se poise of his body
which foretold the orator.

Impatiently the audience endured the speakers who prepared the way and
then, finally, George stepped forward, but prolonged waves of cheering
again and again prevented his beginning. Thereupon he started pacing to
and fro along the edge of the platform, his big head thrown back, his
small hands clenched as if in anticipation of coming battle. He no
longer appeared small. His was the master mind of that assembly.

His first words cut across the air with singular calmness. Coming after
the applause, following the nervous movement of a moment before, his
utterance was surprisingly cold, masterful, and direct. Action had
condensed into speech. Heat was transformed into light.

His words were orderly and well chosen. They had precision and grace as
well as power. He spoke as other men write, with style and arrangement.
His address could have been printed word for word as it fell from his
lips. This self-mastery, this graceful lucidity of utterance combined
with a personal presence distinctive and dignified, reduced even his
enemies to respectful silence. His altruism, his sincere pity and his
hatred of injustice sent me away in the mood of a disciple.

Meanwhile a few of his followers had organized an "Anti-Poverty Society"
similar to those which had already sprung up in New York, and my brother
and I used to go of a Sunday evening to the old Horticultural Hall on
Tremont Street, contributing our presence and our dimes in aid of the
meeting. Speakers were few and as the weeks went by the audiences grew
smaller and smaller till one night Chairman Roche announced with sad
intonation that the meetings could not go on. "You've all got tired of
hearing us repeat ourselves and we have no new speaker, none at all for
next week. I am afraid we'll have to quit."

My brother turned to me--"Here's your 'call,'" he said. "Volunteer to
speak for them."

Recognizing my duty I rose just as the audience was leaving and sought
the chairman. With a tremor of excitement in my voice I said, "If you
can use me as a speaker for next Sunday I will do my best for you."

Roche glanced at me for an instant, and then without a word of question,
shouted to the audience, "Wait a moment! We _have_ a speaker for next
Sunday." Then, bending down, he asked of me, "What is your name and
occupation?"

I told him, and again he lifted his voice, this time in triumphant
shout, "Professor Hamlin Garland wi