The preliminaries were gone through with promptness; the
Chair had supped with the speakers, and Mr Crow had given
him a friendly hint that the boys wouldn't be expecting
much in the way of trimmings from HIM. Stamping and
clapping from the back benches greeted Mr Farquharson.
It diminished, grew more subdued, as it reached the front.
The young fellows were mostly at the back, and the power
of demonstration had somehow ebbed in the old ones. The
retiring member addressed his constituents for half an
hour. He was standing before them as their representative
for the last time, and it was natural to look back and
note the milestones behind, the changes for the better
with which he could fairly claim association. They were
matters of Federal business chiefly, beyond the immediate
horizon of Jordanville, but Farquharson made them a
personal interest for that hour at all events, and there
were one or two points of educational policy which he
could illustrate by their own schoolhouse. He approached
them, as he had always done. on the level of mutual
friendly interest, and in the hope of doing mutual friendly
business. "You know and I know," he said more than once;
they and he knew a number of things together.
He was afraid, he said, that if the doctors hadn't chased
him out of politics, he never would have gone.
Pages:
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313