his secretary to strengthen the ties between Mrs.
Owen and this object of her benevolence.

Mrs. Bassett's presence at the convention did not pass unremarked by
many gentlemen upon the floor, or by the newspapers.

"While the state chairman struggled to bring the delegates to order,
Miss Marian Bassett, daughter of the Honorable Morton Bassett, of Fraser
County, was a charming and vivacious figure in the balcony. At a moment
when it seemed that the band would never cease from troubling the air
with the strains of 'Dixie,' Miss Bassett tossed a carnation into the
Marion County delegation. The flower was deftly caught by Mr. Daniel
Harwood, who wore it in his buttonhole throughout the strenuous events
of the day."

This item was among the "Kodak Shots" subjoined to the "Advertiser's"
account of the convention. It was stated elsewhere in the same journal
that "never before had so many ladies attended a state convention as
graced this occasion. The wives of both Republican United States
Senators and of many prominent politicians of both parties were present,
their summer costumes giving to the severe lines of the balcony a bright
note of color." The "Capital," in its minor notes of the day, remarked
upon the perfect amity that prevailed among the wives and daughters of
Republicans and Democrats. It noted also the presence in Mrs. Bassett's
party of her aunt, Mrs. Jackson Owen, and of Mrs. Owen's guest, Miss
Sylvia Garrison, a graduate of this year's class at Wellesley.

The experiences and sensations of a delegate to a large convention are
quite different from those of a reporter at the press table, as Dan
Harwood realized; and it must be confessed that he was keyed to a proper
pitch of excitement by the day's prospects. In spite of Bassett's
promise that he need not trouble to help elect himself a delegate,
Harwood had been drawn sharply into the preliminary skirmish at the
primaries. He had thought it wise to cultivate the acquaintance of the
men who ruled his own county even though his name had been written large
upon the Bassett slate.

In the weeks that intervened between his interview with Harwood in the
upper room of the Whitcomb and the primaries, Bassett had quietly
visited every congressional district, holding conferences and perfecting
his plans. "Never before," said the "Advertiser," "had Morton Bassett's
pernicious activity been so marked." The belief had grown that the
senator from Fraser was in imminent