The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-04-05
MARK TWAIN FOXES
 FUN AT ROGERS
Humorist Tells of Incident In
 MiIIionaire'S Life
PRAISE FOR VIRGINIA
The New Railroad of Rogers Is Opened to Traffic, and the Occasion Is Made Memorable By Banquet and
 Speech By Mark Twain.

Norfolk. April 4-H. H. Rogers owner of the Yirginian railway. the formal open ing of which was celebrated yesterday accompanied by guests from New York and other cities, yesterday made an in- speetion of the railroads terminal prop erty at SewalPs Point near here
 Presidents of several railway systems terminating at Norfolk and other visitors arrived here for the s20-per-plate ban quet rendered MT Rogers last night These officials include Presidents Finley of the Southern, Johnson of the Norfolk and Western, Stevens of the Chesapeake and Ohio, William H. White of the Richmond Fredericksburg and Potomac, and Alfred P. Thom, general counsel for the South ern railway at Washington
 Mir. Clemens made one of his charac- teristic humorous speeches, in which he took the privilege Of making his friend, the guest of the evening, MT. Rogers, the recipient of number of jokes.
 He appeared in his well known suit of immaculate white, declaring that he was the whitest man in attendance, in- cluding his hair. Explaining why he did not leave the car to inspect the great steel pier of the railroad. MT. Clemens said he saw 1t en route to the city, and noted that like MT. Rogers foot, Tt was long and bony.'f H~snt
 He spoke in the highest praise of Virginia hospitality and the progress sivs spirit that led to the construction of the Virginian railroad
 am glad to have made people laugh MT. Clemens continued, "but there are a few that I have made cry, and I'm glad of that, too. I like com pHments, deal in them myself. I have listened to some of them which have been paid to MT. Rogers and hope some of them are deserved. It is no small thing to be classed with Napoleon and Julius Caesar as you have classed MT. Rogers. Why did not he say it was the proudest moment of his life like Julius Caesar did? They can't be here to defend themselves, but I'm here Napoleon built 50 roads and your toast master here has put MT Rogers in that class, and he has built only one road and he hasn't got that done yet. like to hear him comp1ime nted, but l don't like to hear 1t overdone.
 The chairman says MT. Rogers is full of practical wisdom. Well, he Is. He intimated that he is ingenious and clever, and all that. He may be now, but he wasn't always so. know private things in his life and how he started, and his start wasn't so good. could have done 1t better myself. He doesn't like to appear ignorant, but he can look as ignorant as anyone.
 #ra.. ,Ixx-. ls- trip across the Atlantic He did not like to ask questions and show his ignorance, so he just kept quiet and observed. On the way over some of the young Englishmen got to betting on the time the ship was making. They got young Rogers into the bet and finally got him to wager half a crown, but he did not know what half a crown was, so he went to bed and tried to figure out what he had bet. He did not know whether a half crown was money or what. He figured 1t out that a crown belonged to a king, and that it was probably worth $20, 900 dollars, but he did not know whether it was customary to be betting kings crowns or not If a crowns worth s20, 900, he thought. half a crown was worth s10,- 900, and he thought that was too much money to hazard on a bet, so he got out of bed, dressed himself and hunted up the young man he had bet with and gave him S150 to call the bet off. I like to hear him complimented, and I'm not stingy in giving him compliments myself"
 Mark Twains entrance was theatri- cal A few minutes before 10 o'clock, just as the band was playing Dixie" the humorist entered the door. As he passed up the aisle his hands were grasped by first one and then anothe CT.