Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1911-09-20
The SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER
AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY

SSohcu W ue d iOOk Vi pity, anu
partly Of scorn, which made me feel
kind of creepy like, as though l had
been guilty of some breach of pro-
priety or something about as bad and
he sid: Mountains, do you call
then& Nuntains? Why they amt
nothihte .Mgopher hills. If you want
to see m% lns just take a run out
to Idaho, %o< 1 hit the trail, an
you'll see 'eA% sure Why you
are as ignorant q Nat real noun
tain is as natisNE eviend of mine
once encountered D. y England.
My friend had been% <eeling in
Scotland, and when he had done that
country, he proceeded on to- England.
Passing the border in due season, he
fell in with a native of the north of
England, who became interested in
him, asking many questions about
the United States, also about the
places he had visited and the things
he had seen during his rambles in
Scotland. Among other things the
Briton wanted to know the route the
American had taken in his journey
south. He was informed as to the
route taken, also given a description
of the scenes and experiences along
the way. why, then said his new
friend, You must have crossed the
mountains Mountains, mountains,
replied the American, L didn't see
no mountains %, but you must
have seen them,' said the English
man, why there was Ben Lomond
and Ben Nevis right in your way,
you could hardly have gone around
them Wal, now you speak of it.,
1 remember l did see some risin'
ground back there piece, but there
warn't no mountains After a
hearty laugh at his story the old man
settled down in his seat, muttering
to himself about "the greenness of
these, yere eastern tenderfeet, who
had never seen nothin' worth while
nohow," after which deliverance he
soon dropped into doze and we left
him to his dreams.
Passing through Harper's Ferry,
immortalized as the place where
John Brown met his death at the
hands of enraged slave holders, We
pushed on to Baltimore and Wash
ington.
At Washington We remained sew
eral days, visiting the places of in
terest, and meeting many of the pub
lie men of the nation, among whom
was Senator Leland Stanford, by
whom with his lady we were given
reception at their elegant home
and made to spend very pleasant
evening.
Arriving in New York we found
ourselves assigned to the Grand Cen
trail Hotel on. Broadway, where we
were to remain for the session. There
We found many delegates, mostly
from the west and middle west, prob
ably two hundred and fifty in all.
The General Conference was held
at the Metropolitan opera house. at
that time, think, the finest building
of the kind in the city. In the as
O N nrlf n tc he,
to write the names of the conferences
on slips of paper and place them
in box, from which they were
drawn by some one appointed for
the purpose and seats were chosen
by the delegation in the order from
which they came from the box. The
chairman of each delegation made
the choice for his conference, but in
his absence the person next on the
list made the selection. Now it so
happened that when the assignments
were made, which was done the even
ing before the organization of the
body, DR.. Kynett, the chairman of
our delegation was absent, as was
also DR.. King, so that it fell on me
to act for our delegates. I did not
know they were not present, and was
taken by surprise when the first pa
per drawn from the box was an
nounced as the Upper Iowa Confer
ence. However, l selected a seat
well to the front, which proved to
be quite satisfactory to our people.
Right across the aisle from where
we sat was the opera box of Mrs.
General U. S. Grant, which, on the
first day of the session was occupied
by Colonel F. ID. Grant, her son, and
DR.. j. p. Newman, pastor of the
Metropolitan church at Washington,
whom | had met in that city a few
days before. Beckoned across the
aisle by DR.. Newman, stepped over
to where they We're seated and was
introduced to Colonel Fred Grant,
who gave me a very cordial greeting
and a hearty invitation to call on his
wife and mother who were livino I'm