nd come in when I can do anything for
you, Mr. Paret."

Thanking him, I groped my way downstairs and let myself out by a side
door Monahan had shown me into an alleyway, thus avoiding the saloon. As
I walked slowly back to the office, seeking the shade of the awnings, the
figure in the darkened room took on a sinister aspect that troubled
me....

The autumn arrived, the campaign was on with a whoop, and I had my first
taste of "stump" politics. The acrid smell of red fire brings it back to
me. It was a medley of railroad travel, of committees provided with
badges--and cigars, of open carriages slowly drawn between lines of
bewildered citizens, of Lincoln clubs and other clubs marching in serried
ranks, uniformed and helmeted, stalwarts carrying torches and banners.
And then there were the draughty opera-houses with the sylvan scenery
pushed back and plush chairs and sofas pushed forward; with an ominous
table, a pitcher of water on it and a glass, near the footlights. The
houses were packed with more bewildered citizens. What a wonderful study
of mob-psychology it would have offered! Men who had not thought of the
grand old Republican party for two years, and who had not cared much
about it when they had entered the dooms, after an hour or so went mad
with fervour. The Hon. Joseph Mecklin, ex-Speaker of the House, with whom
I traveled on occasions, had a speech referring to the martyred
President, ending with an appeal to the revolutionary fathers who
followed Washington with bleeding feet. The Hon. Joseph possessed that
most valuable of political gifts, presence; and when with quivering voice
he finished his peroration, citizens wept with him. What it all had to do
with the tariff was not quite clear. Yet nobody seemed to miss the
connection.

We were all of us most concerned, of course, about the working-man and
his dinner pail,--whom the Democrats had wantonly thrown out of
employment for the sake of a doctrinaire theory. They had put him in
competition with the serf of Europe. Such was the subject-matter of my
own modest addresses in this, my maiden campaign. I had the sense to see
myself in perspective; to recognize that not for me, a dignified and
substantial lawyer of affairs, were the rhetorical flights of the Hon.
Joseph Mecklin. I spoke with a certain restraint. Not too dryly, I hope.
But I sought to curb my sentiments, my indignation, at the manner in
which the working-man had been treated; to appeal to th