of the immense concourse of friends. A thousand hands of
old neighbors were stretched out to grasp his as he moved along
with great difficulty, piloted by the reception committee, through
the vast and surging crowd. Cheer after cheer went up on every
imaginable pretext, and many times calls for 'Three cheers for John
Sherman, our next President,' were honored with a power and enthusiasm
that left no room for doubt as to the intensity of the devotion
felt for him at his old home."

In this connection I wish to say once for all that I have been
under the highest obligations to the people of Mansfield during my
entire life, from boyhood to old age. I have, with rare exceptions,
and without distinction of party, received every kindness and favor
which anyone could receive from his fellow-citizens, and if I have
not been demonstrative in exhibiting my appreciation and gratitude,
it has nevertheless been entertained, and I wish in this way to
acknowledge it.

In opening my address in the evening I said:

"My fellow-townsmen, I regret your disappointment of to-day, that,
by some misunderstanding as to the hour of your meeting, I felt it
my duty, in obedience to the request of the state committee, to
attend the great mass meeting as Massillon this afternoon, and now
come before you wearied and hoarse, to speak of the political
questions of the day.

"When I was in Ohio in August last, the chief question in the
pending political canvass was, whether the resumption of specie
payments, so long and steadily struggled for, and happily accomplished
by the Republican party, should be maintained, or whether it should
give way to certain wild and erratic notions in favor of irredeemable
paper money. Upon this issue General Ewing was nominated by the
Democratic party, in the hope that he would gain support from a
third party committed to inflation. Since then it would appear
that the Democratic leaders seek to change the issue. The same
old questions about the rights of states to nullify the laws of
the United States--the same old policy to belittle and degrade our
national government into a mere confederacy of states--are now
thrust forward into prominence."

On the following Tuesday I voted, and immediately started for
Washington. The news of the triumphant election of Foster and
Hickenlooper, by over 30,000 majority, and a Republican majority
of twenty-five in the legislature, reached me while on the train.

The manage