a bow of
acknowledgment, and goes to the private office until the musicians are
seated in front of the platform, when he enters to renewed cheering and
the tune of "See, the Conquering Hero Comes!"

An honest historian must admit that there were two accounts of this
meeting. Both agree that Mr. Crewe introduced himself, and poured a
withering sarcasm on the heads of Kingston's prominent citizens. One
account, which the ill-natured declared to be in Mr. Tooting's style, and
which appeared (in slightly larger type than that of the other columns)
in the Kingston and local papers, stated that the hall was crowded to
suffocation, and that the candidate was "accorded an ovation which lasted
for fully five minutes."

Mr. Crewe's speech was printed--in this slightly larger type. Woe to the
Honourable Adam B. Hunt, who had gone to New York to see whether he could
be governor! Why didn't he come out on the platform? Because he couldn't.
"Safe" candidates couldn't talk. His subservient and fawning reports on
accidents while chairman of the Railroad Commission were ruthlessly
quoted (amid cheers and laughter). What kind of railroad service was
Kingston getting compared to what it should have? Compared, indeed, to
what it had twenty years ago? An informal reception was held afterwards.

More meetings followed, at the rate of four a week, in county after
county. At the end of fifteen days a selectman (whose name will go down
in history) voluntarily mounted the platform and introduced the
Honourable Humphrey Crewe to the audience; not, to be sure, as the
saviour of the State; and from that day onward Mr. Crewe did not lack for
a sponsor. On the other hand, the sponsors became more pronounced, and at
Harwich (a free-thinking district) a whole board of selectmen and five
prominent citizens sat gravely beside the candidate in the town hall.

(1) Paul Pardriff, Ripton. Sent post free, on application, to voters and
others.

End of Project Gutenberg's Mr. Crewe's Career, Book II., by Winston Churchill

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