Note 49 — Chapter Twenty-nine

So far as any of us seem to remember, David as a child did not display propensity for public speaking. I do recall time and time again seeing him, under strain or nervousness, use his famous arm-plunging gesture. I particularly recall once, his running to me, over a really terrible incident that had to do with his dog Teddy and my son. His dramatic pantomime, as he tried to tell me that story, matches up with some of his subsequent performances from the platform. But as a growing boy, it is fair to say that my brother gave no prophecy whatsoever of the oratorical force which was to penetrate his country to the core.

It was with an amazement that bordered upon actual incredulity, that Phil and I sat in the little spectators’ gallery, the first year of his election to state senate and heard him deliver a ringing and inspired plea for a lowly sewerage-bill, that somehow, by his presentation, he made magnificent in its scope.