should be purchased by the municipal authorities. As there was
considerable difference of opinion upon the question there was a large
gathering in the Town Hall, and the opponents of the scheme were in
strong force.

Mr. Chamberlain, in the course of his speech advocating the purchase,
pointed out with characteristic force all the advantages of the proposed
scheme, and when he mentioned the satisfactory sum for which the gas
undertaking could be bought a prominent opponent called out, "Will you
give that for it?" "Yes, I will," was the prompt reply, which rather
surprised and silenced his antagonist.

And no doubt he meant what he said. He regarded the amount named as an
advantageous price for the purchase--as it has proved to be--and he
would have been willing, and would doubtless, with the aid of his
friends, have been able, to find the money to secure such a valuable
monopoly. It was, however, the decisive and ready manner in which he
answered his interrogator that was so characteristic of the man, and
which so appealed to the meeting as to elicit a hearty volley of cheers.

Mr. Chamberlain was never easily disconcerted, nor was he ever a touchy,
over-sensitive man. In fact, he has been heard to say, I believe, that a
man who takes to public life must not be thin-skinned. If he is to give
blows, he must be prepared to take blows in return, and whether he takes
his punishment fighting or lying down, he must take it smiling, or at
least with complacency. This he does himself, as a rule, and whatever he
may feel under the blows of his adversaries, he does not wince nor
whine, but always appears more or less imperturbable, good-humoured, and
unscathed. We see him demonstrative, combative, even saucy sometimes on
the platform, but rarely or never ruffled, sour, or out of temper.