racteristic. Weaker men would
have indulged their grief; he was made of sterner stuff, and would not
let it interfere with what he deemed his duty.

Splendid as was his eloquence at that time, Mr. Bradlaugh did not draw
the large audiences that flocked around him a few years later. The Hall
of Science was at first but half its present size, the platform standing
on the right as you entered, with a small gallery on the opposite side.
Its holding capacity could not have been more than half what it is at
present, yet I have seen the place far from full. But the audiences grew
larger and larger, and eventually the hall was increased to its present
proportions, although for a long time there was not cash enough to put
on a proper roof, and the building was defaced by a huge unsightly beam,
on each side of which there was an arch of corrugated iron.

Those were glorious times. Difficulties were great, but there was a
spirit at the Hall that laughed at them. How the foremost men about the
place did work! Mr. R. O. Smith and Mr. Trevilion, senior, could a tale
unfold. Whenever Freethinkers are at all dejected they should have a
chat with one of those gentleman. Perhaps it would make them ashamed of
their dejection, and fill them with the spirit of the heroic days.

Friends have told me with what energy Mr. Bradlaugh fought the battles
of the old Reform League. I _know_ with what energy he threw himself
into the Republican agitation that followed the downfall of Napoleon
III. He tried to get to Paris but failed. Jules Favre and his friends
did not want him. Favre himself was an eloquent historion, and no doubt
he felt afraid of a man like Mr. Bradlaugh. But if Mr. Bradlaugh could
not get to Paris he fought hard for France in London. Meetings at the
Hall of Science did not suffice. There was money from French sources and
St. James's Hall was taken for a big demonstration.

The Positivists shared in the proceedings. Their chief man was Mr.
Frederic Harrison. Mr. Bradlaugh and he were a tremendous contrast. In
fact a London paper (I think the _Echo_) remarked that Mr. Bradlaugh
spoke as well as Mr. Harrison wrote, and Mr. Harrison spoke as badly
as Mr. Bradlaugh wrote. There was some truth in this, though like most
epigrams it was not all true. Mr. Bradlaugh was a born orator, but not
a born writer. Yet he often wrote with a forthright power, naked and
unadorned, which could dispense with the aid of literary artifices.
During th