FIFTY-SECOND ANNUAL CONVENTION 99 



''Rastus, what do you think of the new minister? Don't 

 you think he made a wonderful prayer?" And the darkey 

 said, **Massa, I sho' do think he made one pow'ful prayer. 

 He suttinly as't de Lawd for t'ings dat de other minister 

 didn't know de Lawd had." (Laughter.) 



The next speaker on this program is Henry Hawkin- 

 son. I think he delivered a lot here in this convention, 

 that the people of Galesburg, even, didn't know he had 

 (Applause.) 



Mr. Henry Hawkinson: Mr. Toastmaster, ladies and 

 gentlemen: I have never been compared with a minister 

 before. I am very happy to be compared in that class; 

 I don't know whether I was the minister or the janitor 

 (laughter). I should have been the janitor, but I am very 

 happy tonight to be placed in the position I am. You will 

 see I come on the program quite early in the evening. Now 

 I am going to say to you at the outset that I have got the 

 advantage of you. You can't pull on me what the lecturer 

 had pulled on him in Paris, Illinois, I think it was, where 

 O'Hair come from, where they had a lecture course — I 

 think it was down there — I wouldn't say positively it was, 

 but as the story goes it was said to be a fact. They had a 

 lecture course down there and there was a fellow that 

 came down there to lecture, and they were all good folks, 

 and the citizens all came in and took seats in the church. 

 They had the lecture, that evening, the house was quite 

 full. The man started out just as these speakers are start- 

 ing out, and what is more, he started out to deliver his 

 lecture which was paid for, which I am not going to be 

 paid for tonight. At that time he had a manuscript to 

 prompt himself — I don't have to, because I am an extem- 

 poraneous speaker. He started to deliver his lecture, and 

 the first thing he knew — there were about as many seats 

 and openings as there are here — the first thing he knew 

 they slipped out one by one, by two's and three's and half 

 a dozen at a time, but the man was going along delivering 

 his speech, doing his best work, and, behold, after he had 

 talked about as long as he could talk, about an hour and a 

 half or two hours, there was only one man left in the 



