me handsomely.  There were ninety-six of them, and by not a finger’s weight did ninety-five of them add to the burden of that time for me.  Ninety-five out of the ninety-six—­they didn’t indicate by any word or sign that they were anxious about their money.  They treated me well, and I shall not forget it; I could not forget it if I wanted to.  Many of them said, “Don’t you worry, don’t you hurry”; that’s what they said.  Why, if I could have that kind of creditors always, and that experience, I would recognize it as a personal loss to be out of debt.  I owe those ninety-five creditors a debt of homage, and I pay it now in such measure as one may pay so fine a debt in mere words.  Yes, they said that very thing.  I was not personally acquainted with ten of them, and yet they said, “Don’t you worry, and don’t you hurry.”  I know that phrase by heart, and if all the other music should perish out of the world it would still sing to me.  I appreciate that; I am glad to say this word; people say so much about me, and they forget those creditors.  They were handsomer than I was—­or Tom Reed.

Oh, you have been doing many things in this time that I have been absent; you have done lots of things, some that are well worth remembering, too.  Now, we have fought a righteous war since I have gone, and that is rare in history—­a righteous war is so rare that it is almost unknown in history; but by the grace of that war we set Cuba free, and we joined her to those three or four nations that exist on this earth; and we started out to set those poor Filipinos free, too, and why, why, why that most righteous purpose of ours has apparently miscarried I suppose I never shall know.

But we have made a most creditable record in China in these days—­our sound and level-headed administration has made a most creditable record over there, and there are some of the Powers that cannot say that by any means.  The Yellow Terror is threatening this world to-day.  It is looming vast and ominous on that distant horizon.  I do not know what is going to be the result of that Yellow Terror, but our government has had no hand in evoking it, and let’s be happy in that and proud of it.

We have nursed free silver, we watched by its cradle; we have done the best we could to raise that child, but those pestiferous Republicans have —­well, they keep giving it the measles every chance they get, and we never shall raise that child.  Well, that’s no matter—­there’s plenty of other things to do, and we must think of something else.  Well, we have tried a President four years, criticised him and found fault with him the whole time, and turned around a day or two ago with votes enough to spare to elect another.  O consistency! consistency! thy name—­I don’t know what thy name is—­Thompson will do—­any name will do—­but you see there is the fact, there is the consistency.  Then we have tried for governor an illustrious Rough Rider, and we liked