sixteen minutes to eight
Is there a lecturer , or , a playwright , or a politician , who has not , at one time or another , been in the judge 's place ? Who can not sympathize with him as he watched the thin and hesitating stream of people out of the corner of his eye as they came in at the door ? The judge despised them with all his soul , but it is human nature not to wish to sit in a hall or a theatre that is three-quarters empty . At sixteen minutes to eight a mild excitement occurred , an incident of some significance which served to detain many waverers . Senator Peleg Hartington walked up the aisle , and the judge rose and shook him by the hand , and as Deacon Hartington he was invited to sit on the platform . The senator 's personal influence was not to be ignored ; and it had sufficed to carry his district in the last election against the Worthington forces , in spite of the abdication of Jethro Bass . Mr. Page , the editor of the Clarion , Senator Hartington 's organ , was also on the platform .