354 T. W. Davenport. he would be above the average of human beings if he did not peer around for something that vt^ould be to his own advan- tage. He must be given employment. I hear that one of your California friends is intending to buy Oregon war scrip in case you are elected,— why not give Crandall the job and thus kill two birds with one stone?" Without another word the Colonel turned about and walked rapidly towards Republican headquarters, leaving me to pur- sue my weary way alone. My personal knowledge extends no farther, but the Colonel was elected a short time afterwards; Crandall was for him and, according to newspaper account, bought scrip. The campaign for Lincoln did not begin that evening as published, but the two co-operating candidates, Baker and Nesmith, made non-political speeches to a large and much delighted audience. Nesmith was sl fluent, effec- tive and forcible speaker, but the disparity between the two was too apparent to be a matter of doubt. Baker at that time was 49 years of age and, according to the dictum of an Osier, should have been past his prime and on the down-hill side of life, but though his top-head was bald and the surrounding locks were beginning to show some signs . of frost, his face was plump and ruddy, his voice firm and clear, and in action was as agile as in youth. Evidently he was in the full flush of vigorous manhood and opulent with reserve force. Like Henry Clay, the moment Baker faced an expecting audience, the tide of life began to swell and the brain to glow. He was always equal to the occasion, and this, if not a great, was to him a critical occasion. He was not yet elected to the Senate, and though Crandall had been won over, there were still some obstacles in the way which an admiring and enthusiastic public sentiment would go far to remove. So, on that delicious even- ing the citizens of Salem, the strangers and sojourners at the Capital City, were treated to oratory. Baker, when he rose to speak, first stood for a moment or two face to face with his audience, getting in rapport with its moods, and he never misread them. There were many in that assembly who did not favor the Colonel's ambition, and the
