The chairman seemed anxious that the delegate from Marion should be
honored with the same close attention that had been secured for the
stranger from Pulaski.
"I hope he'll wait till they all sit down," said Sylvia; "I want to hear
him speak."
"You'll hear him, all right," said Marian. "You know at Yale they called
him 'Foghorn' Harwood, and they put him in front to lead the cheering at
all the big games."
Apparently something was expected of Mr. Harwood of Marion. Thatcher
had left his seat and was moving toward the corridors to find his
lieutenants. Half a dozen men accosted him as he moved through the
aisle, but he shook them off angrily. An effort to start another
demonstration in his honor was not wholly fruitless. It resulted at
least in a good deal of confusion of which the chair was briefly
tolerant; then he resumed his pounding, while Harwood stood stubbornly
on his chair.
The Tallest Delegate, known to be a recent convert to Thatcher, was
thoroughly aroused, and advanced toward the platform shouting; but the
chairman leveled his gavel at him and bade him sit down. The moment was
critical; the veriest tyro felt the storm-spirit brooding over the hall.
The voice of the chairman was now audible.
"The chair recognizes the delegate from Marion."
"Out of order! What's his name!" howled many voices.
The chairman graciously availed himself of the opportunity to announce
the name of the gentleman he had recognized.
"Mr. Harwood, of Marion, has the floor. The convention will be in order.
The gentleman will proceed."
"Mr. Chairman, I rise to a point of order."
Dan's voice rose sonorously; the convention was relieved to find that
the gentleman in blue serge could be heard; he was audible even to Mr.
Thatcher's excited counsellors in the corridors.
"The delegate will kindly state his point of order."
The chairman was quietly courteous. His right hand rested on his gavel,
he thrust his left into the side pocket of his long alpaca coat. He was
an old and tried hand in the chair, and his own deep absorption in the
remarks of Mr. Harwood communicated itself to the delegates.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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