does this happen?" he asked.

"It's important business," I said, as I presented the letter.

Something in his look and manner as he calmly adjusted his glasses and
read the letter of Judge Fine brought the blood to my face. It seemed to
puncture my balloon, so to speak, and I was falling toward the earth and
so swiftly my head swam. He laid the letter on his desk and, without
looking up and as coolly as if he were asking for the change of a
dollar, queried:

"Well, Bart, what do you think we had better do about it?"

"I--I was hoping--you--you would take it," I stammered.

"That's because the excitement of the convention is on you," he
answered. "Let us look at the compass. They have refused to nominate Mr.
Van Buren because he is opposed to the annexation of Texas. On that
subject the will of the convention is now clear. It is possible that
they would nominate me. We don't know about that, we never shall know.
If they did, and I accepted, what would be expected of me is also clear.
They would expect me to abandon my principles and that course of conduct
which I conceive to be best for the country. Therefore I should have to
accept it under false pretenses and take their yoke upon me. Would you
think the needle pointed that way?"

"No," I answered.

Immediately he turned to his desk and wrote the telegram which fixed his
place in history. It said no.

Into the lives of few men has such a moment fallen. I am sure the Lord
God must have thought it worth a thousand years of the world's toil. It
was that moment in the life of a great leader when Satan shows him the
kingdoms of the earth and their glory. I looked at him with a feeling of
awe. What sublime calmness and serenity was in his face! As if it were a
mere detail in the work of the day, and without a moment's faltering, he
had declined a crown, for he would surely have been nominated and
elected. He rose and stood looking out of the open window. Always I
think of him standing there with the morning sunlight falling upon his
face and shoulders. He had observed my emotion and I think it had
touched him a little. There was a moment of silence. A curious illusion
came to me then, for it seemed as if I heard the sound of distant music.
Looking thoughtfully out of the window he asked:

"Bart, do you know when our first fathers turned out of the trail of the
beast and found the long road of humanity? I think it was when they
discovered the compass in their hearts