ends and constituents. Hurriedly alighting
from the train and stepping upon the platform, with beaming
countenance and heart made glad by such an enthusiastic reception,
he thus began:

"Fellow-citizens, my heart is deeply touched as my eyes behold this
splendid assemblage of my constituents and friends gathered here
before and around me. During my absence in Congress my friends
have spoken in my vindication. I am here now to speak for myself.
Vile slanders have been put in circulation against me. I have been
accused of being a defaulter; I have been accused of being a
drunkard; I have been accused of being a gambler; but, thank
God, fellow-citizens, _no man has ever dared to assail my good
moral character!"_

One incident is related by Butterworth of a judge in his State who,
becoming thoroughly disgusted with the ease with which naturalization
papers were obtained, determined upon a radical reform. That
the pathway of the reformer--along this as other lines--was by
no means one of flowers will appear from the sequel. Immediately upon
taking his seat, the judge, with great earnestness of manner,
announced from the bench that thereafter no applicant could receive
from that court his final papers, entitling him to the exercise of
the high privilege of citizenship, unless he was able to read
the Constitution of the United States. A few mornings later,
Michael O'Connor, a well-known partisan of the Seventh Ward, appeared
in court accompanied by a diminutive-looking countryman, Dennis
Flynn by name. Mr. O'Connor stated to the judge that his friend
Dennis Flynn had already taken out his first papers, and the legal
time had passed, and he now wanted His Honor to grant him his final
papers. With much solemnity of manner the judge inquired whether
Mr. Flynn had ever read the Constitution of the United States.
Somewhat abashed by the unusual interrogatory, Mr. O'Connor looked
inquiringly at Mr. Flynn, at which the latter, wholly unconscious of
the purport of the inquiry, looked appealingly to Mr. O'Connor.
The latter then replied that he presumed he had not, at which
the judge, handing the applicant a copy of the revised statutes
containing the Constitution, admonished him to read it carefully.
Mr. Flynn, carrying the volume in his arms, and followed by his
patron, sadly left the court-room. Just eight minutes elapsed,
the door suddenly opened and both reappeared, Mr. O'Connor in front,
bearing the book aloft, and