o honest man would
deserve, _and that no brave man will wear!"_

Mr. Lamar was one of the most absent-minded of men. A number of
years ago, by invitation of the Faculty, he delivered an address
to the graduating class of Centre College, Kentucky. The day
was quite warm, the exercises somewhat protracted, and, at the
close of his able and eloquent address, he was very much exhausted.

An excellent collation, prepared by the ladies connected with
the College, was served in the chapel near by, at the close of the
exercises. Seated upon the platform, with Mr. Lamar at the head
of the table, were Doctor Young, the President, Justice Harlan,
Governor Knott, the Rev. Doctor Bullock, Chaplain of the Senate,
Judge McCormick, and others.

At the plate of each guest a large tomato was in readiness and,
excellent itself, was, moreover, the earnest of better things to
come. Immediately upon being seated, Mr. Lamar "fell to" and,
wholly oblivious of the surroundings, soon made way with the one
viand then in visible presence. Just as its last vestige disappeared,
the President of the College arose and, with a solemnity eminently
befitting the occasion, called upon Doctor Bullock to offer thanks.
Deeply chagrined, Mr. Lamar was an attentive listener to the
impressive invocation which immediately followed. At its conclusion,
with troubled countenance, he turned to Knott and said, "I am
humiliated at my conduct. I should have remembered that Presbyterians
always say grace before meals, but I was very hungry and exhausted,
and the tomato very tempting; I have really disgraced myself." To
which Knott replied, "You ought not to feel so, Mr. Justice; the
blessing of Doctor Bullock's was broad and general; in large measure
retrospective as well as prospective. It reminds me of a little
incident that occurred on the 'Rolling Fork.' An old-time deacon down
there was noted for the lengthy blessing which at his table was
the unfailing prelude to every meal. His hired man, Bill Taylor, an
unconverted and impatient youth, had fallen into the evil habit of
commencing his meal before the blessing thereon had been fully
invoked. The frown and rebuke of the good deacon were alike
unavailing in effecting the desired reform. Righteously indignant
thereat, the deacon, in a spirit possibly not the most devout,
at length gave utterance to this petition, 'For what we are _about
to_ receive, and for what William Taylor _has already_ received,