popular movement for Cleveland. The name of the New York Governor was mentioned only to capture the popular mind. In no one of the States, not even excepting those which had "favorite sons," was he without strong advocates; while in the favor of the people, as expressed on many an occasion, he stood higher than on the books of the political managers. There seemed to be no need of effort on the part of Governor Cleveland's friends to manufacture sentiment in his favor. It sprang up here, there, and everywhere, with a spontaneity that was magical. No political combinations were entered into ; no factitious means were employed to give him notoriety; no promises were made for sectional or partisan support. His character, his career, impressed themselves on the public mind so that all who were looking for better things in our government recognized in Grover Cleveland the man for the hour. As the time for holding the Democratic Convention approached, the existence of this wide-spread popular desire for Cleveland's nomination became more and more clearly apparent. Yet at the same time the efforts of the special friends of other good and able men in the Democratic party had produced a number of strong candidates to contest the favor of the Convention. There was not one of these who did not deserve well of the country and of the party. They were all experienced public men and statesmen of high rank. But in no case were they the objects of such general popular favor as that which urged upon the Convention the nomination of Governor Cleveland. And so, while the decision of the chosen representatives of the Democracy was yet to be made, the people had already in their hearts chosen Grover Cleveland as the man of all men best fitted to carry out their will. He was nominated by the great American people before the party convention met. CHAPTER XXXIV. The Gathering of the Convention.-Description of the Exposition Building. —A Distinguished Assemblage.-The_Convention Opened. Address of Governor Hubbard. -The Unit Rule.A Test Vote.-Close of the First Day's Proceedings. On Tuesday, the eighth day of July, 1884, the representatives of the Democracy of the United States gathered at the Lake City for the great work for which they had been chosen. The Exposition Building at Chicago is on the lake shore, an immense structure, furnishing an auditorium of a magnitude fitting for the decision of a Nation's destinies. By a singular coincidence, the two great political parties this year held their conventions in the same city and in the same building, but since the date of the Republican Convention, the Exposition Building had been refitted and decorated, changes made in the placing of the platform and seats for delegates, and the arrangements for spectators shifted. Here, upon the banks of the great inland sea, in a building whose magnitude expressed the growth and the ambition of the resources of the central city of the continent, with the national colors floating in broad stripes of red, white and blue overhead and festooning pillars and galleries, and with a vast crowd of eagerly interested citizens as an audience, swarming on every hand, the Convention met. The assembly was slow in gathering, and by noon the auditorium was not more than half filled. But when Chair man Barnum, of the National Committee, called the Convention to order, at 12.40, there was not a vacant seat in all the hall. It was, indeed, a majestic picture. Midway, on the west side of the hall, was the main platform, raised above its surroundings. Just below this, extending on either side, were the tables assigned to the representatives of the press, rising in tiers from the floor to the platform. Below, in twenty rows, stretched the seats for the delegates, each State having its location marked by an appropriate banner. The States were arranged alphabetically, Alabama having the cluster of seats on the left of the hall, Maine the central station, and North Carolina the right, facing the platform. New York's seventy-two delegates filled the six rear rows of the central division. To the right and left of the delegates were the seats for the spectators, sloping upward to a height of thirty feet from the floor level. This great amphitheater was filled, at the opening of the Convention, with an interested and eager assembly, in holiday attire, and over all the vast multitude of men and women, on earnest purpose bent, the great windows that flanked and crowned the magnificent hall shed a flood of light, tempered, but not dimmed, by the clouds which obscured the direct rays of the sun. The grand effect of this massing of human beings was felt by every spectator of the brilliant and inspiring scene; and as, from time to time, a wave of enthusiasm or excitement would pass over the assemblage, it was as though it were one soul, with ten thousand voices to cheer, and ten thousand tongues to shout. The eight hundred and twenty delegates who filled the seats in the center of the body of the hall, comprised in their number a remarkably full representation of the distinguished men of the Democratic party, and others were pres |