The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1911-07-07

IOI lud, UpOSSu 10 CduuIudIS SSCOuu
| to none in ability in the south, had
! been elected to be a member for six
years of the most powerful govern
mental body that has assembled since
the Forum of Rome ceased to shield
from the Italian wind and rain, the
! free senate that made laws for the
civilized world, This young man ap-
peared as volunteer, his honors
fresh upon him, his voice emphasized
by the weight and endorsement of
nineteen thousand voters, and with an
especial dignity to many who were
present because of their belief that
his appearance as counsel here ana
now was a special providence of the
power who is not circumvented in
any particular, and whose advocate,
clothed with stars and majesty, if
by no other means. then by a startling
coincidence, will appear to present
the argument of the Most High
against the evil, whatever form evil
may assume, or whatever voice, be it
ever so gracious and persuasive. and
even though such voice be a master
full and compelling as the voice of the
brilliant lawyer who stood there that
dramatic night for forty minutes, like
Lucifer on hill in Paradise Lost"
and emptied rivers of hired scorn on
the noble and unselfish peoole who
were opposed to his clients and on the
stainless Nathan P Bryan.
Sitting there with the other mem
bers Of the committee, on the speak
ers dias, behind the long oak desk.
the deep night pushing through the
open windows. a dozen stars visible
through the leaves of the tall trees
about the building. the senorous voice
Of Toner pleading 70 rthat cancer OF
society filing the hall. | thought of
how in city several hundred miles
north of Tallahassee. and separated
from it to the eastward by the At
lantic Ocean and the Mediterranean
Sea, a judge by the name of PLATE.
the representative of wealth and hum
an property and power, had delivered
into the hands of teh mob to be cruel
fed, an Embodied Spirit, who taught
the sacredness of man, of every man,
and the uncomfortable superiority of
every human soul to the wealth of
all the world, and l thought how the
teachings of the Embodied Spirit
whom Plate gave to the mob to be
murdered as far as human hands
could murder it, His teachings, death
less against the stake or the gallows
or the cross, renewing their life day
by day like the eagle, advancing
tniUush Tile astonishing years, victor
lous against doubt and hate and
power of the selfish rich in a short
period of nineteen centuries had so
changed the attitude of man toward
wealth, that here tonight, in the state
capitol of Florida. an institution of
extreme power of gold, at bay in Tai
lahassee, retreated here before the
wrong, fought by all the princely
spirits OF hell, protected by the idle
Pilates of the New World with the
wrath of the Savior-that this Royal
Institution of Lucifer, this bottomless
Whirlpool tearing homes from their
anchorage like scraps of paper sucked
into a whirlwind, this Institution at
last, was brought before the Judgment
bar, not of the wealthy and proud.
not of the representative of a corr11nt
city of spoils like the PLATE sprang
from. but that, materially speaking,
the bottom had in nineteen centuries.
as the result of his teachings. came
to the top. and the million and half
golden dollars of the Florida Agri-
cultural and Horse Raising and Fair
Association was being weighed in the
balances and found wanting by the
Hon. Charles Daugherty and five
briefless lawers, of which l was the
most briefless.
And so, OH the way to the train,
after the performance Of the AS you
like it," in the carriage with Jacques,
the words Of his soliQuy, "AlI the
worlds a stage, and all the men and
women, merely players: they have
their exits and their entrances. and
one man in his time plays many
parts" echoing in my ears. I insisted
that We. in the capitol there, which
we were passing under the midnight
sky; that We representatives were
real actors in our Theater-the seat
OF majesty and the dome of power"
But" said Rosalind, You mad to
learn from Shakespeare that it was q
stage before you could see the
drama