- tation he seated himself on the bench by Standiford's
side.
"Great speech, that," continued the Senator. "At first I was disposed to give you the credit for all of it—but there's something in that fellow Crane. You couldn't have coached him so well if he hadn't been capable of learning."
"You do me too much honour," replied Thorndyke, laughing, but with something like bitterness.
Senator Standiford continued with a dry contortion of the lips which was meant for a smile:
"But you'll see, my son, that your friend Crane won't grow quite so fast as he thinks he will. In our times public men require the seasoning of experience before they amount to anything. There'll be no more Henry Clays elected to the House of Representatives before they are thirty. The world was young, then, but we have matured rapidly. It is true that we have relaxed the rule of the Senate a little, and allow the new senators to speak in the Senate Chamber at a much earlier period in their senatorial service than formerly. But speech-making is a dangerous pastime. Much of the small success I have achieved"—here Senator Standiford's
