White light of the electric
lamps that were beginning to sputter for
dawn above him. He opened his speech
in low husky voice, and his gestures
were those of weak body. His eyes
were dull at first, but they began to
glow as his voice cleared out and the
passion of his soul began to come out in
very sharp gestures. Tho audience was
hushed and still; he might have been
speaking in an empty house. 1t was so
quiet, the applause seemed to ring out
Of the air from nowhere, cut off as with
knife, as the orator resumed his dis
course.
What he said men have read, but the
way he said it, the art of it all, only
those will know who heard it. 1t must
be considered one of the memorable ora
tions of this prosy unoratorical day. 1t
has been said that some words are so
momentous that they become deeds.
Bryan's were such. As he talked, the
purple shadows of the coming day were
seen through the windows, and before he
closed the dawn was gray about him
He stood there surrendering his power,
that had come to him in his youth so
suddenly. He had carried the banner of
social democracy in America further
than any other man had carried it,
1t is not free silver that Bryan stands
for, and he knew it, in the breaking |
day, when his party told him to stard |
aside.
Pleading for Lost Cause.
Bryan has stood for as much of the
idea of socialism as the American
mind today will confess to- He be-
lieves that his idea whether he de-
fines it clearly OF not is immaterial) is
to the welfare OF his coun-
try. Probably he is wrong; but as he
stood there sadly appealing to his
party for his old cause, which he knew
was lost cause, he seemed bidding
long farewell-to all the
power and glory that has been the
breath of his nostr1ls. He has lived
Clearly, and has acted fairly and
squarely according to his lights. He
IS the7idol of that party, of his branch
# his party, which stood for his ideas.
These men live In the Middle West.
Thousands of them came many hun /
lred miles to see his surrender. He |
luit like gentleman, with his colors
lying. Whatever his enemies may say
# him, they must admire the pluck |
which he showed at the last. He was
trong and self-reliant as he stood
here with the electric pencils above I
,im dlmmed by the light of a new I
ay. 1t was manly spectacle, the a
tting tableau of the last act of the
rama. And when he said his last
inc they cheeIed and chereed him
gain and again. He turned slowly n
way from the footlights, and walked !
nto the crowd with heavy footsteps.
Parker Nominated at Dawn.
When the balloting for President was r
ver-and that took but a few min =
tes-the new day was abroad. The :.
rowd had thinned out during the bal
,ting as they do toward the close of
he last act in a theatre. They knew
ow it would end. The announcement
ardly raised cheer. There was per-
lnctory motion to adjourn. and then
ne crowd filed slowly out into the
lisp new cutting air of another day.
he play was over. The dramatic
CURE of Bryan. moved by force out
de himself, which was released by
is own powers and weakness. had
rought him to his inevitable doom.
What happened after the passing
Bryan is immaterial to the story of
is fortunes II was the Convention,
Dt Bryan, that received the shock of
arker' s rebuff to Democracy's ostrich
IT. Bryan was sick In bed, threat
,ed with pneumonia, and il was three
ours after the message from Parker
ime that Bryan appeared in the hall
thunderclap of applause. But it
as a man whose power had been sur
ndered that came in. The play was
'er. the climax reached, and he was
lied before the curtain to read the
,ilogue.