His breast lifted and fell freely as he looked
into this large and possible future. The patience and frugality and
self-confidence of the successful man of affairs were born in him.
Rice Jones was on the speaker's platform, moulding the politics of the
Territory. His voice reached over the great outdoor audience, compelling
and convincing; now sinking to penetrating undertones, and now rising in
thrilling music. His irony was so cutting, his humor so irrepressible.
Laughter ran in waves across the sea of heads as wind runs across the
grass. On many a homeward road and in many a cabin would these issues
be fought over before election day, and Rice Jones's arguments quoted
and propagated to the territorial limits. The serious long-jawed
Virginia settler and the easy light-minded French boatman listened side
by side. One had a homestead at stake, and the other had his possessions
in the common fields where he labored as little as possible; but both
were with Rice Jones in that political sympathy which bands unlike men
together.
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