r that his quarter
(all he had with him) might be lost, and trembling to think what would
happen in such a case.

That night he moved to a new boarding-place. He secured a room near the
Capitol, and went to supper in a small private house near by, which had
a most astonishing amplitude of dining-room. He felt quite at home
there, for the food was put on the table in the good old way, and
passed around from hand to hand. The mashed potato tasted better, piled
high, with a lump of butter in the top of it; and the slices of roast
beef, outspread on the platter, enabled him to get the crisp outside,
if it happened to start from his end of the table. There were judges
and generals and senators and legislators of various ranks all about
him. Crude, rough, wholesome fellows, most of them, with big, brawny
hands like his own, and loud, hearty voices. It was impossible to stand
in awe of a judge who handled his knife more deftly than his fork, and
spooned the potato out of the big, earthen-ware dish with a resounding
slap. He began to see that these men were exactly like the people he
had been with all his life. He argued, however, that they were perhaps
the poorer and the more honorable part of the legislature.

He wrote a note to Judge Brown, telling him that he was settled, but
was taking very little part in the organizing of the House. He did not
say that he was disappointed in his reception, but he was; his vanity
had been hurt. His canvass had attracted considerable attention from
the Democratic press of the country, and he expected to be received
with great favor by them. He had come out of Republicanism for their
sake, and they ought to recognize him. He did not consider that no one
knew him by sight, and that recognition was impossible.

He was at the Capitol again early the next morning, and found the same
scene being re-enacted. Straggling groups of roughly-dressed farmers
loitered timidly along the corridors, brisk clerks dashed to and fro,
and streams of men poured in and out the doors of the legislative
halls. Bradley entered unobserved, and took a seat at the rear of the
hall on a sofa. He did not feel safe in taking a seat.

It was a solemn moment to the new legislator as he stood before the
clerk, and, with lifted hand, listened to the oath of office read in
the clerk's sounding voice. He swore solemnly, with the help of God, to
support the Constitution, and serve his people to the best of his
ability; and h