Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1908-07-01

for some formal occasion. Yesterday
afternoon the sibilant lisp of the great
crowd in the Coliseum fell like a great
wave on the shores of the place, in
idle conversation as the proceedings
of the convention droned on. The
committee on credentials made it's re-
port. and the great crowd Tapped it
up as the sea laps up the sand-im-
personally, uninterested, utterly idle.
There was no fight, and evidently the
crowd knew there would be no fight.
The regular order proceeded, and
Senator Lodge was installed as per-
manent chairman, and the great crowd
the great buff sea, rocked idly 10
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 eli
max, but as the man before them was
reaching deeper and deeper into the
soul OF the place and the occas' on, the
sibilant lisp of the crowd hushed, and
in the great silence the man spoke.
simply and strongly and without era
torical flourish or emphasis lie 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 tribut0. But a
wave of sincere feeling swo0t over
the quiet tide of humanity It US not
q
than the first wave that Gao rolling
in. But another wave fc1'o-vo1 !, ana
another higher and stron~er cane af-
ter it. The speaker, who d;d not .rea-
lie what was about to come. put out
his hand to beg silence, but 4 huge
wave of applause cane over I'm. and
he ducked and backed of gocd.na-
turedly and let the wind of emotion
play as it would across the restless
sea before him.
At Flood Tide.
In another minute. pernaps two. Sen
ator Lodge rose again to face he ris
ing tide, but it rolled in on hi~l with
a great roar, and men knew that go
storm Of app'a1se had cCna which
Theodore Roosevelt's work as an
American citizen had conjur d. So
they let it rage. and for nea~'~ 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
1ff
state rose, like black pillows on the
face Of the waters. and cheared and
waved pennants and sank to e1uilibri-
UNI only to ruff1e up again and cheer
with the crowd. No state was able to
keep its mooring And n the tunult
and the shouting there were no re-
dictionaries. New York was as bois.
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 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 claoue or prearrangement.
that there was in its undercurrent an
element OF sadness. For il seemed
good-by rather than bait to Theo-
dore Roosevelt. and these 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, tie se
lection OF running mate for secre-
tary Taft. was completed In short
order on Friday morning VIII Hon.
James s. Sherman of New York was
named for second place on the ticket.
WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE
Copyright 1908. by Geo. Matthew Adarns.l