og
cabin--no brick houses, no frame houses, except in town. The log
houses in the clearing, the toilsome and exciting time. You talk
about hard times now--I have seen the time when a man was glad to
get thirty-two cents for a bushel of wheat; when eggs could not be
sold, when the only way to get 'York money' was to drive horses
and cattle and sheep over the Alleghanies. The next step was the
canal system, which brought laborers into the country. Then came
the railroads and telegraphs, when the canals ceased to exist.

"Now, I am done. I shall think, however, that I am not through
unless I reverently and devoutly give thanks to the Ruler of the
universe for all this great good that has come upon this great
continent. Here we see the most wonderful republic in the world,
born within a hundred years, a great community peopling a continent,
having every facility in the world for homes--no land-locked
monopoly, closing the door to the poor acquiring homes, or if it
does, it should be broken down at every hazard by wise laws passed
from time to time. I reverently thank God for our homes, for our
great cities, for our state and, more than all else, for our
country."

On the 6th of October, while Congress was still in session, I went
to Cincinnati and joined in celebrating "Republican day" at the
exposition.

Immediately upon the adjournment of Congress I went to Cleveland
to attend a meeting in the Music Hall, where I made my first speech
in the political campaign. It was carefully prepared and was
confined mainly to a full discussion of the tariff question. From
that time until the day of the election I was constantly occupied
in making speeches in different parts of the state and in Indiana.
Among the many places in which I spoke in Ohio were Lancaster,
Defiance, Toledo and Mansfield. My first speech in Indiana was at
Portland. I referred to a statement made in the newspapers that
the Republicans had given up Indiana, and denied this emphatically.
I said that since I had come among them and felt the enthusiasm
exhibited by them I was entirely confident that they would give to
their own "most gallant citizen for President of the United States"
a hearty and enthusiastic support. I discussed at length the Mills
bill and the tariff bill of the Senate, and closed with an appeal
to the "Hoosier voter" in behalf of Ben. Harrison, "the hero of
Peach Tree Creek, and the man that honored Indiana in the Senate
of the