Earle and Miss Luella Bailey, whom she had
invited to view the procession from the River Drive, Selma looked down
on the parade in an ecstatic mood. The torches, the music, the fireworks
and the enthusiasm set her pulses astir and brought her heart into her
mouth in melting appreciation of the sanctity of her party cause and her
own enviable destiny as the wife of an American Congressman. She held in
one hand a flag which she waved from time to time at the conspicuous
features of the procession, and she stationed herself so that the Bengal
lights and other fireworks set off by Mr. Parsons's hired man should
throw her figure into conspicuous relief. The culminating interest of
the, occasion for her was reached when the James O. Lyons Cadets, the
special body of youthful torch-bearers devoted to advertising the merits
of her lover, for whose uniforms and accoutrements he had paid, came in
sight.
They proved to be the most flourishing looking organization in line.
They were preceded by a large, nattily attired drum corps; their ranks
were full, their torches lustrous, and they bore a number of
transparencies setting forth the predominant qualifications of the
candidate for Congress from the second district, the largest of which
presented his portrait superscribed with the sentiment, "A vote for
James O.
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