t of fearlessness, I wondered--and I fancy
many others were wondering--whether he was about to refuse the
nomination. But an instant's thought drove the wild notion from my mind.
He could not strike that deadly blow at his party.

"Fellow delegates," said he--a clearer, more musical voice than his I
have never heard--"I thank you for this honor. As you know, I opposed
the platform you saw fit to adopt. I have nothing to retract. I do not
like it. But, after all, a candidate must be his own platform. And I
bring my public record as proof of my pledge--that--" he paused and the
silence was tremendous. He went on, each word distinct and by
itself--"if I am elected"--a long pause--"I shall obey the
Constitution"--another long pause--"I shall enforce the laws!"

He was descending to the aisle before the silence was broken--a feeble,
rippling applause, significant of disappointment at what seemed an
anti-climax. He had merely repeated in condensed form the oath of office
which a President takes at his inauguration. But somehow--no doubt, it
was the magic of his voice and his manner and superb presence--those
simple words kept on ringing; and all at once--full half a minute must
have elapsed, a long time in such circumstances--all at once the
enormous meaning of the two phrases boomed into the brains of those
thousands: If this man is elected, there will be a President without
fear or favor, and he will really obey the Constitution, will really
enforce the laws! That little speech, though only a repetition of an
oath embodied in our century-old supreme law, was a firebrand to light
the torch of revolution, of revolution back toward what the republic
used to be before differences of wealth divided its people into upper,
middle and lower classes, before enthroned corporate combinations made
equality before the law a mockery, before the development of our vast
material resources restored to the intelligent and energetic few their
power over the careless and purposeless many.

As the multitude realized his meaning,--I doubt if many times in all
history such a sight and sound has burst upon mortal ears and eyes. For
the moment I was daunted; it was impossible not to think that here was
the whole people, not to feel that Scarborough had been chosen President
and was about to fulfil his pledge. Daunted, yet thrilled too. For, at
bottom, are we not all passionate dreamers of abstract right and
justice?

Then I remembered; and I sa