Bedlam broke loose at that. Men stood on their seats and waved
their hats and handkerchiefs; some took their collars and neckties
off; some wept, some cursed for sheer joy and others--I believe that
when Gabriel blows his horn and all the dead arise that some of the
men who attended that caucus will try to make a speech! These speeches
were going on four and five at a time during the entire hullabaloo. It
didn't seem to matter in the least to the speakers that they weren't
being heard. They couldn't hear themselves. They added a little to the
noise and that satisfied the crowd and seemed to satisfy them.
"Please, please let me talk," pleaded Colonel Roosevelt. He finally
got his plea over by means of the sign language.
"I want to withdraw my name for a number of reasons," he continued.
"The first is that I want the country at large to get the correct
impression of this meeting here. We are gathered together for a very
high purpose. I want every American through the length and breadth of
this land to realize that there isn't a man in this convention who is
seeking anything for himself personally; that all of us are working
simply for the good of the entire country. I believe, furthermore,
that what we want here is someone who has been connected with the
movement only since it started on this side of the water, someone who
originates from the convention.
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