not see and hear an M. C. But Rangeley had been the minus town, and by all the speech-makers really neglected; there was danger that its voters must deposit their ballots according to their own judgment, without any advice from strangers. This, of course, would never do. Mr. Toothaker found that we fraternized in politics. He called upon us, as patriots, to become the orators of the day. Why not? Except that these seldom houses do not promise an exhilarating crowd. We promised, however, that, if he would supply hearers, we between us would find a speaker.
Mr. Toothaker called a nephew, and charged him to boot and saddle, and flame it through the country-side that two “Men from New York” were there, and would give a “Lecture on Politics,” at the Red School-house, at five that evening.
And to the Red School-house, at five, crowded the men, ay, and the women and children, of Rangeley and thereabout. They came as the winds and waves come when forests and navies are rended and stranded. Horse, foot, and charioteers, they thronged toward the rubicund fountain of education. From houses that lurked invisible in clearings suddenly burst forth a population, an audience ardent with patriotism, eager for politics even from a Cockney interpreter, and numerous enough to stir electricity in a speaker’s mind. Some of the matrons brought bundles of swaddled infants, to be early instructed in good citizenship; but too often
