The Lexington intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1901-1949, 1903-08-22
the PATRIARCH OF ARROW ROCK.

DOCK OF every MiSSOurlan. IL Is IN
reflections Of an ancient inhabitan
OF Arrow Rock, "Saline county, Mis-
souri,, - as the description runs, upo
the gubernatorlal situation an
Mayor Reeds speech at that plac
then just delivered. The value o
this fragment OF philosophical rehec
ton is enhanced by consideration o
its incontestable authenticity. A
the very outset the reporter disarm
incredullty with the assurance tina.
he is mot a member OF the Star
stat" He is doubtless az homes
farmer neighbOr OF the cultured ole
gentleman who delivered the mono
lOgue, which he reverently took down
sin short hand" 1t is In evidence
Of this reporters bucOlic simplicity
and veraclty that he took no credit to
himself for the phrasing Of delicate
intuitlons which a Montague might
have coveted and for certain fine
flashes Of Ruskinesque indignation,
but scrupulOusly enclosed 1t all In
double quotation marks, as an honest
farmer Of Arrow Rock, "Saline
county, Missouri, mot a member
Of the Stars staff" might be ex.
pected to do. That nothing might
be lacking to u imagination OF this
scene, which combines tremendously
elements Of the pastoral and the
pa%triarchal, the vagrant fancy is not
left to picture the white-haired
Mentor and his disciples lowering in
a village tavern or on goods boxes in
front Of a grocery store, but we are
distinctly told that the impressive
scene was enacted as they stretched
upon the greensward under the
"shade Of spreading trees And it
was all concluded san hour before
sundown'' so they might have time to
go to their happy country homes
Besides, the honest farmer.reporter
Of Arrow Rock, "Saline county, Mis-
souri,, =" could not have have seer to
take down sin shorthand" the magic
words of the patriarch very long
after shutdown. And then, too, he
had to get home and milk the family
COW.
The internal evidences of the
v~eraciousneSs this report of the pa.
triarch's calm, penetrating deliver
ances are not equaled by those of any
other historical fragment, sacred or
profane. Arrow Rock, "Saline coun-
tY, Missouri, " is a town ten or fifteen
miles from q railroad; and it has been
been noted by philologists that the
provincial far more than the cOsmo.
preserves the we'll of English
pure and undefled. Hence we are
not to he surprised that the patriarch,
10 classic diction and gracefulness of
phrase, far surpasses the utmost
reach Of the hack scribblers "on the
Stars staff Indeed he bears very
favorable comparison with the charm
literary artist who writes the
Stars leading editorials. Nor is it
merely in the witchery Of his classic
'tyle, derived doubtless from daily
1erusal of his King James family
Bible and the old leather bound,
single volume edition of Shakespeare
from Virginia before the
var, that the patriarch merits COM
'arison with the editor. There is a
|consonance Of ideas as striking
IS it is interesting. The editor lives
n Kansas City amid the turmoil of
raffic and the jargon Of trade He
S %perpetually disturbed by the out
ages of the Metropolitan Street
TAI way, the threat Of the water :
works. flow line, the enormities of the -,
ark board, and the delays Of the .
iaducts. On the other hand the !
atriarch of Arrow Rock, saline !,
ounty, Missouri, enjoys the peace ,
nd bliss of the first pair in Eden; :
llled by the music of lowing herds, :
laddened by the sight Of golden :
raintields or the contrasting green of y.
rowing maiSe. But 10 spite of the
Inference in the circumstances of :.
heir lives, there is this marvellous
o%nSonance Of speculative ideas:
'hich goes to show how the phllo-
)phic spirit triumphing over con- L
ltlons which might be expected to :
reduce parallax Of mental vision. '
straight to the source of light u
nd truth.
There is only one detail lacIinn 90 l