Bassett had spoken for ten minutes at this rally, urging support
of the ticket and in crisp phrases giving the lie to reports of his
lukewarmness. His speech was the more noteworthy from the fact that it
was the first time, in all his political career, that he had ever spoken
at a political meeting, and there was no questioning its favorable
impression.
Bassett was, moreover, reelected to his old seat in the senate without
difficulty; and Harwood ran ahead of his associates on the legislative
ticket in Marion County, scoring a plurality that testified to his
personal popularity. Another campaign must intervene before the United
States Senatorship became an acute issue, and meanwhile the party in the
state had not in many years been so united. Credit was freely given to
the "Courier" for the formidable strength developed by the Democracy:
and it had become indubitably a vigorous and conservative reflector of
party opinion, without estranging a growing constituency of readers who
liked its clean and orderly presentation of general news. The ownership
of the newspaper had become, since the abrupt termination of the lawsuit
instituted by Thatcher, almost as much of a mystery as formerly.
Harwood's intimate relations with it had not been revived, and neither
Mrs. Owen nor Bassett ever spoke to him of the newspaper except in the
most casual fashion.
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