The Nevada County picayune. (Prescott, Ark.) 190?-current, 1908-06-25

for some formal occasion. YesterdaN
afternoon the sibilant lisp of the grea1
crowd in the Coliseum fell like greo0
wave on the shores Of the place. -
idle conversation as the PROCEEDINGS
Of the convention droned on. Th0
committee on credentials made its ~,
port, and the great crowd Tapped 3
up as the sea laps up the sand-am.
personally, uninterested, utterly idlol
There was no fight. and evidently the
crowd knew there would be no light
The regular order proceeded. and
Senator Lodge was installed as per
manent chairman, and the great crowd
the great bun sea, rocked idly to
look at him. He began to speak with
some fervor, and little ripples Of ap-
plause played across the tide. His
earnestness deepened the pillows
slightly.
And the waves lulled and were quiet.
And then, not while he was at . ell
max, but as the man before them was
reaching deeper and deeper into the
soul of the place and the occasion, the
sibilant lisp of the crowd hushed. ana
in the great silence the man spoke,
simply and strongly and without Ga
torical flourish or emphasis. He has
enforced the laws as he found them.
and SO he is the best abused and most
popular man in America"
1t was not much of tribute. But
wave of sincere feeling swept over
the quiet tide of humanity. 1t was moi
strong wave-not much str0ngee
than the first wave that came rollins
in. But another wave followed It, and
another higher and stronger came Il.
ter it. The speaker, who did not rec
lie what was about to come. put Out
his hand to beg silence. bat q hugs
wave of applause came over him. and
he ducked and backed OF good-na,
turedly and let the wind of emotios
play as 1t would across the restless
sea before him.
At Flood Tide.
In another minute, perhaps two. SEN
ator Lodge rose again to face the rio
ing tide. but 1t rolled in on him with
a great roar, and men knew that the
storm of applause had come which
Theodore Roosevelts work as a
American citizen had conjured. %
they let it rage, and for nearly an hous
the waves of that storm broke and
roared in that place.
Then the crowd, in that hour of Joy.
gathered individuals in and they
ceased to be individuals and became
the crowd. At times the delegates
were swept off their feet. State after
state rose. like black pillows on the
face Of the waters. and cheered and
waved pennants and sank to eQuilibri-
um only to rufile up again and cheer
with the crowd. No state was able to
keep its mooring. And in the tumult
and the shouting there were no 70
dictionaries. New York was as bOiss
ferrous as Wisconsin, and Kansas
Joined Pennsylvania.
Roosevelt, Roosevelt, four years
more" they roared, and the cry
SKINNED over the waves Of applause
like gull. and like a gull it was evan.
scent. 1t signified nothing. And then
slowly. when the deep answered deep.
the calm came and the speaker went
on with his speaking.
1t was all so simply and SO natur-
ally done, all so evidently sincere.
without claque or prearrangement.
that there was in its undercurrent an
element of sadness. For 1t seemed
good by rather than a bait to Theo-
dore Roosevelt, and those who have
feared him feared him no more. and
those who have trusted him were hap
py, but rather sad than joyful.
Once the big show-the presidential
nomination-was over, the remainder
of the work of the convention. the Sc
lection of running mate for Sscre-
tary Taft, was completed in short
order on Friday morning when Hon.
James S. Sherman OF New York was
named for second place on the ticket!
WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE
Copyright 1908. By Geo. Matthew AdAnaA