ty well up,
but they found her. There seemed a good many old men and women, Hanny
thought, but the young people were up in the galleries. She thought the
singing was splendid, it really went up with a shout. People sang in
earnest then.

When they came out everybody shook hands so cordially. Aunt Nancy waited
a little while and then beckoned a tall, kindly looking man, who was
about as old as her father, though there was something quite different
about him. He shook hands with Sister Archer, and she introduced him. He
said he was very glad to see Mr. Underhill among them, and smiled down
at the little girl as he took her small hand. She came home quite
delighted that she had shaken hands with the mayor. Then one day Steve
took her and Ben down to Cliff Street, through the wonderful
printing-house, small in comparison to what it is to-day. They met the
mayor again and had a nice chat.

The next great thing to Hanny was Margaret's graduation. She had been
studying very hard to pass this year, for she was past eighteen, and she
was very successful. Even Joe found time to go down. She wore her pretty
white dress, but she had a white sash, and her bodice had been turned in
round the neck to make it low, as girls wore them then. Hanny thought
her the prettiest girl there. She had an exquisite basket of flowers
sent her, beside some lovely bouquets. Annette Beekman graduated too,
and all the Beekman family were out in force.

There were some very pretty closing exercises in the little girl's
school, and at Houston Street Jim was one of the orators of the day, and
distinguished himself in "Marco Bozzaris," one of the great poems of
that period.

After that people went hither and thither, and when schools opened and
business started up the Presidential campaign was in full blast. There
was Clay and Frelinghuysen, Polk and Dallas, and at the last moment the
Nationals, a new party, had put up candidates, which was considered bad
for the Whigs. Still they shouted and sang with great gusto:

"Hurrah, hurrah, the country's risin'
For Harry Clay and Frelinghuysen!"

The Democrats, Loco-Focos, as they were often called in derision, were
very sure of their victory. So were the Whigs. The other party did not
really expect success. There were parades of some kind nearly every
night. Even the boys turned out and marched up and down with fife and
drum. There was no end of spirited campaign songs, and rhymes of every
degree.