found in
that the symbol of silver! In fact, for a foreigner, I had had quite
enough of the Presidential election before the steamer arrived at the
White Star Line landing-stage.

I crossed the Herring Pond in chill October, so as to be in New York for
the last stages of the Presidential contest. The last stages of these
elections, although exciting and interesting from a political point of
view, are not to be compared with the earlier scenes for effect. For the
purpose of sketching scenes the artist should be there in the heat of
summer, and in the heat of the Conventional controversies. At the time
of brilliant sunshine, when in that year America was so much _en
evidence_ in England, when Yale was rowing so pluckily at Henley, when
Haverford College was playing our schools at our national game, when the
Ancient and Honourable Artillery Company of Boston were being feted
right royally in the Old Country, when London was fuller of American
visitors than at any other time--it was then that all the fun of
political affairs was taking place in the United States for the fight
for Gold _v._ Free Silver.

It is at the two gigantic Conventions at which the rival candidates are
nominated that the artist finds material for his pencil, the satirist
for his pen, and the man of the world food for reflection. By all
accounts, these Conventions baffle description. Everything is sacrificed
to spectacular effect. They take place in huge buildings decorated with
banners, emblems of all kinds, startling devices, transparencies, and
portraits of the candidates. Bands play different airs at the same time;
processions are formed and marched all over the hall, carrying emblems
and portrait banners, the State delegates carrying the State standards
in front of each procession to the cheers and yells of their supporters.
Similar demonstrations are carried on in the galleries. Girls dressed
symbolically representing silver or gold, or some topic of interest in
the election, wave flags and lead demonstrations, perhaps acting as an
antidote to the less attractive surroundings.

The election being a purely commercial question, I attended the meetings
held in commercial districts, where the excitement ran high. During the
lunch hour crowds attend the political gatherings held in the centre of
the business districts in large stores turned into halls for
speechifying and demonstrations, and great as the subject is, and grave
as is the issue, the l