Aug. 14, 1910.

 

            Dear Friend Hopkins,—

                                                            Have you ever read Gov. Charles T. O'Ferrall's "Forty Years of Active Service"? It is a readable work, though his proofreader neglected his duty in regard to it. I guess in every that in every case the imperfect tense of lie lie (to recline) is given as "laid" instead of lay "lay". O'Ferrall has lots of company in being downed by that word. On p. 169, I guess that the comma after "or as loyal" belongs after "like Virginia", and on p. 217 "frustrated" should be "flustered".

 

            According to O'Ferrall (pp. 271-272), James E. Cobb's famous express query was "Will you tell me where I am at, Mr. Speaker?" Cobb's speech was made on Apr. 20, 1892 (during the First first session of the 52d Congress). The speech is on pp. 244-250 of the Appendix of the Congressional Record for that session, but the query is not there. The speech was / reserved for revision before it was published in the Record, so I suppose that he Cobb eliminated the query. The newspapers of that time made sport of it the query, and I am inclined to think that the form which they gave to the it query is no was not exactly the same as the form which O'Ferrall gives. It would be easy to find out out by looking at the newspapers themselves.

 

            O'Ferrall thinks that Maryland would have seceded if it had had a free hand (pp. 167-169).

 

            O'Ferrall repudiates the doctrine of the right of secession—prefers to be thinks he was "a rebel", and prefers to be called such rather than a secessionist.

 

            I see that Lincoln got about a dozen votes in Loudoun Co. in 1860, according to the Tribune Almanac of 1861, but this almanac says that the details of Lincoln's vote in Virginia is incomplete, though the State's total vote is stated to be correct.

 

Hastily Yours,

C. W. Lewis.

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