When Squire Allen finally got through the reading, he introduced the speaker of the day. This was always some lawyer who came from Warner, the county-seat, twenty miles away. I had seen the lawyer’s horse and buggy at the hotel in the morning, and I thought how nice they were, and how much money a lawyer must make, and what a great man he was, and how I should like to be a lawyer; and I wondered what one had to study to be a lawyer, and how long it took, and how much brains, and a lot of things of this sort. The lawyer never seemed to be a bit afraid to stand up there on the platform before the audience, and I remember that he wore nice clothes,—a good deal nicer than those of the farmers and other people who came to hear him talk,—and his boots looked shiny, as if they had just been greased. He talked very loud, and seemed to be mad about something, especially when he spoke of the war and the “Bridish,” and he waved his hands and arms a great deal, and made quite a fuss about it all. I know that he said quite a lot about the Declaration of Independence, and a lot about fighting, and how glorious it was; and told us all about Europe and Asia and Africa, and how poor and downtrodden and ignorant all those people were, and how free we were, all on account of the Declaration of Independence, and the flag, and the G. A. R., and because our people were such good fighters. He told us that whatever happened, we must stand by the Declaration of Independence and the flag, and be ready to fight and to die if we ever had a chance to fight and die. And the old farmers clapped their hands and nodded their heads, and said he was a mighty smart man, and a great man, and thoroughly patriotic, and as long as we had such men the country was safe; and we boys went away feeling as if we wanted to fight, and wondering why the people in other countries ever let the rulers run over them the way they did, and feeling sorry they were so poor and weak and cowardly, and hoping we could get into a war with the “Bridish” and help to free her poor ignorant serfs, and wondering if we were old enough to be taken if we did have a war, and wishing if we did that the lawyer could be the General, or the President, or anything else, for he certainly was a great man and could talk louder than anyone we had ever heard. I usually noticed that the lawyer was running for some office in the fall, and everyone said that he was just the man that we ought to have,—he was such a great patriot.