The Port Gibson reveille. [volume] (Port Gibson, Miss.) 1890-current, 1910-04-21
mississippi and Its Public rIen.

Up here In bleak New England
we are not, perhaps, appreciative
enough of the state and people of
Mississippi. They are long way
off. But Mississippians no less than
Kentuckians, are apt to be remark
able, if not picturesque characters.
Mr.. Vardaman, whose defeat for
the United States Senate is said to
be a cause of rejoicing on both sides
of the Senate chamber in Washing
ton, has a personality as strongly
individual as that of Tillman. Mis-
sissippians for many years have at
tracted attention in American pub
lie life, as Louisianians have not.
Jefferson Davis, 1t Is true, was born
in Kentucky, in the county next
to the birthplace of Lincoln, but
his life and career really belong to
the history of Mississippi. There
was Lucius Quintus Curtius Lamar,
long a senator OF the United States
and finally justice of the supreme
court, whose extraordiBry char
acter and ability were impress
ed upont wo generations. When
the late Senator Hoar came to write
about his colleagues iii his autobi-
ography he astonished his readers
by paying a remarkable tribute to
a senator named Walthall from
Mississippi. Senator Joseph w.
Bailey was reared in Mississippi
and it was not until his young man
hood that Texas became his
adopted state. Then there is Mr..
Money, at present the democratic
leader of the Senate, said to be
man of prodigious erudition, and
John Sharp Williams, whose
career in the House eliminated in
the floor leadership of his party.
Mr.. Williams, it has been intimat-
ed, was something of a poet; and
the occasional verses that he read
in the House, which someone had
handed TO him" could never be
satisfactorily accounted for unless
the authorship were credited to
him. With all of their other charac--
teristic traits Miss statesmen seem
to persist in breaking into rhymes.
Not the least interesting in this
respect is the venerable confederate
cavalryman, Senator Gordon who
is merely holding the seat until Mr..
Bercy can arrive and be sworn in
as the late Mr.. McLaurin's success
or. Col Gordon gaily occupied his
time, while presiding over the SEN
ate,s deliberations on Wednesday,
1.-The orator of the hour being
Brown of Nebraska and the income
tax amendment being the theme
with composing these valedictory
lines:-
sat in the presidents chair to-day
When the Senate was drowsy and thin;
And nifty young chap was spouting away,
Who had never hair on his chin.
A bright little fellow by the name Of Brown,
Who should be at home in his own little
town
Studying in some primitive institution
The A B C's of the great constitution.
I've been chased by Yanks. and I've suf
fered for sin,
And I've writhed in my bed in terrible
pain,
But, if God forgives me for where / have
been,
I promise never to sit up here again.
There Is something peculiar tc
Mississippi that results in excep-
tional men. They are highly indi-
vidual, strongly marked. And
possibly the reason is that the state
has always been intensely rural in
It's civilization-with an overwhelm.
Ing mass of plantation negroes
Thrown in. Some one has said thai
modern civilization makes every
one look alike, individuals as wei
as states and states as well as indi
viduals. The civilization of Mis-
sissippi is enough different from
that of other states in the Soutf
even to prevent such process al
looking alike implies. Th'
leading men of the commonwealth
continue to exhibit infinite variety
and to add to- the richness and bril-
Iliancy of American public life
Springfield (Mass. )Republican.
The Chronicle is requested b.
Mr.. w. w. Ellis, of Utica, to Civ
nntice that he has nnrchased ths