She wondered if he, also,
remembered the Muggleton cricket match and the subsequent dinner oratory.
The lecture proceeded. The orator winged away to soary heights with
gestures so vigorous as to cause admiration for his pluck in making use of
them on such a night; the perspiration streamed down his face, his neck
grew purple, and he dared the very face of apoplexy, binding his auditors
with a double spell. It is true that long before the peroration the
windows were empty and the boys were eating stolen, unripe fruit in the
orchards of the listeners. The thieves were sure of an alibi.
The Hon. Mr. Halloway reached a logical conclusion which convinced even
the combative and unwilling that the present depends largely upon the
past, while the future will be determined, for the most part, by the
conditions of the present. "The future," he cried, leaning forward with an
expression of solemn warning, "The future is in our own hands, ladies and
gentlemen of the city of Plattville. Is it not so? We will find it so.
Turn it over in your minds." He leaned backward and folded his hands
benevolently on his stomach and said in a searching whisper; "Ponder it."
He waited for them to ponder it, and little Mr. Swanter, the druggist and
bookseller, who prided himself on his politeness and who was seated
directly in front, scratched his head and knit his brows to show that he
was pondering it.
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