A REPUBLICAN CAMP FIRE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 211, 4 September 1880, Page 4

A REPUBLICAN CAMP FIRE.

I " Silver Pen," the lady correspond dent of the Herald, writes from San Francisco : — Enthusiasm is the quality pre-emi-nently distinctive in the free-born i American, and he carries it to excess. I Not only he but sh, for the women are just as much on the quivive during a political campaign as the men dare to be. All the females want is the suf/rape, and for this they howl right lustily, but do not get it nevertheless ; and since they do not go to the poll and vote, they do ell they can to add fuel to the flame of political excitement, which, as is now the case, rages with a kind of white heaf. Bien, I am not for suffragf. I think women have ca much their own way as is good for them. Let them take all their rights as they walk along, say I, unheeding what crotohets of Mrs. (Sundry's they may happen to stumble upon, and be very sure that men will never relax from their own laid-down forms to take away what woman insists on holding — they know better. By the way, talking of suffrage : some seven years ago I was dragged away from my piano to vote for a party in Wellington. I remr mber it well. I was practising a new cave Una, when four gentlemen walked in and insisted upon my going to the bus* tings. I veiled my face, and entered the carriage, drawn by a spanking pair of roan steads, which awaited me at my hall door, 1 went, but instead of voting for the man on whose behalf I was dragged forth, I gave my name to the opposition member, who was ever so much handsomer. There's a woman for you ! And co it would be in ten cases out of eleven, if we. had the franchise. What I voted for is to this day a mystery, I only know it happened. But this has nothing to do with the Camp Fire I attended a week ago, and as I suppose nobody knows anytl iDg anent a fire of this kind over the blue, sea, let me inform my readers that it ip» in f act » tne furthest thing removed from a fire I ever saw. In a large hall, round which ran a high gallery, ten long tables were laid out for a " feed," these tables being filled wilb the army and navy soldiera — Republican to a man— mustering- 700 on this occasion. Every table was furnished with a tin plate, a pannakin, and iron spoon for each man, the Yefreshments consisting of pork and beans (a faTO/ite Boston disb), cold meat (to be eaten with the fingers), beer, coffee, and white wine ; while boxes of tobacco and clay pipes graced the festive board at the. distance of two feet spark The commander of the league, Captain Casbin, who is my particular friend.

-r ■ ■ ' ■ Irequested me to take a sent at the re- ■ porters' table. Fancy it — among all that crowd of men— which, of course, I was only too proud to do, for is it not delightful to be the queen of such an assembly, with never the shadow of another woman's petticoat on the floor — only four hundred envious ladies' eyes peering down from the gallery. Thus, flanked by the Chtonicle, the Call, the Democrat, and another paper, I eat, and had a " jolly time." I shall never forget the yells, the mad laughter, as the Republican toasts were given, Bnd the speeches shrieked out. Seven hundred tin pannakins clattering against seven hundred tin plates, as b a chorus to the hip-hip-hip-hurrab, was lively. Stvan hundred stentcrho voioes raised to the topmost pitob j seven hundred short day pipes, emit' ting clouds of blue smoke, till you could only feel your next door neighbor by stretching out your hand. Ob, , it was immense. If noiso begets success for GarfielJ, surely G-arfleld is the man. Before me was placed somewhere about a pound of pork and beans, a pannnkin of coffee, another of beer, another of wine, and a box of clay pipes. As quiet writing was out of the qnes tion, we (the reporters) yelled out our i conversation at opera pitch, and pitched ; into the viands to fill up our leisure. ■ This is the way enthusiasm is kept up during the long months of a Presidential election. Thousands were turned away from the doors on the night ol our Camp Fire. But this is only the beginning ; torchlight processions fill the streets, caucuses are held anywhere and everywhere, and nothing for th,e time is thought of but "Who will be President ?'