The committee adjourned a little before two o’clock with rather grave faces, and prepared to attend the debate at the Opera House.  Mr. Cunningham feared this debate would prove a mistake, as it would give Hopkins a chance to ridicule and brow-beat his opponent in public, and his greatest talent as a speaker lay in that direction.

As Kenneth and his supporters approached the Opera House they heard loud cheering, and from a band-wagon covered with bunting and banners, in which he had driven to the meeting, descended the Honorable Erastus.  He met Kenneth face to face, and the latter said pleasantly: 

“Good afternoon, Mr. Hopkins.”

“Ah, it’s Forbes, isn’t it?” replied Hopkins, slightingly.  “I’ve met you before, somewheres, haven’t I?”

“You have, sir.”

“Glad you’re here, Forbes; glad you’re here,” continued the Representative, airily, as he made his way through the crowd that blocked the entrance.  “These meetings are educational to young men.  Girls all well, I hope?”

There was a boisterous laugh at this sally, and Mr. Hopkins smiled and entered the Opera House, while Kenneth followed with the feeling that he would take great delight in punching the Honorable Erastus’s nose at the first opportunity.

The house was packed full of eager spectators who had come to see “the fun.”  Although the girls had taken charge of all the arrangements they had devoted the left side of the ample stage to the use of the Hopkins party, where a speaker’s table and chairs for important guests had been placed.  The right side was similarly arranged for the Forbes party, and between the two the entire center of the stage was occupied by a group of fifty young girls.  Above this group a great banner was suspended, reading:  “The Signs of the Times,” a catchword Mr. Hopkins had employed throughout the campaign.  But the most astonishing thing was the appearance of the group of girls.  They all wore plain white slips, upon which a variety of signs had been painted in prominent letters.  Some costumes advertised baking-powders, others patent medicines, others soaps, chewing tobacco, breakfast foods, etc.  From where they were seated in full view of the vast audience the girls appeared as a mass of advertising signs, and the banner above them indicated quite plainly that these were the “Signs of the Times.”

Mr. Hopkins, as he observed this scene, smiled with satisfaction.  He believed some of his friends had prepared this display to assist him and to disconcert the opposition, for nothing could have clinched his arguments better than the pretty young girls covered with advertisements of well known products.  Even the Eagle Eye Breakfast Food was well represented.

After the orchestra had finished a selection, Mr. Hopkins rose to make the first argument and was greeted with cheers.

“We are having a jolly campaign, my dear friends,” he began; “but you musn’t take it altogether as a joke; because, while Mr. Forbes’s erratic views and actions have done little real harm, we have been educated to an appreciation of certain benefits we enjoy which otherwise might have escaped our attention.