sent me word I was wanted at the telephone in Spencer's drug store. I went and found it full of people. In a few words Rev. A. B. Francisco presented the cane. I responded and Rev. W. B. Cobb added a few words and it was over. Next day the Lee's Summit Journal had this to say:

Lee's Summit, Mo., 9:30 a. m., Dec. 25, 1888.

A scene in J. R. Spencer's drug store on the above date. Rev. A. B. Francisco, pastor of the Cumberland Presbyterian church, said: "Mr. Hearne, I have the honor conferred upon me, one of your many friends, of presenting you with this elegant ebony staff, with a gold head. This, sir, is a token of the high esteem and love that the citizens of Lee's Summit hold for you, because of your untiring energy in advancing the public interest of the city and community. The self-sacrificing spirit and devotion to the public interest that you have manifested since you first came here have not been unnoticed or unappreciated on the part of your fellow citizens, and as a token of the fact, I, sir, in the name of the citizens of Lee's Summitt, present you with this elegant cane."

Mr. Hearne was so filled with emotion that for some moments he could not utter a word. He then said: "Brother Francisco, Gentlemen and Friends--I am utterly at a loss to know what to say to you. I thank you, and when I sat that it but faintly expresses the depth of my feeling of thankfulness to you, and the gratification this occasion affords me. I came among you seven years ago a total stranger, and those who have been at all familiar or intimate with me know that I had the most ardent and fond attachments for my old home, my native land and people, and that I loved them dearly. God forbid that I should ever cease to love them; the land that gave me birth, those grand and noble people with whom I grew up to manhood and with whom I associated in after life and spent the best years and efforts of my life. But when fate ordered it that I should leave them and seek a home with you in this goodly land, I determined not to come among you with grievings and pinings for the old land and people, but that I would, as it were, forget them and burn the bridges behind me, and that I would form new associations, and new ties of affection and friendship and like Ruth of old, to adopt your land as my land, your people should be my people, and your interest my interest. That I have succeeded, at least to some extent, is

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Thanks to Catherine Bradford for transcribing this page.