personal contacts of that period and maintained many 

 of those relationships for years afterward.^* During 

 his years at law school, Bryan remained a spectator of 

 the political scene, continuing an interest which had 

 been evident since 1876, when, as a student in Whipple 

 Academy, he had traveled to the Democratic Na- 

 tional Convention at St. Louis. It would be difficult 

 to estimate the nature of Bryan's political feelings 

 during these years, since he left no record. Like many 

 citizens, his partisanship came by inheritance; he was 

 certainly a loyal Democrat, but it seems doubtful 

 that he had strong feelings about major political 

 issues, or that he was aware of the significant trans- 

 formations taking place in American society, and the 

 political consequences of these changes. 



LAW PRACTICE 



Fresh from his course of law, young lawyer Bryan 

 returned in 1883 to Jacksonville to begin his practice. 

 He was hopeful that his established friendships in the 

 college town would aid in the struggle to set up a 

 flourishing practice, but he experienced disappoint- 

 ment as he "awaited the rush of clients" and received 

 no more than a trickle of business. -° For six months 

 Bryan could not make ends meet, but, after a year of 

 waiting, enough business came to him so that he could 

 marry his sweetheart, Mary Baird. The practice ot 

 law could not have seemed particularly exciting , how- 

 ever; Bryan was involved in the minutiae of legal 

 work — bill collecting, handling real estate, acting as 

 a financial agent, and other minor business. ^^ 



Bryan achieved little more success in politics than 

 he did in law during the Jacksonville years. Expect- 

 ing perhaps to receive quick recognition from the 

 local Democracy, as his father had done, Bryan was 

 soon disappointed. As a young man, starting out 

 in an already established party organization, he 

 could not expect immediate rewards. The political 

 and community affairs of a small town opened up 

 ample opportunities for a young lawyer to engage 



-' The Bryan papers contain many letters from his classmates 

 and friends at law school. See also, Hibben, op. cit. (footnote 

 2), ch. 9, for an account of Bryan's years in law school. 



2* Brvan, Memoirs, p. 63. 



-* Bryan's correspondence with the Chicago, Burlington and 

 Quincy Railroad in 1887 is suggestive of the young man's 

 frustration in Jacksonville. He appealed to the railroad that 

 its route be changed to pass through Jacksonville, apparently 

 hoping for more legal work as a result of the additional railroad 

 connection. See Bryan papers, T. J. Potter, first vice president 

 of the C. B. and Q. Railroad, to Bryan, Feb. 15, 1887. 



in public speaking, however, and Bryan recorded 

 his own experience : 



While I was practicing I had the usual experience of 

 young lawyers in being called upon to speak on many 

 different occasions. The lawyer has the advantage over 

 all others in such matters. He is the natural spokesman 

 of those of his school of thought and he is called upon more 

 at banquets than those of other professions, because in 

 the course of business he has to deal with a greater 

 variety of subjects. 2' 



It is probable that few other young lawyers in Jackson- 

 ville were quite as willing, even eager, to address 

 the crowds as was William Jennings Bryan. Many 

 of his speeches were non political. He was an early 

 and dedicated supporter of the Y.M.C.A., and he 

 often spoke to groups of young men on religious and 

 moral subjects. He won little fame with such activ- 

 ities, but he gained invaluable experience. Indeed, 

 Bryan quickly became a master inspirational, semi- 

 religious public speaker, and in later years earned 

 a substantial portion of his income on the chautauqua 

 and lyceum circuits. His professional speaking to 

 small-town and rural audiences, usually in the Mid- 

 west, had the strengths and suffered the limitations 

 of the genre. Dealing with subjects and speaking 

 in rhetoric which his audiences knew well, he in- 

 spired tremendous confidence and loyalty among 

 his listeners. But his speeches were necessarily 

 sermonic, dealing too often with vague generaliza- 

 tions and great abstractions.-* Nevertheless, these 

 nonpolitical speaking experiences contributed sub- 

 stantially to Bryan's style of political oratory. 



-' Brv.\n, Memoirs, p. 68. 



-' An interesting account of this sort of oratory appears in 

 an unidentified clipping dated July 6, 1893, in the Bryan 

 papers. Bryan presented a patriotic and inspirational Inde- 

 pendence Day address to the multitudes at Greenville, Illinois. 

 Following Dr. Frank Swallow, the "Kansas Cyclone ... a 

 striking figure full of fire and eloquence . . . greeted with 

 cheers and laughter from start to finish," and a "beautiful 

 overture entitled 'Recollections of the War' " by the Head 

 Consul Band, Mr. Bryan spoke. "The Hon. Wm. J. Bryan, 

 Congressman from Lincoln, Nebraska, was then introduced. 

 He was born in Marion County, and the fact that he was a 

 son of Egypt, in addition to the further fact that he is just now 

 filling the eyes of the Nation with his distinguished personality, 

 caused the crowd to go wild in the enthusiasm of its reception. 

 It was a magnificent audience that he faced and it was no 

 inconsiderable task to fill the great expectations that the 

 heralding of his great name had caused; but Mr. Bryan met in 

 full measure every requirement of the hour. He paid tribute 

 to the Order of Modern Woodmen, and to the cause of fra- 

 ternity. He made a speech appropriate to the day celebrated. 

 He eulogized America's great statesmen and dwelt in eloquent 



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BULLETIN 24 1: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 



