The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1908-07-22
The Demonstration
Greatest in History

Blind was the fervid orator who
at Denver excited the greatest de-
monstration in the history of the
national political gatherings, and
blind, TOO, was the exhibition OF
devotion on the part of delegates
and the spectators to William jon
hinge Bryan. their beloved idol
and true prophet.
Abandoning themselves to the
sheer delight of an enthusiasm that
blotted ont all other human feel
ings 10000 mon aud women sang,
shouted, danced and psraded about
just as the mood possessed them.
To the ears of ths darkened master
of the forensic art who had precip-
itated 1t, the sounds of the hosan-
mas must have oome as the strains
of a great organ. multiplied ten.
fold. yea ten thousand fold, greater
than any instrument devised by
man,
Every note Of the gigantic soale
was to be heard. from the treble
pianissimo Of the women to the
deep bass OF thousands of strong-
lupged, iron -throated men. Every
stop and key was played upon.
Wave followed wave and chord
mounted upon chord until the full
diapson opened and the mighty
hall Geemed to rock with the roar.
ing, rolling harmony.
In the cataract of sound the
olashing and drumming of the
military band was completely swaI-
lowed up and lost. 1t was only by
their motions that 1t was known
that the musioians were playing.
For ninety minutes this flood of
sound ebbed and flowed, puIsated
and thTobbed. Minute by minute
itrose above the marks of the his
torio demonstrations of the past
when other national figures we're
similarly honored. When the oele-
brated stampede for the President,
at Chicago. was equalled and then
outdone, the outpouring of senti-
ment seemed only to have begun.
Men sank back hoarse and ex.
hausted, painting for breath Tired
arms surrendered standards and
flags. Pennsnts we're laid down
and megaphones put away. But
newvoices took up the cries, ,fresher
arms reached for tho banners and
for the pennants and the multi
pliers of sound. Like dancing
deryishes, daft from excitement,
thousands joined in long marching
lines that twisted sinuouely thro'
the densely packed aisles, monot
onously uttering the name of
Bryan.
Up they went to the balcony and
around on the acre. board hall
Higher still they climbed into the
uppermost gallery. and from their
lofty station inoited their equally
mad brothers below to fresh efforts
by brandishing their standards and
waving their flags as they shTieked
unintelligibly.
Surrounding the band they i'm.
pressed it into service and marched
triumphantly to the streets outside,
where the clustering thousands
took up the roaring refrain.
Old Jericho never beheld suoh a
soene as this when the princes
went before with the rams horne.
and all the people cried out against
the oity.
Suoh demonstrations contain a
certain amount of artifioiality
This quality was plainly discerni-
bile in both the outbursts at Obi.
cago. They lacked the spontanei.
ty, the vigor and the dash that were
distinctive marks in the Denver
demonstration.
1t has already been said that sem
timent swsys the national gather
ing, and emotion marks it's proceed
ings. It 80 happened that Senator
Thomas p. Gore, the Blind Man
Eloquent of his party, handsome,
and sharing tho sympathy of his
hearers, allowed his finRers, meta
phorioalIy speaking, unwittingly
to strike the chord of the mighty
human organ before him that
Ioosed the showers of sentiment.
ality.
Called to the stage by Chairman