It was a safe speech, containing nothing that any good American might not applaud; it named practically every Democratic President except the twenty-second and twenty-fourth, whom it seemed the better part of valor just then to ignore.

With slight emendations that same oration served admirably for high-school commencements, and it had a recognized cash value on the Chautauqua circuit.

The peroration, closing with "Thou, too, sail on, O Ship of State!" was well calculated to bring strong men to their feet.

The only complaint the War Eagle might have lodged against the Ship of State (in some imaginable admiralty court having jurisdiction of that barnacled old frigate) would have been for its oft-repeated rejection of his own piloting.
The permanent chairman now disclosed was a man of business, who thanked the convention briefly and went to work.

By the time the committee on resolutions had presented the platform (on which Bassett and Harwood had collaborated) the convention enjoyed its first sensation as Thatcher appeared, moving slowly down the crowded main aisle to join the delegation of his county.