The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-12-22
CUMMTNS TO NEW ENGLANDERS
IOWA'S GOVERNOR A RHAPSODEsT
AT A DINNER IN BROOKLYN.

From the OVerfulness OT isis store Or
OratOry ESQ Tells or the GlOVies ~ ksis
stAte-A Toast Given Not tO the Pres
ldent but ca the Sovereign People,
All rood Puritans of Brooklyn and the
hinterland Of Kings county. who have one
Of the original spinning wheels that came
over in the M~aynower. gathered at the
annual dinner of the New England Society
Of Brooklyn at Pouch's Mansion on Lafa-
yetts avenue last night tenderly TO pluck
arrows of memory out Of the astral bodies
of the Pilgrim fathers who died with
them in.
II all the Priscillas and the B~reakbOnes
and the Ichabods in the banquet hall had
been gathered into one corner there would
have been three corners vacant.
Atmosphere was given to the dinner by
several wax and sugar conceptions of the
catererarranged in tablenux on the 81 eakers'
table. There was a Queen Anne cabin down in
front of Mr.. TalcOtt Williams that smoked
real shredded wheat smoke and by the gavcl
Of President Elijah n. Kennedy there stalked
several savage and semi-nakedw wax Indians.
trailing a liliputian Miles Standish on his
way to church near the champagne mag
mum. But il was under the fire of Gov.
/ Cummins's o~ratory-that Gov. Cummins all
the way from Ioway-that two of the wax
Indians gradually bowed their knees and
bit the tabiecloth.
Beside President Kennedy at the speak
ers' table sat Congressman Francis W.
! Cushman from the State of Washington,
+, Henry u. Eastbrook, Gov. Cummins. the
Rev. Lewis L. Reed, DIR. p. l.. SChenck,
president of the st. Nicholas Society; George
J. O'keefe, president ~ SA. Patrick's Soci-
ETY.; William NJ. Calder, stephen NJ; Girls
void George T.. Miner and TaloOtt Williams
of Philadelphia. Among the guests were
Judge Hiram r.. Steele and Mrs. Steele,
William ID. Sargent and Mrs. sargent, Gen.
Stewart D.. WOodfOrd. Charles Lyman Case,
the Rev. Newell Dwight Hills, Judge Au-
gustus Van Wyck and Mrs. Van Wyck,
Col. William G.. Burr and Mrs. Burr and
Edward II. Sayre.
President Kennedy sprang a surprise
on the guests when he rose TO propose the
first toast Of the evening. lie said that il
was the Gust Omary toast with variations.
81 ask you to drink to the sovereign
people of the United States said the
president, mot meaning any d~isrespect
thereby 10 the Chief Executive of the nation.
But w in this country have no sovereign
save the sovereign people, and they should
he toasted every time we get a chance
Al Of the Puritans and others rose with
deCOrum and toasted the common sovereign
of this glorious country in table water.
Then the POSTMASTER introduced Gov
Albert p. Cummins, who had come all the
way from home to be present that evening.
The minated in his fine old
school Puritan way that that was going
some for Gov. Cummins. Then the Exec
utive of the Western State rose to sneak.
Il one timeNhad TO address a q. A.. r.
gathering, T" he said -and I was a very much
younger man then and had not been in
politics long, 40 I hadn't made any speeches
So prepared that one and when got up
to speak | remembered that IL was in my
coat pocket out in the hall. Nevertheless,
| began.
Comrades Of the G. A. R. | regret that
the Lord in His divine wisdom ordained
it tina | should have been too late to par
ticipate in the gloTies of and the perils Of
the greatest struggle for freedom that ever
illumined the pageSof the worlds history
Il got just hat fur" continued Gov.
Cummins, "and there ! stuck. | began
again about the divine wisdom business
and stuCk again. I was Just lightning a
third time when | heard an old soldier in
the back Of the hall whisper 10 his neighbOr;
Why in hell was he born at all?'
With this easy Introduction the Governor
from afar opened up some of his very rare
Western brand VI good old loway Oratory.
Said he:
Without prejudice l shy it-and | would
rot nave you think that i have come all the
way back here TO be the advance agent OF
Ioway-without prejudice. Isay. Ian firmly
of the belief that W hen the Most High had
completed his six days labor Of creation
lie paused and cast His eye over that which
He had made. And in the survey of all
the broad universe His eye paused, | have
no doubt. at that particular spOt where
the fields of waving green corn and the
sparkling rivers marked the garden spot
Of all the freshly created world.
Long and tenderly He must have taken
in every detail of this blossoming land.
and right well was lie pleased with its
beauty; for this was Ioway. the peerless
State OF the sweeping praIries.
The gubernator of blOssoming and wav-
ing iOWay touched up the Puritan fathers
a bit. He showed that again ne was not
with prejudice, because, as he admitted,
he came originally from Pennsylvania.
All the loyal Puritans who were listlesSly
turning the wheels Of their spinning wheels
put foot on the pedals and sat up with
snarled yarn when Gov. Cummins said that
he doubted not that il every minister Of
the Gospel who was sitting about the board
had suddenly been born full fedged with his
present b~roadness and wisdom into Ply
mouth colony the Indian stake and burning
splinter treatment would have been not half
so hot as the reception the Puriton fathers
would have iRnded out to him.
But IOway's Executive quickly slipped
into n sulogy of what tho Puritans had done
for this great and glorious Government.
and there was much handclapping and
some wishes of bon voyage back to loway
when he had concluded.
Francis ". CuChman, TalCott Williams,
William NJ. Calder and stephen NJ. Griswold