He was not in the least bumptious. He began very nervously with a
carefully prepared Shakespearean quotation--"'I am no orator as
Brutus is,'" in compliment to Jenkinson. Then he gave _me_ a lift.
He said that my presence there was a proof, if proof were needed, of
the solidarity--he would repeat the word--of the solidarity existing
in the Progressive ranks. He was sure--he might even say,
confident--that this graceful act on the part of the right honourable
baronet (as he chose to call me) would give the lie to certain
reports--hints, rather--emanating from certain quarters which called
themselves newspapers. He would not soil his mouth by giving them
their true name, which was Rags. "We are all solid here," announced
Mr. Farrell, and was answered with applause.
After this spirited opening he consulted a sheaf of notes, and
was straightway mired in a ploughland of tramway finance and
sticky statistics. After ten minutes of this he turned a furrow,
so to speak, and zigzagged off into Education "Provided" and
"Non-Provided," lunging and floundering with the Church Catechism and
the Rate-Book until I dare say his audience mistook the two for one
single composition.
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