So to-day, as I look into these intelligent faces, my thoughts are turned away from those things that are scheduled, that have their places in our census returns, to those things which belong to the higher man--his spiritual and moral nature. [Applause.] I congratulate you, not so much upon the rich farm lands of your county as upon your virtuous and happy homes. [Applause.] The home is the best, as it is the first, school of good citizenship. It is the great conservative and assimilating force. I should despair for my country if American citizens were to be trained only in our schools, valuable as their instruction is. It is in the home that we first learn obedience and respect for law. Parental authority is the type of beneficent government. It is in the home that we learn to love, in the mother that bore us, that which is virtuous, consecrated, and pure. [Applause.] I take more pride in the fact that the Republican party has always been the friend and protector of the American home than in aught else. [Applause.] By the beneficent homestead law it created more than half a million of homes; by the Emancipation Proclamation it converted a million cattle-pens into homes. [Applause] And it is still true to those principles that will preserve contentment and prosperity in our homes. I greet you as men who have been nurtured in such homes, and call your thought to the fact that the Republican party has always been, and can be trusted to be, friendly to all that will promote virtue, intelligence and morality in the homes of our people. Now, in view of the fact that I must greet other delegations to-day [cries of "Don't stop!"], I am sure you will be content with these brief remarks, though they are altogether an inadequate return for your cordial demonstration. The other delegations of the day came from Macon and Douglas counties, Illinois, numbering 3,000. A notable feature of the Douglas County display was the tattered old battle-flag of the Twenty-first Illinois Regiment--General Grant's original regiment--borne by seven survivors. Capt. T. D. Minturn, of Tuscola, was spokesman. At the head of the Macon County column marched 300 uniformed members of the Young Men's Republican Club of Decatur, led by Captain Wm. M. Strange and Wm. Frazier; Prof. L. A. Estes, of Westfield, headed a company from that town. Andrew H. Mills, of Decatur, spoke for the Macon County people. General Harrison said: _My Republican Friends_--I feel myself unable to respond suitably to this magnificent demonstration and to those kindly words which you have addressed to me. Public duties involve grave responsibilities. The conscientious man will not contemplate them without seriousness. But the man who sincerely desires to know and to do his duty may rely upon the favoring help of God and the friendly judgment of his fellow-citizens. [Great applause.]