The semi-weekly messenger., 1907-10-22
THE PERSONALITY OF BRYAN
The "Comnoner's" Triumphal Prog
ress-The Dry" Wave at Asheville
The Judge Who Stole the Land
lords Spoons.
For the Messenger.

ringing, vibrant peTSOudi 4AcSlANNi-AA-'
are remarkable gifts; and with these
gifts William J. Bryan IS endowed 70 a
higher degree than perhaps any other
man of his time. With two gigantic
political failures BEND him, he is the
central figure in the public eye, the
topic Of mems talk, the burden of
mems thoughts, throughout the olbL
/ in which he moves. The CONSERVATIVE
| centres Of old world civilization greet
| him as a welcome guest; the exclusive
courts Of monarchical Europe receive
| him with distinguished honor; interrl-
ltional conventions and conferences ten
der 20 him the freedom of the floor,
| suspend business, and hang, rapt, on
his word the naughty potentates OF
! the Orient iRvest him with badges and
medals; and even from the jungles Of
barbarism he brings off a tile.
In his own country Bryan's journey
! from plOce TO place a triumphant
! Erogress. Great cities open wide their
gates, and hasten to extend to him tht
| freedom of the municipality; towns
along his route beg him for a i've
minutes stop-oyer and a five minutes
talk, no matter what it is about so that
it is a falkland strangest of all, this
regardless Of party affiliations. the
mayor, be he a republican, AMI the
board of aldermen half and half; foi
the time it is all Bryan.
When he ascendS the platform the
merchant drops his invOIces, and con 2S
running: the clerk jumps over the coul
ter and hastens to a place in front;
the lawyer folds up his brief, and takes
his place with te 0ter ma gnateS on
the rostrunl; the preacher with modest
icagerness faces the vast audience, ana
asks the blessings on God on that elo-
jquent tongue, the spell binler" who
introduces him, makes it known, above
all other things, that this is the
IprOudest moment of his life; the NO
men. God bless them, abandon the bar
Igain counter, and futter about the
stage like a flock Of beautiful birds of
rare plumage, or settle themselves
IarOund the illustriOus guest like a pGr-
ere of brilliant hOt-house flowers; tie
>
and scourges well-up to yell for Bryan;
the farmer lets the cotton picking go
to thunder mounts a cart horse or a
tgrey mule, and lines the cavalry:
the cannon booms, flags wave; drums
roll; trumpets blow: Hail to The
lchief.'' "Lo, the Conquering Hero
IComes!''
iC, full
power Of evoking the intellectual and
= spiritual sympathy of surging multi
ltudes? Whence comes this magnetism
which draws men to it as the lodestone
does the metal, moving itself Alright,
like a living thing? Mirabeau the
Titan of the French revolution had it
atrick Heary, the Ritian of the AmSri
can revolution, had it; Phillips Brooks.
the eloquent Episcopalian divine, had
it; Vance the great commoner, the
war governor Of North Carolina, had
lit.
Let it be remembered that under Or
!dinary circumstances, with their heads
level and with their hearts not beat
ing like trip-hammers with excite
that speaker are about equally dividcd
into Bryanites and anti-Bryanites; );
but the shouts, the moving hats, the
glad acclaim all announce an au-per-
vading Organism for the hour. He sa. s
what he has previously said, which,
~ 1l under the subsection of csla.
pnsympathetic type, has been coolly
I01. fnE
land decried; he announces theory after
teOry and dogma, after dogma, which
have been repudiated by the calm judg-
ment of thoughtful people, down % the
initiative and referendum, which no.
body cares to tackle, because nobody
, knows what on earth it means.
| believe that one great secret of Nc.
Bryans power over the masses is the
physical cleanness and whOlesomeness
of the man. On his clear cheek and in
his bright eye hang out the banners
of pure manhood and 4 correct life
and this EFFORTS admiration from
even the sin-stained of the crowd. The
blear-eyed drunkard, with shaking
hand, and palsied foot, envies the
strong, stalwart fellow, striding by him
in the pride of sobriety, the "unfortun.
D., ate weeps bitter tears, as with shan
: ed eyes her sister glides by her in
the beauty of chastity.
The correct life of Bryan stands him
! in good stead in his strenuous career
His physique must be gigantic, and is
. not the least remarkable of his charac,
/. iteristics, for his bodily and mental Ia
:, Ibors are hereulean and almost unsees
ing
1t would be the strangest of al
[ strange miscalculaions and miscoReep
tons of party sentiment if, after all
: Bryan should fail of the nomination t
the presidency in 1908 All the jndica
tions are that the assembling Of :ht