THREATENING INDICATIONS.
Another meeting was now called at the Statehouse, which was even more
fully attended than the first, and at which much more serious
indications of enthusiasm were apparent.
Old men, and middle-aged farmers, and florists, and agriculturists, and
live-stock breeders, from all parts of this and the neighboring states,
congregated together on this eventful occasion, and entered into the
debate with an earnestness worthy of so important and "glorious" a
cause.
Some of the speakers had by this time got to be so elated and so ardent
that they rehearsed all they knew, and some of them told of a great deal
more than themselves or anybody else had ever dreamed of, bearing upon
the subject of poultry-raising. But, really, the subject was an exciting
one, and the talkers were excusable; they couldn't help it!
Shades of morus multicaulis victims! Shadows of defunct tulip-growers!
Spirits of departed Merino sheep speculators! Ghosts of dead Berkshire
pig fanciers! Where were ye all on that eventful night, when six
hundred sober, "respectable" representatives of "the people" were
assembled within the walls of our time-honored state edifice upon Beacon
Hill, in serious and animated conclave, to decide the momentous question
that "hens _was_ hens," notwithstanding, nevertheless!
"Mr. President," exclaimed one of these gentlemen (whose speech was not
publicly reported, I think), "Mr. President, the times is propishus.
We're a-enterin' on a new ery. The _people_ is a-movin' in this 'ere
great, and wonderful, and extraordinary--I may say, Mr. President, this
'ere soul-stirrin' and 'lectrefyin--branch of interestin' rural
erconomy." (Applause, during which the speaker advanced a step or two
nearer to the presiding officer's desk, wiped his nose fiercely upon a
fiery-red bandanna handkerchief, and proceeded.)
"The world, Mr. President," he continued, "is a-growin' wiser ev'ry
day,--I may say ev'ry hour, Mr. President! Ay, sir, ev'ry minute." (Loud
applause, amid which one old gentleman in a bob-wig was particularly
vociferous.)
"I say, Mr. President, the people is a-growin' wiser continu'lly; and by
that expression, sir, I mean to convey the idee that they are a-gettin'
to know more, sir! Who will gainsay this position? Whar's the
man--whar's the er--individooal, sir--that'll stan' up 'ere to-night, in
this hallowed hall, under the shadder of this doom above our heads,
sir, in view of the great American eagle yender,--that 'bird of
promise,' sir,--and dispute the assertion that I now make, Mr.
President, as an American citizen, without fear and without reproach!"
(Deafening shouts of "Nobody! nobody _can_ dispute it!")
"No, _sir_! I think not, I wot not, I ventur' not, I cal'k'late _not_! I
say, Mr. President, it is no use for nun of us to contend agin the
mighty ingine of progress; 'nless we'd like to get our crowns mashed in
for our pains, sir. That's the way it 'pears to _me_; and I've no doubt
that this 'nlitened ordinance now present, sir, will agree with me on
_this_ p'int, and admit the truth that present indications, sir, p'int,
with strikin' force, to the proberble likelihood that the deeds begun
here to-night must be forever perpetooated hereafter, and that--a--they
will--er--go down, sir, to our children, and our children's children, _a
posteriori_, in the futur, forever!" ("Yes, yes!" and thundering
applause.)
"But, sir, the p'int at issoo seems to me to be clear as the broad-faced
sun on a cloudy day. I'm no speaker, sir. I am not the man, sir, that
goes about to proclaim on tops of houses! I'm a quiet citizen, and calls
myself one o' 'the people,' sir. But w'en the questions comes up of
_this_ natur',--w'en it 'pears to me to be so clear and so
transparent,--w'en the people goes abroad, sir, in their might,
and--er--and can't stay ter home,--w'en _such_ things occurs, sir, then
_I'm round_!" (Shouts of "Good! good! good!" the respectable old
gentleman in the bob-wig creating a cloud of dust about him with his
stamping and excited gestures.)
"Mr. President, I have a'most done----" ("No, no! Go on, go on!" from
all parts of the house.)
"No, sir; as I've said afore, I'm no speaker, an' I make no pretenshuns
to oraterry. I'm a plain man, sir; but I feel deeply interested in this
subject." (Nobody had yet ascertained what the "subject" was, because
the gentleman hadn't alluded to any.) "And, sir, I feel that I should be
unjust to myself and to this ordinance ef I did not say what I have,
sir. I go in for the poultry-breedin', sir, all over! Sir,
I love 'em, I love 'em,--an' who shall _dar'_
To chide me for lovin' and praisin' them _'are_?
"I love 'em, sir,--chickens or poultry,--dead or alive. My father afore
me loved 'em, sir; and I'm rejoiced to see the feelin's that's exhibited
here to-night. And, 'less anybody should suspect that I have ventured
upon these few remarks with mercenary motives, Mr. President (though
_perhaps_ no such suppersishun would animate no man's bosom), I will
state, sir, that I have no fowls to sell, sir,--none whatever. _No_,
sir! not a fowl! I'm a buyer, sir,--I want to _buy_," shouted the
excited man,--and he sat down amid the deafening plaudits of his
associates at this meeting, who fully appreciated his speech and his
palpable disinterestedness.
(_Item._--I found this gentleman the next day, and informed him that I
had heard of his destitution. I had understood that he had no poultry,
but was in search of _pure-blooded_ stock. Before night I had fully
supplied him with _genuine_ samples, at thirty dollars a pair, and no
"discount for cash.")
Before this meeting concluded, the prices of fowls, and eggs, and
feathers, were duly discussed, the details of which I will defer to the
next chapter.
But all the indications at this convention were really of a threatening
character; and it would have required the strength of several stout men
to have held certain of the speakers as they got warmed up, and rattled
away, for dear life, upon the advantages that must accrue to the nation,
in a thousand ways, from the encouragement of this epidemic, and the
certain, inevitable losses that must be sustained by "the people" if
they didn't go into this thing with a rush.
Most of these speakers, however, had fowls _for sale_!