The Irish standard., 1904-07-23

families of the town; school name
Elkins and Davis college, which was
given half by himself and half by his
son-in-law, Senator Stephen B. Ellslns.
He has donated a city park and erect
cd business buildings too numerous
mention.
And Senator Davis, the bright-eyed,
athletic old gentleman, who has fos-
tered and developed this busy terri
tory. watches its daily life from the
piazza of his great stone house on the
hill above the town, knowing by name
every man, woman and child In th-
township, and always ready to len
his counsel or pecuniary aid to thos
who are doing their part to complete
the commercial supremacy of the re-
gion.
Two hundred feet above the main
street, surrounded by park where
the wild maidenhair ferns and the
wood brakes still grow among the
mountain laurel, Graceland, his sum-
mer home, sits like benediction up
on the countryside. TO the left is the
estate of Senator Elkins, whose wife,
Halle Davis Elkins, is the mother Of
a bevy Of the old senator's brightest
grandchildren. TO the right, beyond
the little ivy-clad porter's lodge to
Graceland, is the baronial castle of r.
G. Kcrens, of st. Louis, formerly mem-
hcr of the Republican national com.
mittee.
Gmceland, named for his daughter,
Grace Davis Lee, whose husband is
treasurer of the Elkins National bank,
and relative of the late Gen. Robert
10. Lee, has n pnrlnge of four hundred
acres. But the beautiful estate is con-
stnntly thrown open to the people Of
the town, who are dcmocratically in
| vited to use it for a recreation ground
Senator Davis began life as rail-
road brakeman. He worked his way
up as contractor, railroad builder.
coal-mine owner and father of enter
prlses too numerous to mention. He is
polished and urbane-appearing man,
very gentle in his manners but very
masculine rs well. The man who said
| that the Democratic party had NOM
mated an old man for it's candidate
for vice-president had never seen him.
When your reporter first saw him GAL
looping in from Roaring Creek canyon,
| rosy and hungry after his sunrise ride
through the countryside; he was sure
that the wrong man had been pointed
out to him. This was the figure of a
young man. with hand that guided
the rcins with the skill of a cavalry
man, who sat the splendid bay thor
oughbred like boy and who had none
OF the failings Of decrepitude.
He welcomes his guests to Grace
land with the quiet ease Of man of
the world, and he sits in his library or
upon the broad piazza overlooking the
valley below and tells stories of old
days that make one think that all the
world is gone by. Then he enthusias-
tically descends into the present and
tells you what he is going to do with
this wonderful new country-stories
that bring you back with Jolt into a
realizing sense Of the bigness of to-
days opportunities. His is the master
mind that has collected in these VAL
leys and along these wooded mountain
sides the flower Of the young manhood
of dozen Eastern states.
'"rhis state is not to be a plutocra.
cy," he tells you. "I expect that there
are hundred poor young men down
there in the village to-day who have
the energy and the purpose to do for
West Virginia more in the coming
years than have ever been able to do
in the past America is the paradise
of democracy Every young man down
there in the mines, in the offices of the
railroads. the machine shops and
stores has hundred opportunities
where had one. And so far as can
influence their environment; these op-
portunities shall not be taken away