His possession was momentary, for Mrs. York
recaptured it in true York style. Her smiling face and nodding head told
that the Governor had capitulated. It was pantomime, for the thousands
were on their feet waving to her and cheering her. Calm and still
smiling, she looked over the demonstration in the vast auditorium more
as a spectator than as the cause of the outburst of applause. Later, at
the reception at the Governor's mansion, guests gathered around her and
she held a levee that crowded one of the big drawing-rooms. Those who
sought to measure wit with her found her never at a loss for a reply,
and woven through her responses were many similes drawn from her
mountain life.
Under her proctorship the moral courage of her son had developed. In her
code of manhood there was no tolerance for infirmity of purpose, and
mental fear was as degrading and as disintegrating as physical
cowardice. He had been a man of the world in the miniature world that
the miles of mountains had enclosed around him. He had lived every phase
of the life of his people, and lived them openly. When he renounced
drinking and gambling he was through with them for all time. When he
joined the church, his religion was made the large part of the new plan
of his life.
It was while at Camp Gordon that he reconciled his religious convictions
with his patriotic duty to his country.
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