August 7

Lincoln, NE (Excerpt)

William Jennings Bryan, The First Battle: A Story of the Campaign of 1896 (Chicago: W.B. Conkey Company, 1896), 300.

"In ordinary times I would have desired to have the notification take place at my home. But this is not an ordinary campaign, and, feeling that the principles in which we are interested should rise above any personal preferences which we may have, I expressed the desire to be notified in New York, in order that our cause might be presented first in the heart of what now seems to be the enemy's country, but which we hope to be our country before this campaign is over. I appreciate the kindness which you, our neighbors, have shown in gathering here to bid us good bye. All I can promise you is that, whether what I do meets with your approval or not, I shall do my duty as I see it, and accept all consequences which may follow."