onth, or more, the burden of existence had been
lifted from the shoulders of the homeless. No church or organization,
looked out for these frowsy, blear-eyed and ragged wanderers who had
failed to find a place in the scale of efficiency. For a whole month, I
say, Mr. Judd Jason and his lieutenants made them their especial care;
supported them in lodging-houses, induced the night clerks to give them
attention; took the greatest pains to ensure them the birth-right which,
as American citizens, was theirs,--that of voting. They were not only
given homes for a period, but they were registered; and in the abundance
of good feeling that reigned during this time of cheer, even the
foreigners were registered! On election day they were driven, like
visiting notables, in carryalls and carriages to the polls! Some of
them, as though in compensation for ills endured between elections,
voted not once, but many times; exercising judicial functions for which
they should be given credit. For instance, they were convinced that
the Hon. W. W. Trulease had made a good governor; and they were Watling
enthusiasts,--intent on sending men to the legislature who would vote
for him for senator; yet there were cases in which, for the minor
offices, the democrat was the better man!

It was a memorable day. In spite of Mr. Lawler's Pilot, which was as
a voice crying in the wilderness, citizens who had wives and homes and
responsibilities, business men and clerks went to the voting booths
and recorded their choice for Trulease, Watling and Prosperity: and
working-men followed suit. Victory was in the air. Even the policemen
wore happy smiles, and in some instances the election officers
themselves in absent-minded exuberance thrust bunches of ballots into
the boxes!

In response to an insistent demand from his fellow-citizens Mr. Watling,
the Saturday evening before, had made a speech in the Auditorium, decked
with bunting and filled with people. For once the Morning Era did
not exaggerate when it declared that the ovation had lasted fully ten
minutes. "A remarkable proof" it went on to say, "of the esteem and
confidence in which our fellow-citizen is held by those who know him
best, his neighbours in the city where he has given so many instances
of his public spirit, where he has achieved such distinction in the
practice of the law. He holds the sound American conviction that the
office should seek the man. His address is printed in another column