The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1907-03-14
ORIGIN OF A
PHRASE

Inc night on which the Kentuck-
tans handed the stirrup cup to Mr..
Watterson, the well-known Kentucky
editor, in New York, on the eve of his
going away to Spain, some good sto-
ries were told in the hooks of the
dining-room before and after the reg
ular program, This one was listened
to with much interest:
You Kentuckians,' said a guest
from Georgia, have heard all your
lives about that remark which the
governor of North Carolina received
! from the governor of South Carolina.
The story has been passed down from
one generation to another, each gen
GRAFTON believing in the tradition a
little more than the previous one.
We'll, fellow colonels, 1 was down
in the Palmetto state a few weeks ago,
and while I was enjoying the hospital
ity of a kinsman of Wade Hampton
ne assured me one evening, while we
were %indulging in the conviviality
characteristic of a southern home,
that the story was a fact. I am going
to tell you what he said as well as I
can recall it, trusting to your charity
TO make due allowances for lapses
which events of this sort entail.
"a governor of South Carolina was
the guest of a governor of North Caro-
lima. The latter, in honor of his
guest, a prepared a Tarheel dinner.
That is to say, bacon and yam were
the great temptations.
after the feast the Tarheel exeeu-
tive invited his Palmetto guest to
have a pipe on the veranda of the
mansion. Between the two big chairs
a capacious demijohn was placed. It
was filled with corr copper distilled
whisky from a North Carolina re.
tort.
"As often as the pipes were refilled
the demijohn was tilted and the
liquid gurgled into a gourd. This the
North Carolina governor handed to
the executive from South Carolina,
who drank off to the half way mark
and handed the gourd to his host, who
finished it.
Il was even told the main topic of
conversation between the governors.
1t was he %turpentine of one state and
the rice of the other state.
The governor of South Carolina,
said my host, was a large man and
full OF pores. Such a man can drink
a thin man to a finish any day. The
liquor exudes as fast as it is swal-
lowed.
$50 the South Carolina executive
was in a fresh condition most of the
time. The -Tarheel executive knew
his weakness and began to mig on his
gourd early, and in doing so he ladled
out about three drinks to the Palmet-
to man to one for himself.
But, gentlemen-f mean c%olonels-
the North Carolina governor, in spite
of his caution and in spite Of his COM
putation as to the capacity of his
guest, was the first to be overcome.
His pipe fell from his lips. He ca
reened in his great chair and fell
asleep.
"The governor of South Carolina
was too polite a mar to notice the
somnolent condition of his host. Con-
tinuing his argument on the staple
product of his state, he held his gourd
near the mouth Of the demijohn, which
had run dry, and finally, noticing that
the gourd was not as moist as it
should be, the'governor of South Caro-.
lima cut out his remarks on staple
products and asked abruptly:
Governor, don't you think it's a
id long time between drinks?'
"The governor of North Carolina
slept. IN. His faithful body servant,
hearing the inquiry of his excellency
from South Carolina, and not wanting
to be chagrined by the failure Of his
master to extend his great hospitality,
slipped off the edge of the veranda
and took to the woods.
"The governor of South Carolina,
noticing the continued absence of Ian
guage from his host, and also noticing
the decamping of the servant, likewise
having tapped the demijohn and find
Ing it like a last years bird nest,
slowly rose, laid aside the gourd,
ambled to the stile block, mounted
his charger and rode away. 1t is said
that his horse never hesitated until
he bore his master across the state
line.
Then the governor of South Caro-
lima looked back and shook his gaunt-
let in the direction whence he had
come. When the governor of North
Carolina came out of his. comatose
condition and realizing his humilia-
ton he broke the demijohn and
smashed the gourd.
"You have heard of the young Eng
fish prince who was lost at sea, and
how the king when he heard of it
never smiled again? My host in South
Carolina assured me that the poem
originally referred to the governor of
North Carolina, the poem as first writ
ten beginning:
The jug that held the rye ran dry,
Th gourd was scorched within,
The Tarheel gov'nor woke too late;
lie never smiled agin."