Helen gave a little gasp. "Never!" she cried. "Never!"
The buckboard stopped on the "Herald" corner, and here, and along Main
Street, the line of vehicles which had followed it from the station took
their places. The Square was almost a solid mass of bunting, and the north
entrance of the court-house had been decorated with streamers and flags,
so as to make it a sort of stand. Hither the crowd was already streaming,
and hither the procession made its way. At intervals the cannon boomed,
and Schofields' Henry was winnowing the air with his bell; nobody had a
better time that day than Schofields' Henry, except old Wilkerson, who was
with the procession.
In advance, came the boys, whooping and somersaulting, and behind them,
rode a band of mounted men, sitting their horses like cavalrymen, led by
the sheriff and his deputy and Jim Bardlock; then followed the Harkless
Club of Amo, led by Boswell, with the magnanimous Halloway himself
marching in the ranks; and at sight of this the people shouted like
madmen. But when Helen's eye fell upon his fat, rather unhappy face, she
felt a pang of pity and unreasoning remorse, which warned her that he who
looks upon politics when it is red must steel his eyes to see many a man
with the heart-burn. After the men of Amo, came the Harkless Club of
Gainesville, Mr. Bence in the van with the step of a grenadier. There
followed next, Mr. Ephraim Watts, bearing a light wand in his hand and
leading a detachment of workers from the oil-fields in their stained blue
overalls and blouses; and, after them, came Mr. Martin and Mr. Landis at
the head of an organization recognized in the "Order of Procession,"
printed in the "Herald," as the Business Men of Plattville. They played in
such magnificent time that every high-stepping foot in all the line came
down with the same jubilant plunk, and lifted again with a unanimity as
complete as that of the last vote the convention had taken that day. The
leaders of the procession set a brisk pace, and who could have set any
other kind of a pace when on parade to the strains of such a band, playing
such a tune as "A New Coon in Town," with all its might and main?
But as the line swung into the Square, there came a moment when the tune
was ended, the musicians paused for breath, and there fell comparative
quiet. Amongst the ranks of Business Men ambled Mr. Wilkerson, singing at
the top of his voice, and now he could be heard distinctly enough for
those near to him to distinguish the melody with which it was his
intention to favor the public: "Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
As we go marching on."