Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1924-06-26

est in its problems. His chief joy
in the trip had been to see how well
ex-Ambasador Davis of West Virgin
ia presided over the Association
meetings.
There is a man: John w. Davisl
He's of opposite poliics to me; but of
all the men who have been mentioned
for the Presidency, he's the best e.
quipped. And he laughed, "he's
from West Virginia."
The Governor tried to put off on
Davis one of his favorite political
stories, but gathered from Judge
Hammond's expression and from
Mrs. Morgan's that it really happen
ed to the Governor himself. They
were holding a rally up in Fairmont,
near where the Governor was born,
and as is the custom, the local talent
was filling in pending, the arrival of
the principal speaker. The presid-
ing officer made few neat remarks
concluding with: "As Goldsmith says,
Ill fares the land to Fastening ills
prey,
Where wealth accumulates and men
decag.V
As the applaus died down, the local
candidate for the ASSEMBLY entered the
hail. His line of argument followed
closely that Of the preceding orator;
and when someone on the platform
nudged him to indicate that the real
speaker was arriving outside he clos
ed hastily but fittingly with the
phrase: "As Goldsmith says,
Iii fares the land to Fastening ills a
|. prey,
Where wealth accumulates and men
decay"
On the last twittering handclaps,
the speaker of the evening entered
the building. His speech, like the
others, abounded in the always pop
ular attacks on wealth; and it was
no surprise to the more sophisticated
in the audience when he paused
dramaticall on the brink of his con-
clusion, and shouted:
Listen to the words of the i'm
mortal Goldsmith"
He never finished his speech. A
gray-bearded old cracker rose from
the front row.
"Who is this fellow Goldsmith. >
he demanded, "and what in H. is he
' running fort"
The Governor did make one seri
ious suggestion which seemed to m,
to deserve national consideration
r He is dry personally and politi
Y cally; but he is also lawyer and :
t judge, and in the latter capacities h,
is distressed to see the fedora
e courts clogged with picayune boot
e Logging cases:
: why" he said, "our court hous,
t down here is being turned into a 10
lice court. But the remedy is simple
: enough. The federal judges hav,
e authority to appoint them right a
t long in bootlegging cases. The,
J. must be given authority to empower
: these commissioners to render yer
s diets in these cases, and then tn.
whole thing won't have to be triee
over again in court"
:, The Governor didn't let his court
up in Marion County, get clogge(
with Unnecessary business. Marion
; County, by the way is where the Gov.
: ernor met his wife.
! "She had me- he explained, with
courtly bow, because she lived
J just far enough away not to be onto
Iall my inperfcctions."
How far does that have to be
Governor
"Well, in those days it was about
!, three miles. / reckon now it's right
smart bit further"
Mrs Morgan murmured something
about having been onto" him all the
time. And Judge Hammond, who
seemed to know the facts, allowed
that nothing could stop 'em from
being married anyhow-noting but
White Day Creek" The creek was
the dividing line between the town
ships in which Alma Bennett and Ep-
hraim Morgan taught the district
schools.
West Virginia isn't like any
other place in the world,' Governor
Morgan volunteered. "It's the most
northern Of the Southern states and
the most southern of the Nortern
States. Ny own immediate ances-
tors fought on the Northern side dur
ing the war, SO I'm Republican; but