Omaha daily bee., 1915-08-23
Bryan On Chautauqua



TT WAS an old Bryan, and very tired Bryan. that
spoke last night In the chnut1uoua tent in indie
pendence. The work he Is doing would tear down
any He Is making flying trip around the
chauauqua circuit speaking place in the after
noon. catching train and making jump Of hun
dred miles or 10 get TO another town and another
chautauqua at night
The manager OF the ohsutsuqus said there we're
100 persons In the tent last night The last time
Bryan spoke at Independence a much greater crowd
gathered to hear him. committees there to greet
him, all the leading democratic politicians out
TO shake hands. lie was llonized.
There was none of that last night Bryan came
into the dressing tent behind the stage while the
kities' band was playing piece. There onlv
two persons there waiting for him One a news
paper reporter The other daughter of Ne
braska congressman. who is in hospital here.
only those two. Not politician there to meet
him Not city county official. nor a state
nor government official nor a candidate for office
No one TO welcome him
There was something pathetic in the sight Of VIII
liam Jennings Bryan standing there alone in tho
semi-darkness OF the dressing tent hot air heavy
with the scent OF tramped dog fennel on one side
bsndsmsn In his Undertaking changing from his
klties Bryan waited there for his go on.
The audience had listened for an hour TO indif
terent music by band that played last winter in
restaurant in this city. There was a short intermis-
sion and Bryan was introduced by Rev A. G. Pear
son. pastor Of the First Presbyterian Of indie
pendence, who spoke highly of Mr.. Bryan as Chris
uan gentleman. That pleased Bryan. His face
glowed with pleasure and he shook Mr. Pearson's
hand and thanked him. and then he began his speech
He wore the same sort of wrinlled back alpaca
coat that he has all his speaking since
he began in 1896 the free silver candidate the
presidency. But the long. black waving hair that
covered his head In abundance then lie almost gone
just fringe OF II behind his ears-the whole dome
OF his head bald The present smile the springy
step. were gone too. He longer corpulcnt
as he used TO be There the beginning OF a hump
appearing between his shoulders Bryan showing
his
Mr.. Bryans voice hoarse. and he saved 1t all he
could. He gave one the impression Of exceedingly
tired man who working when he ought been
asleep and resting; but who bound go through
with It, He held palm leaf fan and occasionally lie
waved II in front his face with quick gesture.
As he spoke under a row of hot electric bulbs per-
spiration gathered In beads his bald head. face
and neck and triclSed down in tiny
glstened in the electric light In the middle OF his
lecture he stopped leaned and spoke In
dertone 20 man in the front seat The went
out and returned with bowl Of cracked ice. which he
placed the stand
Bryan thrust his right hand eagerly into It. as an
heated horse plunges it's nostrils beneath the
cooling water in a tank. He clasped chunk of tho
ice held It until his cold; then he put
the chilled palm OF his hand to his forehead and slid
It up and back the bald place This he did over
again throughout the balance OF HIS speech.
II he took his hand from the cracked ice to make
with It, he quickly returned Il again to the
bowl Then he kept rubbing and rubbing his head
with his cold palm.
At first Bryan had little applause The first greet
ing OF the audience he walked out decidedly
cool The majority there holders of tick
cts In the chautauqua and there women
than In the audience. II might have been that
Bryan was no more TO them than any other attrac-
ton OF week. Al any rate he did not get much
applause given the band that preceded him.
and not nearly as much given a member OF
the band who gave limitations OF Harry Lauder ana
sang "Tipperary"
There was scarcely q ripple OF applause until
Bryan was almost half through his speech Then he
mentioned the name of President Wilson and the
audience broke loose and showed Mr.. Bryan in most
emphatic manner what its opinion of the presi-
dent After that st sort OF warmed up to Bryan,
probably on OF, his apparent sincerity, and
his worn look, and the effort he making.
The War and It's Lessons to Us was the subject
OF his speech He divided It into three parts: The
war as Il 10 and It's injury TO US; its cause and the
way out ard the road to permanent peace. He pic
tured the horrors OF the and the Industrial and
financial losses from Il: said 1t the result Of the
doctrine Knight makes right" and OF preparedness
said the nation that best prepared for wsr
was the first into Il asserted IF our coun-
try was ready the jngoes would like to have It,
we would have been into the long before this"
He said no believed In letting the people
vote on whether they wanted not and those
who voted II ought to go first with all the lingo
editors firing line TIE closed by declaring that
the treaties he and President Wilson had negotiated
ali of them had been signed up.