e common sense
rather than to the passions of my audiences. Here were the statistics!
(drawn, by the way, from the Republican Campaign book). Unscrupulous
demagogues--Democratic, of course--had sought to twist and evade them.
Let this terrible record of lack of employment and misery be compared
with the prosperity under Republican rule.

"One of the most effective speakers in this campaign for the restoration
of Prosperity," said the Rossiter Banner, "is Mr. Hugh Paret, of the firm
of Watling, Fowndes and Ripon. Mr. Paret's speech at the Opera-House last
evening made a most favourable impression. Mr. Paret deals with facts.
And his thoughtful analysis of the situation into which the Democratic
party has brought this country should convince any sane-minded voter that
the time has come for a change."

I began to keep a scrap-book, though I locked it up in the drawer of my
desk. In it are to be found many clippings of a similarly gratifying
tenor....

Mecklin and I were well contrasted. In this way, incidentally, I made
many valuable acquaintances among the "solid" men of the state, the local
capitalists and manufacturers, with whom my manner of dealing with public
questions was in particular favour. These were practical men; they rather
patronized the Hon. Joseph, thus estimating, to a nicety, a mans value;
or solidity, or specific gravity, it might better be said, since our
universe was one of checks and balances. The Hon. Joseph and his like,
skyrocketing through the air, were somehow necessary in the scheme of
things, but not to be taken too seriously. Me they did take seriously,
these provincial lords, inviting me to their houses and opening their
hearts. Thus, when we came to Elkington, Mr. Mecklin reposed in the
Commercial House, on the noisy main street. Fortunately for him, the
clanging of trolley cars never interfered with his slumbers. I slept in a
wide chamber in the mansion of Mr. Ezra Hutchins. There were many
Hutchinses in Elkington,--brothers and cousins and uncles and
great-uncles,--and all were connected with the woollen mills. But there
is always one supreme Hutchins, and Ezra was he: tall, self-contained,
elderly, but well preserved through frugal living, essentially American
and typical of his class, when he entered the lobby of the Commercial
House that afternoon the babel of political discussion was suddenly
hushed; politicians, traveling salesmen and the members of the local
committee made a lane