usiasm has a
welcome sound to me; but I happen to know that Senator Wright will not
allow his name to go before the convention."

He read the letter of which I knew.

Mr. Benjamin F. Butler then said:

"When that letter was written Senator Wright was not aware that Mr. Van
Buren's nomination could not be accomplished, nor was he aware that his
own nomination would be the almost unanimous wish of this convention. I
have talked with the leading delegates from Missouri and Virginia
to-day. They say that he can be nominated by acclamation. Is it possible
that he--a strong party man--can resist this unanimous call of the party
with whose help he has won immortal fame? No, it is not so. It can not
be so. We must dispatch a messenger to him by horse at once who shall
take to him from his friend Judge Fine a frank statement of the
imperious demand of this convention and a request that he telegraph a
withdrawal of his letter in the morning."

The suggestion was unanimously approved and within an hour, mounted on
one of the best horses in Maryland--so his groom informed me--I was on
my way to Washington with the message of Judge Fine in my pocket. Yes, I
had two days to spare on my schedule of travel and reckoned that, by
returning to Baltimore next day I should reach Canton in good time.

It was the kind of thing that only a lithe, supple, strong-hearted lad
such as I was in the days of my youth, could relish--speeding over a
dark road by the light of the stars and a half-moon, with a horse that
loved to kick up a wind. My brain was in a fever, for the notion had
come to me that I was making history.

The lure of fame and high place hurried me on. With the Senator in the
presidential chair I should be well started in the highway of great
success. Then Mr. H. Dunkelberg might think me better than the legacy of
Benjamin Grimshaw. A relay awaited me twenty-three miles down the road.

Well, I reached Washington very sore, but otherwise in good form, soon
after daybreak. I was trembling with excitement when I put my horse in
the stable and rang the bell at our door. It seemed to me that I was
crossing the divide between big and little things. A few steps more and
I should be looking down into the great valley of the future. Yet, now
that I was there, I began to lose confidence.

The butler opened the door.

Yes, the Senator was up and had just returned from a walk and was in his
study. I found him there.

"Well, Bart, how