John Vassar was elected speaker of the House without a dissenting voice. His bride from her seat in the gallery watched through tear-dimmed eyes as he took his seat on the dais, and two wistful girls, with smiling faces, sat beside her.
The first bill for consideration was passed without debate in just the time it took to call the roll—the bill which Vassar had introduced five years before—providing for a mobile army of citizen soldiers of a million men with heavy artillery and perfect equipment.
The cost of our defeat and humiliation with two years of slavery had been more than thirty billions of the wealth of the people. This fabulous sum could have been saved by a paltry half billion invested in a navy.
Taught wisdom at last in the school of defeat, a mighty nation lifted her head and girded her loins for a glorious future.
| Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber: |
|---|
| Virginia hestitated=> Virginia hesitated {pg 81} |
| upset Vassar’s equanamity=> upset Vassar’s equanimity {pg 91} |
| shook the boy ficercely=> shook the boy fiercely {pg 136} |
| crush Amercan democracy=> crush American democracy {pg 166} |
| Emperor of Austra-Hungary=> Emperor of Austria-Hungary {pg 180} |
| hugh column of water=> huge column of water {pg 226} |
| care whch way=> care which way {pg 241} |
| his word clanking=> his sword clanking {pg 290} |
| over Zonia’s soulders=> over Zonia’s shoulders {pg 290} |
| A A fleet=> A fleet {pg 312} |