Campaigning through the country Sir Wilfrid was always master of the situation. There was withal, something of the “grand seigneur” about him. He had a keen sense of dramatic values. While he yielded to the worship of those who crowded his car to shake his hand, he did not show himself to the public one moment before it was necessary. Sometimes the clamor of admirers forced him from his bed at midnight. With all the love for applause, characteristic of his race, and of the dramatic temperament, his common sense never deserted him. During his last tour of Nova Scotia, one morning his boat barely landed when an enthusiastic young woman crossed the gang plank and handed him an armful of flowers. Such is to be expected as part of every meeting, but there on the bare deck of a steamer the chieftain was nonplussed. As he laid the gift on the hatch he turned and said over his shoulder: “Is a man ever so helpless as he is with a bouquet?” * * * * * On one occasion an excited supporter telegraphed: “Report in circulation here, that your antagonism to religion is so strong, that you have never had any of your children baptized. Very damaging to party. Telegraph me if untrue.” Sir Wilfrid’s reply was characteristic: “Statement is unfortunately quite true. I have never had a child to baptize.” * * * * * Sir Wilfrid Laurier’s ability to remember faces which had presented themselves to his view, perhaps, years previously, was something to marvel at. Many men possess this power but few have ever held it in greater proportion than did the late statesman. A Brockville man relates that on being introduced to Sir Wilfrid, not long ago, the “old chief” looked at him intently for a moment and then said: “Just a minute, let me think where I have seen you before.” He thought for a brief period and then exclaimed: “I have it. You are one of —— ——’s bad little boys and you sat in the front row at my meeting in Cornwall in 1912.” Such had been the case. * * * * * His first appearance in public life revealed the qualities that were to make him famous. His début in the Legislature is said by those whose memories go back to that time, to have produced a sensation, not more by the finished grace of his oratorical abilities than by the boldness and authority with which he handled the deepest political problems. The effect of his fluent, cultivated and charming discourse is described by Frechette, the poet, as magical. On the following day, he writes, the name of Laurier was on every lip, and all who then heard it will remember how those two syllables rang out true and clear, their tone that of a coin of gold, pure from all alloy, and bearing the impress of sterling worth. * * * * *