Solon had shown Lou a newspaper piece in August. They both were stirred by Bryan's words.
There are two ideas of government. . . . . There are those who believe that if you will only legislate to make the well-to-do prosperous, their prosperity will leak through to those below. The democratic idea, however, has been that if you legislate to make the masses prosperous, their prosperity will find its way up through every class which rests on them."
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Bryan had met Mary Baird when a student at Illinois College (Jacksonville). He graduated as valedictorian in 1881 and went to law school in Chicago. Returning to Jacksonville, he opened his law practice and courted Miss Mary. He and Mary married in 1884. They had a boy and two girls. While having babies and making a family, college graduate Mary was tutored by William in the law. She was carrying their second child, William Jennings Bryan Jr., when she passed the bar in 1888.
When Lou read of Bryan's ideas and his wife, she saw something she knew to be good. She longed for improvement in women's place in society - from voting to economic influence. It was time to do more about it than to send small donations, write letters and yearn for a better world.
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"My fellow citizens, friends and neighbors, let us citizens of the beautiful and fortunate state of Tennessee, welcome the 'Great Commoner' - the able voice for democracy and justice, the warrior for prosperity, the builder of a brighter future for our great nation - The Honorable William Jennings Bryan!", rousingly invoked Robert L. Taylor. "Our Bob", only a few years older than Bryan had already served two terms as Tennessee's governor. He had been renominated in the summer for another round in the governor's chair and he and Bryan were campaigning together. The nearly seven thousand attendees - laborers in overalls, young men in dapper attire, farmers in brogans and ill-fitting suits, a sprinkling of wealthy progressive "big mules", women, the young and old, shop owners and craftsmen, whose places were closed for the day, clapped, cheered, stomped and bellowed, "Bry-an, Bry-an, Bry-an" when Bryan stepped forward. They had come to the Volunteer State's capitol city to be with "Mr. Will". The champion was with his patrons. Lou looked at Solon, her eyes smiling as they joined the clapping. Solon let out a "Rebel yell". The sixteen-year-old twins were having a grand time joining in the ruckus, cutting up and trying to out shout one another. Joe won the contest. All across the littered building site for the Tennessee Centennial Exposition on Nashville's West End just west of Vanderbilt University were the joyous multitude embracing their political savior. They feverishly awaited a latter day miracle of economic and political loaves and fishes.