Life — August 26, 1897 — page 15: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

De=4k MR. BRYAN: It has been stated that you will soon be earn- estly urged to retire from your advocacy of Free Silver, and settle down for the next four years into the humdrum life of the ordinary citizen, Let me beg of you, if the urgency of this course has already been or should be pressed upon you, not to consider it for a moment, While it may be true, according to some able and conscientious critics, that your views on finance are mistaken, I regard this defect as merely an incidental error in an otherwise admirable character. The golden balls of the national currency have been left ‘on the stage now for many generations, to : RE be juggled with by each set of political acrobats according to their various whims and fantastic art. With Oriental skill they have been deftly tintinnabulated on the upturned soles of soulless corporations, or balanced on the swelling biceps of the wild men from the West. Their weight increases or de- creases with each change of cast, and who is to say, if some new actor hops on the stage and changes them to silver, that the eye of the audience in this continuous performance shall be dimmed, or that the price of admis- sion shall be altered? My dear sir, all this is of small import compared with the moral effect which the example of your tenacity has had upon your fellow citizens. This government is for the people, and not the But nowadays the merry fays Need no such hard pursuing, O! 7 catch” the maz, and sometimes can Do very pretty wooing, O! Mr. HENPEC “poG Daze.” people for the government. Believe me when I say, therefore, that for you to falter bow would be disastrous. When, during the last quadrennial cam- paign circus, that grim, ungainly, ghastly, gauntand stubborn animal, the Democratic donkey, was led forth into the arena, and a challenge sent out to any man brave enough to ride him—when you sprang nimbly from your obscure corner and straddled the recal- citrant beast and held on, it was a spectacle of courage which is still lively in our imag- inations. You will see, therefore, the respon- sibility that you inherited at that moment, While the grand old Republican elephant is at present sitting on his haunches, enjoy- ing the hard-earned fruits of the labors of others, keep your seat, Mr. Bryan, We are not interested unduly in the donkey, nor in you, but your chances of success were never so good as they are at present. More or less truly yours, Lire. A Reason. ae wi were you discharged from your last place? asked the merchant of the appli- cant for a situation. “I was discharged for good behavior, sir.” “Wasn't that a singular reason for discharge?” “Well, you see, good behavior took nine months off my sen- tence.” VB HENEECK: The proof of the pudding is in the eating. : The proof of those you Otho Cushing. make is in the post-mortem, comicbooks.com