The firm hold which Mr. Bryan has over the confidence, esteem, and love of his followers was strikingly proven in the dark days that followed November, 1896. It is certain that no other public man of his time could have been the candidate of the Democratic party on the Chicago platform, suffered that severe reversal, and yet retained, undisputed and undisturbed, the acknowledged leadership of the party. Whoso learns why it was that Mr. Bryan stood stronger in defeat then he was before has found the key to the man’s greatness. Certainly it was not that he was a great and eloquent orator. For the orator, while always assured a hearing and a place under the lime-light, is still far from the actual leadership of his party. It was not because of the views which he entertained on public questions, for they were those of scores of other well known and able men. It was not because of his honesty and sincerity alone, any more than of his undoubted courage or his clean and upright personality and blameless home life. These, while all real qualifications, were not essentials. Each and all of them were marked characteristics of other notable public men, although it is doubtful if any possessed them all alike in the same degree as Bryan. But there were other and rarer qualities, the most important, his cheerful and contagious optimism and his intensity of character, which spoke in his every act and utterance. His optimism is an unwavering faith in the ways and ends of the Creator; a firm and abiding belief that “He doeth all things well.” The verse from Ella Wheeler Wilcox with which Mr. Bryan closes his “First Battle” well illustrates this phase of his character: “Let those who have failed take courage; Tho’ the enemy seems to have won, Tho’ his ranks are strong, if he be in the wrong The battle is not yet done; For sure as the morning follows The darkest hour of the night, No question is ever settled Until it is settled right.”