The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-08-12
AGED MOTHER WATCHES
 SONS RACE FOR GOVERNOR
nY WILL n. STEPHAN.
'TMIfM MamEM MWuINIa IaNnmM MNMlHnlE

~~~-- The summer shadows lenGthen along the Mount Hope road. The sunlight dawns upon the corn leaves. tossing slowly and maJestically in the July sun. The shadow line of the oak woods creeps slowly across the verd- ant fislds. and in the distant woods a shadowy darkness merges the tree trunk and bushes in one indistinct whole. The farm house. with it's sentinel oaks grouped about 1t. Is fragrant with the perfume from an old-fash- toned flower yard. A woman to whom Age has been a blessing and Time a benediction sits and awaits eagerly the coming of the mall rider. He may not be due for an hour. but her eagerness has already set her at her vigil. Her eyes are upon the stretch of road sprinkled in sunlight and shadow. along which the mall rider will come rocking and bumpin g in his narrow cart. He may travel far or near. but no such welcome awaits him as he gets at the farm house gate from the strong and kindly mistress Of the fasn house.
 For her his coming Is the event of lthe day. about which all other inci- dents circle and to which all other Incidents are sunk in minor import ance.
 Nor does she hurry to the gate for any letters the mail man may re- ceive. She wants the printed pages of the daily newspapers which bring to her on that quiet and beautiful after noon the happenings from the outer world. Her eagerness is to learn Of one more days development in the strenuosity and, turbulence of Ala bama politics.
 For no other has the right to feel IL. l..k t~. ff fu or,sva frFs which shall say who Is to be Govern of of Alabama than she. For her son is before the people of Alabama Her son has been Governor of Alabama he has been Governor for eleven months, and so clean was his record. so clean has 1t been in twenty-siN years | Of public service that there is naught \ in 1t to which her own religious fer vor could object, nor any deed of | omission or commission at which the | sensitive conscience of a consecrated | life might object The mother of Rus | sell M Cunningham is proud Of his | ability proud of the honors that have come to him. but prouder still that his | life In public and in private has been
 clean, wholesome and useful
 A look at her as she sits on the farm
 | house verandah and awaits the com
 | ing of the days news shows her wo-
 | man of remarkable strength, physically
 and mentally. She Is 76 years old But you do not believe 1t, so lightly dc
 | her years rest upon her. To look al | her she might be so, certainly not more Her hair is still dark. her | eyes are no more affected by time than | though she were only 50.
 | She is wonderfully like her son. The
 resemblance Is so striking that 1t de- | mands instant notice At 76 she is | perhaps taller than the Lieutenant | Governor. and not so stout. But face | and head might have been nodded in | the same form of likeness. The long | curved nose of leadership Is marked in both mother and son. No man with such nose is content to remain a newer of wood and a drawer of water and no mother with such nose is content that her son should remain a newer of wood and a drawer of water, The mouths are the same. with the l long cut and the flexible humorous curves at the side. Tn mother and son 1 the eyes are the same with their glint | laughter. For to each is there the saving grace of humor,
 I have heard Dr. Cunningham say 10 his close friends, when the converse | ton was intimate:
 | You should know my mother. She | is the most remarkable woman l nave | ever seen. have never met woman of her intelligence and ability"
 | came to know in Franklin and Law renee Counties, where she was known. that this was the general opinion. ! never met a man who knew her wno didn't say she was the most wonderful woman he ever knew. She is undis- putabiy the first citizen of the Mount Hope section of Lawrence County. In Influence upon the life of the commit nfty. she is accorded first place. It Is
 her influence that carries weight and | her advice that finds followers Her
 neighbors may not speak of her without
 mention of her character and her abil- ity.
 That she is indeed a remarkable wo- man, no man may meet her. learn her
 influence upon the community, and doubt.
 ! No extraordinary man was ever born | of ar ordinary woman. No strong and brilliant man ever had a dull and weak mother. No man ever lived strong | and great life who was not influenced
 by the character of a strong and force-
 fuI mother.
 | One might advance so far into this principle of heredity as to say that no
 man ever achieved distinction who did not take after his mother" Which is the same as saying that the man whose
 character, whose purposes in life, whose
 mental poise is most affected by his mothers influence, has the best equip
 ment for the fight for success, It would be fatiguing to recount those men who have stood out above the com
 mon average of humanity and who physically and mentally most resem- bled their mother.
 That great men do not have great
 sons has long been accepted as matter
 of fact That the son of great man l is so inferior to his father is to be ex- pected. But where the mother Is un-
 usual in ability and character, there is no disappointment. More than all else,
 she holds the destiny of her son. - =------==----------=-=