The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1912-02-27
MY EXPERIENCE IN
THE LEGISLATURE
BY c. 4. FLOYD. n ApaIaehIeoIa Times.
CHAPTER xxvIII.

There is a story called 1.-THE Turn
stiie" running In Scribner's Magazine.
The sixteenth chapter contains good
account Of a maiden speech in the
English house of commons. Harry
Rames delivered It. He had been edu-
Gated for the Navy, but after sue
cessful exploration which gave him
some fame, he adopted politics as a
career. Before delivering the speech
he went down to the broad terrace
over the Thames and in a cold wind
he wandered miserably.
HE was afraid his great effort was
going to be just failure of fine talk
the mere scrap heap of a speech"
Now I quote from the story word for
word:
@He looked down at the brown wa
ter, followed It Eastward below the
bridge; and then his eyes were caught
by a small torpedo boat lying opposite
at a moorfng In front of st. Thomas
Hospital And the aspect of this ia
miIiar thing smote him down to the
depths Of abasement But for pre-
sumption he might now be in COM
n1and of a great battle ship doing the
things he had been trained for, and do
ing them with confidence. And his
thoughts swept him away to Spit
head; and the vision Of the great,
Q6EA D6ILlG-BlIlp, SllLluS STEADY IN q
tunbled sea between Southsea and the
Isle Of Wight. clear of the Solent fair
way, and West of the checkered forts,
rose up and drew him for moment as
with chains. He hated his ambitions;
he thought of his dreadful hour to
which they had lured him. He saw
the. day pass and the evening come
up out Of the sea and the lights be-
gin to glow upon the foreshore a
cluster at Southsea pier, a little chain
running up the hill of Union Street,
at Ryde, and close down by the wa
ter's edge tiny lights in cottages and
houses like glow worms in a forest"
Then he went in the House and be-
gan to speak. He was speaking, too,
with haze before his eyes, and his
hands clutching at the edges of his
coat. But he went on and then quite
suddenly the haze cleared 50 that he
saw the House and he heard his voice
ringing out clear and firm, not loud
nor arrogant. filling the Chamber and
with just that note Of Difference
which he had planned to strike and had
struck because the Difference was sin
cere. He turned In his place. He
was no longer conscious Of the need
of a table in front of him: he looked
down the House toward the clackl
above the entrance door, and he saw
that the bar was thronged with MEM
bers. Curiosity, no doubt, had
brought them In from the library and
smoking room and the lobby when his
name went up on the tape-he had.
after all, reputation. He. the least
romantic of men, had some aura of
romance about him in that assembly;
enough at all events to invite mo-
mentary interest But they stayed
and as he spoke in a voice that went
steadily forward with a rhythm of
marching men. he saw now one. now
another come out from the throng at
the bar and slip into a seat With
q throb Of joy he realized that he was
not failing, that now he was not go
ing to fail The House had filled. since
he had risen and on all the benches
there was a great quiet. He turned
toward the speakers chair. The space
at the sides of it was crowded, too.
He saw more than one cabinet min
lister standing. Above, behind the
grille. he saw the big hats and sha3-
owy form of the ladies in their gal
lery, and here and there the CLEAN OF
an erTnine stole against the light be-
hind them. That happened to him
again which had happened in the
Corn Exchange at Ludsey. He turned
over the CONSCIENTIOUS Of his argument
Ike the pages of a printed book. He
was master of himself. He worked
in his predecessors points and replied
to them with force and without Of
tense because they were just the
points he had foreseen. He provoked
Interruptions from his opponents; he
had foreseen them and was ready, and
the cheers broke out from the benches
about him and behind him. He spoke