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CHAPTER I.

THE CONVENTION.

CHICAGO is never a quiet place, nor does excessive modesty mark the average resident of that goodly city, but the early days of June, 1884, saw it a busier city than usual,—its streets swarmed with men headed by bands of music, and not overwhelmed with a modest or retiring spirit. An observer of these scenes said: "The crowds are great and noisy, the bands are numerous and brassy, as are other blowers of human kind."

On Monday there was an atmospheric tempest, with rain and hail, thunder and lightning, but it was a mere ripple compared to that which raged about the Palmer House, where rumor said a dicker had been made which turned an instructed and pledged delegation into channels other than that fore-ordained for them. There were other storm-centres developed where the thunders of profanity rolled, and where wit and logic flashed, but the peace was kept in a general way, and preparations went on vigorously for the great meeting of Tuesday.

During all of Saturday night and Sunday an army of carpenters, gas fitters and decorators had toiled in the work of remodeling the great hall to meet the requirements of the approaching Convention. The first five rows of seats in the centre and seven on either side were taken out, leaving a space of thirty feet between the stage and that portion of the hall reserved for the delegates. In this space rows of tables to accommodate three hundred working members of the press were placed. The stage and rafters of the building were gaily decorated with flags and bunting, and from the galleries, which run in a semi-circle around the hall, the arms of each State and Territory were hung. The hall will accommodate about 9000 persons.

Members of the National Committee spent the greater portion of Sunday superintending these changes, all of which were completed by Monday

noon.

All the delegations were officially requested to be prepared to report to the Convention, upon its temporary organization on Tuesday, their officers and committee-men, and that the names of the State and Territorial delegations be sent to the National Committee before the Convention meets.

These precautions went far toward simplifying the act of getting to work on the opening day. Affairs were in charge of the National Republican Committee, DWIGHT M. SABIN, Min

nesota, Chairman; JOHN A. MARTIN, Kansas, Secretary.

The scene at the place of meeting on the morning of June 3d was full of interest. It is known technically as Exposition Building, and stands on Michigan avenue, where a degree of freshness of the better sort manifests itself. In front of the building assembled at an early hour at least ten thousand eager, restless and pushing people. They were confronted by a series of doors, labelled, numbered, lettered and policed. Committee intelligence pointed one and all to their respective places of entrance, but nobody appeared to know what to do. Consequently they pushed, screamed and yelled. There was some ill-nature, but it was an American crowd, after all, and by eleven o'clock their was a great assemblage in the immensely large hall, where not more than a fifth can hear more than a tenth of the words of wit or wisdom.

There is a huge platform, in the fore front of which is the chairman's desk, draped with flags, decorated with a huge basket of flowers and made typical by an immense gilt eagle in front. On either side are tables for secretaries and officers. Back of these, in tiers, are ladies in quantities and men of note by the bushel. Immediately in front of the platform on two tiers of platforms are tables, occupied by newspaper men of all sorts and conditions. This, by the way, is a curious phase of ink. Some journals of no great circulation or

influence have five or six men, while the largest metropolitan papers are content with two.

The hall itself is divided into three sections. First, the body looks like an entire acre of heads, occupied by delegates, about whom are rows of private boxes, occupied by ladies and guests; second, by a gallery of raised seats at the end opposite the platform, and then two long stretches of galleries. Into this vast space pour the people pell-mell and higgly-piggedly-delegates, alternates, guests and all sorts. The band played all manner of pieces while the crowds came in.

Among the members of the United States Senate present at the opening were Senators Aldrich, of Rhode Island; Blair, of New Hampshire; Hoar, of Massachusetts; Platt, of Connecticut; Miller, of New York; Miller, of California; Sewell, of New Jersey; Mahone, of Virginia; Palmer, of Michigan; Conger, of Michigan; Harrison, of Indiana; Cullom, of Illinois; Sabin, of Minnesota; Plumb, of Kansas; Manderson, of Nebraska; Bowen, of Colorado; Dolph, of Oregon, and Jones, of Nevada; and among the representatives in Congress, Messrs. Boutelle, Millikan and Dingley, of Maine; Stewart, of Vermont; Long and Rice, of Massachusetts; Skinner, Burleigh and Wadsworth, of New York; William Walter Phelps, of New Jersey; Baynet and Bingham, of Pennsylvania; Halton of Maryland; Libby, of Virginia; O'Hara, of

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