The Lexington intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1901-1949, 1908-06-27

SHERMAN
or some formal occasion. Yesterday
fternoon the sibilant lisp Of the great
rowd in the Coliseum fell like a great
Eave on the shores Of the place, in
die conversation as the proceedings
4 the convention dironed on. The
committee on credentials made its re
lort, and the great crowd Tapped it
lp as the sea laps up the sand-lm-
personally, u~ninterested, utterly idle.
here was NO fight, and evidently the
rowd knew there would be no fight
The regular order proceeded, and
senator Lodge was installed as per-
nanent chairman, and the great crowd
the great buff sea. rocked idly to
ook at him. He began to speak with
m fervor, and little ripples of APP
llause played across the tide, His
,arnestness %deepened the pillows
lightly.
And the waves lulled and we're quiet.
And then, not while he was at a cll-
max, but as the man before them was
eaching deeper and deeper into the
loul of the place and the occasion, the
ibilant lisp of the crowd hushed, and
n the great silence the mar spoke,
simply and strongly and without ora
orical flourish or emphasis. HE has
enforced the laws as he found them,
md SO he is the best abused and most
popular man in America"
1t was not much of a tribute. But a
wave of sincere feeling swept over
he quiet tide Of humanity. 1t was not
a strong wave-not much stronger
than the first wave that came rolling
in. But another wave followed 1t, and
another higher and stronger came af.
ter 1t, The speaker, who did not rea-
lie what was about to come, put out
his hand to beg silence, but a huge
wave Of applause came over him, and
he ducked and backed off good-na-
turedly and let the wind Of emotion
play as it would across the restless
sea before him.
At Flood Tide.
In another minute, perhaps two, Sem
ator Lodge rose again to face the ris
ing tide, but it rolled in on him with
a great roar, and men knew that the
storm of applause had CONS which
Theodore Roosevelt's work as an
American citizen had conjured. So
they let it rage, and for nearly an hour
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 remnants and sank to equilibrI
UNI only to rufle up again and cheer
with the crowd. No state was able to
Keep its mooring. And in the tumull
and the shouting there were no re,
dictionaries. New York was as bots
ferrous as Wisconsin, and Kansas
Joined Pennsylvania.
Roosevelt, Roosevelt, four years
more" they roared, and the cry
SKINNED over the waves OF applause
like a gull. and like a gull It was evan.
scent. 1t signifed nothing. And then
slowly. when the deem nswered doen
the calm came and the speaker went
OF with his speaking.
It was all so simply and SO natur.
ally done, all so evidently sincere,
without claoue or prearrangement,
that there was in its undercurrent an
element Of sadness. For It seemed q
good-by rather than a bait to Theo,
dore Roosevelt. and those who hays
feared him feared him no.knore, and
those who have trusted him were hap
py, but rather sad than joyful.
Once the big show-the presidential
nomination-waR over, the remalndos
Of the work Of the convention, the a.
lection Of a running mate fcr sspre
tary Taft, was completed "a h6sI
order on Friday morning whom Hon.
James s. Sherman Of New York vas
named for second place on the tokat
WILLIAM ALLEN w1srrn
Copyright n9, BY Geo, Matthew Adamsi