The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1912-04-30
GREAT DAY AT GRAHAMVILLE
NOt Many People, but Very
Pleasant OecasiOn for All Who
"a Were Present

Not Many People, but very
Pleasant Oecasion for All Who
l. = x> Were Present
Your reporter at the above picnic on
Saturday was forceably reminded Of an
editorial in the Star recently which
ella lined that the campaigns of today
are so very mild article compared
with those of 25 years ago. and in this
connection he, the reporter. recalls the
strenuous political times in California
nearly half a century ago. One in
cident Of which he was an eye witness
to:
A man was running for Judge of the
Circuit Court and in the county in
which the writer lived he was COM
paratively stranger. and when he
turned loose on the doings of the party
then in power he certainly didn't stop
to mince his words; one night after
his speech he was informed that if he
wanted to keep out of trouble he had
better not repeat that arraignment
again. The following night he spoke
in the school house in our town and
the room was packed, and when he got
up to speak, he pulled out two ugly
looking Colts and placed them on the
desk before him. He then informed
the audience of the report that he had
received, and he assured them further
that not only was he going to repeat
the remarks of the previous night but
he was going to rub them, and if any
one in the house felt like making
trouble he was quite ready to take a
hand; and as the speaker was elevated
considerably above the audience he
could see every man in the house, and
a in
pocket, and the strangest part of the
performance was that the people ad-
mired his grit to the extent of giving
him majority vote in the county and
he was elected
Now compared to that episode the
political gathering at Grahamville and
other places lately was decidedly tame.
When the candidates arrived the i'm
mense gathering they had expected
would be on hand to greet them were
simply 'non-est, quite a gathering of
handsome ladies from the neighbor-
hood, a few ditto men and a small
delegation from Oca1a comprised the
audience when the master of cere-
monies, Col. r. F. Rogers, who by the
bye is a grand master in that office
called the meeting to order at Il
o'clock. In one respect the speaking
was the most successful of any meet
ing held during this campaign and that
was in its brevity. for as nearly all
the audience consisted of candidates
| who had heard each other spiel every
| day for the past two weeks, there was
| but little incentive to oratory, and by
1890 they were all in and ready for
| the splendid picnic dinner prepared by
| the ladies of Grahamville and vicinity
| for the SiOn-an6 there
singular thing about this part of the
performance, that while the audience
up until this time was of the slimmest
| kind, yet when Col. Rogers knocked
| on the trough they came a running
from every direction. and in numbers
and capacity for slowing away good
| things displayed a zeal worthy of the
| occasion.
There was one lesson a least to
learn from the speeches of every can
| didate present and that was their un-
selfish humility for almost without ex-
ception they declared they were run
| ming for office just to be Servants of
| the people, certainly very worthy
| object. There was. however a couple
| OF incidents somewhat out of the ord
mary in the Grahamville affair. AS
| usual the candidates indulged in the
1
wore all the skin off their fingers
| but one candidate started an innova-
| tion-when he first appeared on the
| ground-among the late comers-he
| espied a party on the far side of the
| crowd he was evidently pleased TO see
| there, and with scarcely nod for any
| one else he rushed around the crowd
and throwing his aRms around the
party and with no thought as to his
| surroundings placed an affectionate
and hearty kiss on the aforesaid
| party's cheek, and there was no SEM
blance of either surprise or affront on
| the part Of the recipient because she
knew it was her own boy, and his
name was John Graham.
Another little episode worth report
ing was the presentation of two splen-
did bouquets by the ladies of Graham
Vile TO a couple of the candidates who
| were born almost within sight of the
meeting place. The presenta zion speech
| in behalf of the ladies was made by
the master of ceremonies and never
did he do himself more proud than
when in a few choice words he handed
those bouquets to Mr.. w. F. Smith the
candidate for Probate Judge and John
NJ Graham candidate for County
TreaSurer-both of whom responded
very appropriately.