s and wishes; he was here, as they all were, in the discharge of
a public duty. (Cheers.) That duty required of Mr. Ruse an act of
self-sacrifice. He must accept the nomination. He could not, he would
not dare desert the Banner of Reform. (Cheers.)

Mr. Spiggott paused, wiped his brow and his eyeglasses, and continued.
He might say in this small and select company of Reformers what it might
be imprudent to assert later in the evening, when he came to address the
great assembly in the outer hall, that the outcome of this meeting was
being keenly watched by the spoilsmen. They were a cunning and sagacious
lot. The one thing they most dreaded was the very thing this meeting was
going to do. He had the best reasons for knowing that Boss O'Meagher
mightily desired to nominate a candidate of his own at the Tammany Hall
convention. Who had been selected by this unprincipled partisan, this
arrogant and odious dictator (loud and long applause), he did not know.
But he was certain to be a partisan, a spoilsman, a tool of Tammany Hall
and its corrupt boss. Mr. Ruse's nomination to-night would deal a deadly
blow to that plot. Tammany Hall would not dare risk the defeat of its
entire ticket by nominating a candidate against the Hon. Perfidius Ruse.
(Immense enthusiasm.) Indeed, Mr. Spiggott had reason to believe that
Boss O'Meagher, cunning trickster that he was, would seek to avail
himself of Mr Ruse's popularity and would indorse the nominee of this
meeting. Under these circumstances it was folly to think of permitting
Mr. Ruse to retire. (Cheers.) It could not be done.

[Illustration: "OF THIS IMPERIAL METROPOLIS."]

Mr. Ruse was deeply affected by these remarks, and at their conclusion
he touched his handkerchief to his eyes and said he did not think it
would be right for him to resist any longer. Thereupon Colonel Sneekins,
in a tone of voice that highly distressed the nerves of the Rev.
Lillipad Froth, cried out "Hurrah!" and forthwith led the way from the
little dressing-room in which they were assembled out upon the stage.

The Reformers had been so busy bolstering up the shrinking nature of Mr.
Ruse that they had given small heed to the enormous concourse of
citizens in the hall. Indeed, Colonel Sneekins, having ascertained that
it would be sufficient in point of numbers for the purposes of a "grand
rally," had not bestowed a further thought upon it, so that when he and
his vice-presidents and his distinguished guests fin