You might do it for a day, for a month, for a year even--but for forty
years! Yet she has done it--that most wonderful woman. Do you wonder
that I say it is to her, and to her alone, under God, that I owe all
that I am, all that I hope to be?"
Once more he paused. Then, in a voice that shook a little at the first,
but that rang out clear and strong and powerful at the end, he said:
"Ladies, gentlemen, I understand this will close your programme. It will
give me great pleasure, therefore, if at the adjournment of this meeting
you will allow me to present you to the most wonderful woman in the
world--my wife."
I wish I could tell you what happened then. The words--oh, yes, I could
tell you in words what happened. For that matter, the reporters at the
little stand down in front told it in words, and the press of the whole
country blazoned it forth on the front page the next morning. But really
to know what happened, you should have heard it and seen it, and felt
the tremendous power of it deep in your soul, as we did who did see it.
There was a moment's breathless hush, then to the canvas roof there rose
a mighty cheer and a thunderous clapping of hands as by common impulse
the entire audience leaped to its feet.
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