"To call a State
convention, as the machine runs it, a deliberative body is a sad jest of
some magnitude. The managers intend to hold the real convention the
night before in the State Committee's headquarters at the hotel. But
to-day I hope that prayer proves prophetic."
He studied the faces on the platform. The United States Senator, smug
and now satisfied that he had chosen aright for his personal interests,
sat in the chairman's central seat, and studied his people from under
eyelids half lowered while the parson prayed.
After the prayer, the routine proceeded hurriedly. For five minutes the
convention seemed to be in a state of riot. Men were bellowing and
yelping, and standing on settees. The counties were holding simultaneous
caucuses for the purpose of selecting, each its vice-president of
convention, its State committeeman, and member of the Committee on
Resolutions--the resolutions then reposing in the breast-pocket of the
Hon. Luke Presson.
The secretaries were announced, the temporary organization was made
permanent, and, advancing against a blast of band-music and a salvo of
applause, the Senator-chairman began his address.
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