“I’d put it in red ink if they had any in the printing shop, but they haven’t. You don’t use a tinkly silver bell when you want to call this bunch in the morning; you use a cow bell.” In addition to this we had the same call to arms printed in the form of a circular--Holt unearthed some green paper for this--and mailed a copy to everyone in town. Those we had left over we tacked up in the stores and on telegraph poles. It’s pretty certain no one missed seeing it, and if they did they had to be deaf not to hear about it, for there wasn’t much of anything else talked about from the moment it appeared. We wanted to get everyone together for once if we never did again, and we certainly succeeded. An hour before the meeting was called to order the hall was packed jam full and there were at least a hundred who couldn’t get in. There is something electric about the enthusiasm of people in just being together. The whole village rubbing shoulders with one another in a bunch had its effect. They were on edge with excitement and began to show signs of waking up on the spot. The slightest incident was enough to send a laugh through the crowd and it took nothing at all to start a cheer. Holt was flying around like a hen with its head cut off trying to make room for those outside, collecting chairs and poking up the janitor to keep the hall warm. His face was flushed and his eyes bright with the excitement of it. I myself was fairly stage struck when I looked out from behind the wings and saw the gathering. I found it difficult to catch my breath and heartily wished someone else was going to preside. I tried to persuade Holt to open the meeting but he wouldn’t. “No, siree, you’re the man. Where’s that confounded band?” He was off in a second to round them up and make out the programme for the music. He had to make room for them on the stage and a few minutes later they struck up the Star Spangled Banner. After they had played it through once Holt stepped to the front after nodding towards them to repeat. “Now,” he said, “everyone join in.”