Toward noon, when there was a lull in the proceedings, I said with an
emphasis meant to carry conviction: “Gentlemen of the convention, Miss
Phoebe Couzins, a representative of the Woman’s Association of America,
has a memorial from that body, and in the absence of other business the
chair will now recognize her.”
Instantly and from every part of the hall arose cries of “No!” These
put some heart into me. Many a time as a schoolboy I had proudly
declaimed the passage from John Home’s tragedy, “My Name is Norval.”
Again I stood upon “the Grampian hills.” The committee was escorting
Miss Couzins down the aisle. When she came within the radius of my poor
vision I saw that she was a beauty and dressed to kill.
That was reassurance. Gaining a little time while the hall fairly
rocked with its thunder of negation I laid the gavel down and stepped
to the edge of the platform and gave Miss Couzins my hand.
As she appeared above the throng there was a momentary “Ah!” and then a
lull, broken by a single voice:
“Mister Chairman. I rise to a point of order.”
Leading Miss Couzins to the front of the stage I took up the gavel and
gave a gentle rap, saying: “The gentleman will take his seat.”
“But, Mister Chairman, I rose to a point of order,” he vociferated.
“The gentleman will take his seat instantly,” I answered in a tone of
one about to throw the gavel at his head. “No point of order is in
order when a lady has the floor.”
After that Miss Couzins received a positive ovation and having
delivered her message retired in a blaze of glory.
VI
Mr. Tilden was nominated on the second ballot. The campaign that
followed proved one of the most memorable in our history. When it came
to an end the result showed on the face of the returns 196 in the
Electoral College, eleven more than a majority; and in the popular vote
4,300,316, a majority of 264,300 for Tilden over Hayes.
How this came to be first contested and then complicated so as
ultimately to be set aside has been minutely related by its authors.
The newspapers, both Republican and Democratic, of November 8, 1876,
the morning after the election, conceded an overwhelming victory for
Tilden and Hendricks. There was, however, a single exception. The New
York Times had gone to press with its first edition, leaving the result
in doubt but inclining toward the success of the Democrats. In its
later editions this tentative attitude was changed to the statement
that Mr. Hayes lacked the vote of Florida—“claimed by the
Republicans”—to be sure of the required votes in the Electoral College.
The story of this surprising discrepancy between midnight and daylight
reads like a chapter of fiction.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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