Omaha daily bee., 1906-06-14


ham. who performed similar ONCE in be-
half Of the state of Kentucky and at the
conclusion of his address assumed the gavel
as the presiding officer OF the reunion.
Henry watterson Speaks.
Governor BecKham introduced Henry
watterson. who delivered the formal ad-
dres of welcome which was follows:
Once a Kentuckian always Kentuckian.
From the cradle TO the grave, the arms of
the motherland, stretched forth in mother
loVe-the bosom of the motherlaEd, lmmor-
tai as the ages, yet mortar in maternal al
fection, warmed by the rich, red blood OF
Virgnla--the voice OK the motherland,
In tones of heavenly music-summon the
errant to the roof trees Shade and bid the
ever ioath to come? Whether upon the
heights of fortune and fame, or down amid
despair, the true Kentuckian, seeing the
shining eyes and hearing the mother call
sends back the answering refrain:
| "Where'eT / roam, whatever realms 1 see,
My heart, untraveled fondly turns to thee:
Behold, in this great. exultant multitude
Kentucky. Old Kentucky! The very name
has had a charm, has wrought spell has
made q music, all its own has woven on
the glory of Virginia, Kentuckys mother
and the glory OF. Tennessee, kentuckys
sister It has ,blpomed in all hearts where
manhood and womanhood hold the right
! of way. The drama of the ages told in
pulse beats finds here an interlude which
hction vainly emulates and history may not
! o'erieap Not as the Greek, seeking Pro-
methean fire and the oracles OF Delphosl
nor as the Roman filed with the JOY OF
| living and the lust, for conquest; not as the
| viking springing to the call of wind and
wave, nor as the Latin, dazzled by the
| glitter OF gold, mad with the thirst Tor
! glory; neither as the Briton and the Teu-
| ton, eager for mastership on land and sea,
! the Kentuckian whom We in fifial homage,
salute progenitor He was as none Of these.
in strong VO1Ce-the
grown. man pre6gured by the psalmlst-
! never the ocean mirroreo ms tancles nor
| snow-clad peaks that reach the skies in
spired; but the mystery OF strange LANDS,
the savagery of nature and the song OF the
greenwood tree.
The star that shons above him and led
him on was love of liberty, the beacon of
J his dreams, the light Of the tlreslde. He
cut a clearing in the wildwood and called
! Il home He read not romance, he made 1t;
nor poetry, he Lived it,, his the forest epic.
the Had Of the, canebrake; the odyssey OF
the frontier; the Unconscious prose poem OF
! the rife and the camp, the blockhouse ana
the pillow, the Holy Bible, and the old field
Happy the NAM who sat in childhood
upon a wel-loved grandsires knee awed
by the telling orI she w0ndrous tale; now
tVirginians foloweAe Boone. The route from
| Troy to Tiber not, wearier nor fianked by
greater hazard, than that betwixt the shores res
Ohio the mountains standing gorgon-llke
| across the painless way, as If, defending
| each defile, to hold inyiolate some dread,
| forbidden secret The weird wastes of
| wilderness beyond the fordless stream; the
yawning ehasm; the gleam OF the tonahaWk
4 ward spite of the haunting voice of the
| elements. stripped for the death struggle
! With man, spite Of the silence and the soli-
| tude Of reluctant nature, like some fawn-
| eyed maiden resisting his rude intrusioii:
! ever onward; before him the promised land
OF God, the fear of hell and the love o.
| COD bless Virginia, Heaven smile upon
her as she prepared to celebrate with Mt
ttinE rite three centuries Of majestic achteVe-
ment,' the star crown upon her brow, the
! distaff I'm her hand. nor spot, nor blur TO
dim the radiance of her shield! -,-
| Kentucky, which gave Abraham Lincoln
10 the north and Jefferson DAVIS 70 tne
south, contributing a very nearly equal
quota OF soldiers to each Of the contending
| armies of that great confict-in point of
Voted in any election-a larger per centum
| of the population than had ever been tur-
nished i'm time of wsT by any modern state
! FIRST TO knoY the battle was ended and to
draw together in reunited brotherhood.
Kentucky In Cuba. .-...
kentucky struck, the earliest blow for
| freedom. Furnished the hrst martyrs 10
ing before a file of Spanish musketry,
| refusing TO be blindfolded or to bend the
/ the keynote OF his race IA Kentuckian
always faces his enemy and kneels only to
his God" IL was another Kentuckian, the
gallant Holman, who, undaunted by the
/ dread IdecimatiOn, the cruel death by lot,
\ having drawn a white bean for himself,
/ brushed his friend aside and drew another
\ in his stead. All, yes, we have our humors
along with our herOics, and laugh anon at
ourselves and our Tnishaps and our jokes;
| but we are nowise a bloody minded people,
! The rather a sentimental, hospitable, kindly
| people, caring perhaps too much for tho
! picturesque and too 1ittle for consequences
! Though our jests be sometimes rough, they
! are robust and clean. We are a provincial
people and We rejoice I'm our provincialism
/ We have always piqued ourselves upon do
/ ing our lovemaktng and our laWmaking as
! we do our plOwing, in a straight furrow
7 and vet II IS true that Kentucky never
J encountered darker days than came upon
US when the worst that can befall a com
! monwealth seemed passed and gone The
stubborn war between the old court party
and the new court party was bitter
enough. but it was not so implacable as
the strife which strangely began with the
I discussion OF an honest difference OF Opin-
4 ion touching a purely economic question,
! of national, not state policy. Can there
| be one living Kentuckiau who does not
! look back with horror and amazement
upon the passions and Incidents of those
| evil days?
Welcome to Wanderers.
! For it's "home. home, home" signs the
a.