Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1919-12-23
PERSHIHG VEL COINED
BY OLD HOME FOLKS
Boyhood Friends and Neighbors
Crowd Lacelde, Mo, TO Pay
Honor to War Hero.
By Associated Press to r. sery Rvonlng

by Associated Press TO sery Evening
Lacleie, Mo, Dec 23.-W Warren Perah-
ing, 10 years old. sat down to dinner today
m the old diulngroom where Daddy used
70 eat has Christmas and Thanksgiving
turkey II the days when Dad was War
ren age, and ordinary folks could afford
turkey Along with Warren at the din
ner was Dad Cen John ] Parshing, and
Aunt May Pershing. and the governor
of Missouri ard Mayor Allen. of I1aclede,
on whose grocery wagon Dad used to hook
rides, ard d feV more folks Most Of them
had known the general when he was
Warren 5 age General Pershlng stepped
out on the porch of the old house where ne
used TO 1--we and addressed a few remarks
/ % the Linn county neighh0rs, who
gathered in the yard.
Everybody at the dinner except Cen
erai Pcrshing ate as much rs he pleased
| but the general saved room Tor the fred
dried apple pie that Aunt Susan Hewitt,
IS years old, had baked for him The
visit to Aunt Susan who used To bake pies
for John J. Pershing, long before anybody
ever dreamed he would be q general. was
an important part Of the homecoming
celebration Of the commander-In-chief
Of the l. Il f.
Laclede planned a different sort Of day
from any the general spent for many
years It Was a ,las Of shaking hands
with neghbors, and 'howdy, John.
and JOHN. ! had boy over yondcr:
you didn happen TO rIn across him. lid
YOU"
I.acIede's historic day. For
ve 70 come they will tell stories Of
Johnny Pcrshlngs home coming and
what he said st dinner and point out the
place right there 5 where he stood when
the governor pinned the gold medal OF.
hial that the State gave him.
At dinner q silver loving cup, bought
by old friends Of the general, was gwen
him
There was a reception at the city hail
after dinner. where everybody who could
get IN had a chance to shakc the hand OF
the general.
Then came the visit to Aunt Susan
Hewitt. for Aunt susan is feeble now and
couldn come . the celebration. she had
announced that she wanted few minutes
real visit with Johnny and 4 chance to
watch hls face when he saw that dried
apple PIE. He used TO poster her to death
for them when her husband ran the tavern.
It Wsls hard to tell which John Pershing
liked best. Aunt Susan says, those dried
apple PIES, or Capt Jacob Hewitt
stories of the civil war
Laclede is sure those yarns had some
thing to 90 with Pershing deciding 20
become q soldier.
While General Pershing was beng
steered 10y th, welcoming committee
committee OF Lacledc women entertained
Miss May Pershing, The generals sister.
and Il crowd of the committee sons
pumped Warren for a little inside lufor-
nation about France and Just how his
father whipped the kaiser
The visit To Laclede ende tonight when
the general and his family VII 90 to
Lincoln, Neb, 10 spend Christmas
More touching even than his
fareWells TO the men with whom he
served IN France vas the reception Of his
former fellow townsmen. Aside from the
presence of the governor, Frederick y,
Gardner, and a bla band at the railway
station, General Pershings greeting WAS
entirely spontaneous.
Laclede was III gala attire, flags ard
tri-coiored bunting formed 5 canopy over
the towns single street Under it the
general, with Governor Gardner, Miss
May Pershlng, his SISTER. Narren. his
young son. Mayor Allen and 8 group Of
friends of boyhood days. drove to the
old Pershing home for an old time dinner
Formality had been laid aside as far
rs WAS possible for a day Of handshakIng
and greeting of acqualntancas unseen
since the General left here 3S years ago,
for " est Point