The Secretary of State announced the official figures of the vote
electing Varden Waymouth as Governor, and after his sonorous final
phrase, "God save the State of ------," Governor Waymouth repeated the
oath of office administered by a gaunt, sallow lawyer who was the
president of the Senate.
The clerk of the House set a reading-desk on the Speaker's table and
arranged the Governor's manuscript. As the old man read he made a
striking picture. He stood very erect. His snowy hair, the empty sleeve
across his breast, the lines the years had etched on cheeks and brow
gave those who looked on him a little thrill of sympathetic regret that
one so old should be called from the repose of his later years to take
up such public burdens as he had assumed. But his voice was resonant,
his eye was clear. Nature seemed to have given him new strength to meet
what he was now facing. And yet, thought some of those who listened, it
might be that he did not propose to make a martyr of himself, after all.
His address did not threaten or complain.
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