he interrupters, if drafted on to
the hustings, could have given a lucid or intelligent statement of his
views, or indication that he was furnished with any, and yet not one
slip on the part of a candidate, one inconsistent point, personal
mannerism or peccadillo, but was remarked in an astonishingly humorous
and satirical style.

The barrister man having finished "spouting," the common-sense
individual, who always sits half-way down the hall, and who, when he
asks a question, has to face the double ordeal of the crowd and the
candidate, said--

"The speaker has shown us all the things the other fellows _can't do_,
we'd like another speech now stating what _he can_ do." The chairman
rose to say this was out of order, but his voice was lost in the din.

"You sit down, old chap, we can manage this meetin' ourselves."

"But out of respect to the ladies present!"

"We'll look after the ladies too," was the good-humoured rejoinder.
"Why, they're enjoyin' it as much as we are. They've got a vote now,
you know, and are going to use it in an intelligent manner."

"Did you know Queen Anne was dead?" said another.

"The ladies won't be harmed. Any one that disrespects the ladies will
be chucked out."

The ladies had to laugh at this, and the meeting went right merrily,
and more merrily in that half the "blowing" from the stage was drowned
by the interjectory din from the rear of the building, where lads and
men stood chock-a-block, the former, and the latter too, making right
royal use of their licence to be rowdy; but such a good-natured crowd
could not often be seen. There were no altercations, only laughter and
the crude repartee of such a gathering.

The first speaker having returned to his seat and sanity, the second
took his place.

"Hullo, Tomatoes! What's the price of onions and spuds?"

"Now begin and tell the ladies how intelligent they are, so you'll get
their vote."

"Tomatoes" did butter the ladies, next yelled that the civil servants
would not be retrenched, and then upheld the virulent attack on the
government. Keeping in time with the utterances of "Tomato Jimmy," the
boys at the back grew so boisterous that at one time it appeared
inevitable that the meeting must break up in disorder. The chairman,
the candidates, the ladies, the whole house rose, and one man towards
the front made himself heard amid the babel to the effect that the
ladies ought to walk out to show their resentment of the insults t