The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1908-07-26
BROKEN LINKS
BY vandela Varnum Thomas WeiEKnown
DeFunak Springs,

The Bryan cottage was in an un-
pretentious part OF the Sitv of Lin
coin and it's only claim to distinction
above any well-to-do day laborer's
/ home was in the fine porch some OF
! his friends had placed around it, the
/ deep curbing before il, the finely
kept lawn and Iuxuriance of electric
lights without and within. As we
neared the door 1 saw him slip on
! his alpaca coat, just as any man
who was running for constable might
/ have done though alpaca coats seem
especially associated with the presid-
! ing elders.
No turnkey opened the door, Mr..
Bryan himself acting in that capacity,
and with the assistance of his wife,
made about the most unassUming one
] ever saw.
It was a month before election and
this was the home o. one of the men
the people sought to place IN the
highest Office of the nation. | con
fess / never before stood in such rev
erenee of a republic and of demo
cratic institutions. Very few of our
presidents have lived pretentiOus
lives, indeed simplicity has been the
stamp of home environments yet
never in such marked degree. Here
was a plain man whom the plain peo-
pie had honored twice with a nomina-
ton, living in a little cottage receiV-
ing friends himself in the front
room" his wife his constant and most
trusted counsellor and aid and no
more nervous furry or excitement in
that little home than in yours today.
Yes, the star note" was struck
years ago by that little handful of
people who. rebelling against the ty-
ranny of monarchy. crossed the sea
and called a democracy into being a
government in which the man regard
less of birth or surroundings, stands
supreme
There has never been in my mem
DRY two women, wives of two canuI-
dates-president and vice president
of such caliber as Mrs. Bryan and
Mrs. Kern. If the democratic party
should come into power, the influence
oe these two first ladies of the coun-
try would mark a high tide for all
that makes fog the larger life of wo-
men in the nation. Both devoted
wives, mothers, home-makers and
home keepers. both highly educated
in and out of school, both up and
doing in all the great movements of
the world, both in sympathetic touch
with every reform, both proud. not
so much that the husband stands
high, but that he is high, high in all
that makes for moral grandeur-these
two women would do much in mould
ing the womanhood of the nation.
Nor do l ever remember an instance
in which both candidates were total
abstainers. I do not think Cor a mo-
ment that Mr.. Taft is a man whose
personal habits would unbecome any
station in life. The truth is, and a
very gratifying one, that such men
cannot aspire to the highest offices
today. But there Is a great difference
whether one has convictions or not;
whether such convictions be express
ed so as to influence a people. When
Mr.. Taft was in Manila his official
receptions partook largely of the ten
denotes of the beer garden. so much
so that friends oe ours said, aid they
were of his own party, that the bet
ter element was conspicuous by alb
sence.
The chautauqua tabernacle and hall
of brotherhood in DeFuniak is pro-
crossing rapidly. and when compIet-
ed will make not only one of the
most imposing buildings in western
Florida, but one of the finest and
best equipped chautauqua auditori-
ums in the United States. Although
this is supposed to be an off-year for
improvements il proves to be quite
the reverse in this place.
Aside from the auditorium, there
will be a new brick public school
building. a third story is being built
TO the F1ouTnOy block. New brick
stores and Offices will replace livery
barns and shacks now torn away.
DR.. McKinnon is Temodelilg his
nome on the circle, several new res
licences are in process of erection.
many of our older homes have been