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_ a.^t*c*i*c .uci,y cvcu niuct liichi il iiuw lo.
Recalls English Descent
"I do not agree with the convictions of the Eastern Shore about prohibi-, tion, but of these convictions, inspired by the grave abuses which undeniably attend excess in strong drink, it can at least be said that, unlike most political convictions, they are entirely disinterested. I think, besides, that : too much sectarian prejudice exists on the Eastern Shore as well as in other I kindred communities, but I do not forget that its people are of pure, almost unmixed, English descent, and that a certain amount of sectarian prejudice is inseparable from that descent.
"Nor, if sectarian extravagance, which I condemn, no matter from what source it enamates, is to be charged to the people of the Eastern Shore, can it be rationally asserted that it is limited solely to the religious sects predominant on the Eastern Shore.
"I do not know whether Dr. Mitchell. deems the Eastern Shore to be backward in an economic sense or not. He must; for thrift and mental backwardness are rarely found associated. Suffice it to say that the idea is just laughable.
"Some years ago, I took occasion to say, in a public address at Salisbury, that I believed that Salisbury was the biggest town of 10,000 inhabitants in the world. It has a hotel that would be creditable to a population of 100,-000 souls. It has a fire department worthy to be part of a metropolitan organization. Its main street, at time, is so crowded with vehicles that one has to pick his way cautiously across it.
"Few more attractive little towns than Snow Hill, Princess Anne, Cambridge, Easton, Centreville, Chester-town and Denton are to be found anywhere. The fields that surround them bear every evidence of studious and intelligent tilth. Their hotels hold out every measure of comfort that the wayfarer can reasonably expect in centers of their restricted scope. One cannot move along the roads that lead up to them without being struck with the heavy burden of transportation that trucks are unceasingly carrying over these roads; and their well-stocked stores, and the numerous motor cars parker, or in motion, on their streets, are unmistakably indicative of brisk activity.
"I am not a native of the Eastern Shore, but I esteemed it one of the fortunate circumstances of my life that I should have sprung from the same family stocks as its good people. No kinder, more courteous, more hospitable, more intelligent, more moral, more God-fearing people, as a whole, have I ever met. If they have any special infirmities worthy of criticism, these infirmities are so inextricably interwoven with their splendid personal and domestic virtues that I, at least, have no inclination to distinguish the one from the other."
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