The street was thronged by the populace,
and glittered with the torches of the cadets. Lyons stood bareheaded.
His large, round, smooth face glistened, and the moonbeams, bathing his
chin beard, gave him the effect of a patriarch, or of one inspired. He
raised his hand to induce silence, then stood for a moment, as was his
habit before speaking, with an expression as though he were struggling
with emotion or busy in silent prayer.
"Fellow citizens of Benham," he began, slowly, "compatriots of the
sovereign State which has done me to-day so great an honor, I thank you
for this precious greeting. You are my constituents and my brothers. I
accept from your hands this great trust of office, knowing that I am but
your representative, knowing that my mission is to bear constant witness
to the love of liberty, the love of progress, the love of truth which
are enshrined in the hearts of the great American people. Your past has
been ever glorious; your future looms big with destiny. Still leaning on
the God of our fathers, to whom our patriot sires have ever turned, and
whose favors to our beloved country are seen in your broad prairies tall
with fruitful grain, and your mighty engines of commerce, I take up the
work which you have given me to do, pledged to remain a democrat of the
democrats, an American of the Americans.
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