Good morning everyone.
Directly from the front steps of the Governor's Mansion here in the city of Austin, the Texas
State Network takes pleasure in presenting another friendly chat with your Governor,
W. Leo Daniel.
How do you do ladies and gentlemen, and hello there boys and girls, this is Governor W.
Leo Daniel of Texas speaking, direct from the front porch of this stately mansion here
in the friendly city of Austin, the capital city of beautiful Texas.
Another fine group of lovely friends has gathered here on the mansion lawn to witness this broadcast,
and we are very happy indeed to have company.
We hope that all you folks in Radioland who can will drop by the mansion someday and pay
us a visit here in our home sweet home.
Thank you boys and friends.
Before getting started on this program I want to make an announcement.
The duties of the Governor's office are so heavy during this world crisis that I have
had little time to devote to the campaign.
In fact the speaking tour I had planned to start last Monday was postponed, at least
temporarily.
In times like this I feel that it is far more important that I stay in my office and do
everything I can to assist the President in carrying out the great defense program, and
that I intend to do regardless of politics.
Politics seems so unimportant as compared with the great world crisis like we are now
witnessing.
I would like to make at least one personal appearance however before the election.
Because there are many things I would like to report to my friends in Texas, and unless
something unforeseen happens I expect to have one grand state rally at Waco on July 2nd
at 8 p.m.
That may be the only appearance I will be able to make before the election.
However if time and conditions will permit there may be other appearances and talks after
that.
Waco is centrally located and I want to invite all who can to come from far and near to Waco
on July 2nd.
That talk at Waco on July 2nd will not be broadcast.
It may be so hot that I would not want to put it on the air.
I want to tell the citizens of Texas a few things that have been going on and want to
look you right square in the face while I make my report to you.
Remember the date, Tuesday July 2nd at 8 p.m. at Waco, Texas.
Be sure to be there.
Bring your dinner and horse feed and stay all day, all night.
You know friends in these days of hurry and scurry and speed and excitement it seems like
this old world has got to going so fast and furious that we're just going around in circles.
Sort of like the fidgety man who rushed out of his home in such a hurry that he forgot
his hat and with his clothes flying in the breeze jumped into his high-powered automobile
and started at breakneck speed in all directions.
We are going at such a rapid pace that we are getting nowhere fast.
Of course there is no chance to change our pace or at least not much chance.
But we do look back in bewilderment sometimes and wonder how in the world folks used to
get anyplace in what is sometimes referred to as the good old days or might I say the
good old horse and buggy days.
Those we try to stand still or sit still long enough to visualize the good old horse and
buggy days as the boys sing an old song by that name which they ran across in their collection
of good old time songs.
Those good old horse and buggy days.
And the countryside we used to ride behind our trusty steed that was long ago but even
so it was a joy indeed to drive along so dately.
I've missed it so much lately when you smiled at me demurely.
You brought gladness to my heart in those good old horse and buggy days.
And I held your hand securely and without it never part in those good old horse and
buggy days.
Many years have hurried by.
Many storms have swept the sky.
One through laughter, tears and sighs.
We're still together you and I.
Now your hair has turned to silver but we're still the same sweethearts.
Those good old horse and buggy days.
When you smiled at me demurely.
You brought gladness to my heart in those good old horse and buggy days.
And I held your hand securely and without it never part in those good old horse and
buggy days.
Many years have hurried by.
Many storms have swept the sky.
One through laughter, tears and sighs.
We're still together you and I.
Now your hair has turned to silver but we're still the same sweethearts.
On those good old horse and buggy days.
Yes sir, thank you boys and those were grand old days and while people did not go so fast
in those good old days yet it seems that they got there just as well if not better than
we do nowadays.
Especially as far as getting to church is concerned.
It seems that getting to church is more a force of habit than it is a matter of speed.
And this can better be illustrated by a little poem entitled Horse Sense which is supposed
to be a true story about a faithful old horse that actually went to church all alone without
a driver.
Incidentally it's not hard for me to believe this story I'm going to read because I know
from experience that an old gentle horse learns the road pretty well after much travel and
does not require a lot of driving.
And as big and fine as they make the shiny easy riding automobiles these days we must
admit they haven't made one yet that will get very far without a driver as old Auburn
did.
And here's the poem titled Horse Sense.
His owner had the custom, a good one I should say, of hitching up and driving off to church
each Sabbath day.
The horse acquired the habit and seemed to really know when Sunday came, just what to
do and where and when to go.
One summer Sunday morning some friends arrived and they, compelled to change their schedule,
stayed home from church that day.
So over to the pasture the faithful horse was led.
They bars put up, they unaware of what was in his head.
Before his master reached the house he out and on the road without a bit of harness on,
no buggy and no load.
He reached the church two miles away, went in the shed and there as was his weekly custom
stood till closing hymn and prayer.
Then backing out in dignity, his Sabbath duty done, went homeward having borne his cross,
his crown was fairly won.
He stood beside the stable door, proud as a horse could be, at the example he had set
there Sunday company.
They saw and everybody heard in regions all around about the horse that went to church,
his piety so sound.
A fabricated story?
No, gospel true.
And hence I tell in verse that horses have a keen intelligence and what is more a moral
worth to mortals somewhat dense, the value of the virtue known to us as good horse sense.
If anywhere in God's wise scheme a heaven for animals is planned, that horse that went
to church alone belongs at his right hand.
And now that we are, have read the little story about horse sense, perhaps we need a
little more horse sense today instead of so much of this other stuff we have.
Maybe if we had more good old Dobbins trotting down the road we could all thumb a ride and
get where we ought to be instead of where we are.
But in the absence of old Dobbin let's do the best we can and imagine we are now back
at that little old church, that little old country church where old Dobbin went all alone
in that little old church in the valley.
In the little old church in the valley, where I first learned of sorrow and joy,
I can see Mother there with her head bowed in prayer,
As she prayed for her wandering boy.
It was there that I first met my Sally, Like an angel on earth, for it seemed,
As she sang sweet and low, in the long, long ago, In the little old church of my dreams.
That little old church, I remember it well.
I think of it yet and can most hear the bell that hung in the top of its belfry so tall
and sent forth its peals all the people to call.
And the good folks would come from miles all around to list to the preacher the gospel
expound.
Some came in buggies, some in wagons and hacks, and tied up their horses to old hitching racks.
The women brought baskets all laden with food and we all ate together and say, wasn't it
good?
In big meeting time when the weather was warm, we had a brush arbor and the crowd sure would
swarm.
The boys brought their sweethearts, they all liked to sing,
And the sound of their voices to heaven would ring.
When little folks nodded and babies would weep, the mothers made pallets and put them
to sleep.
In this little church all our young folks were wet, and outside in the graveyard we
buried our dead.
The men folks who didn't have tailor-made suits, they just came in their jeans and a
pair of work boots, cotton dresses and hose, a sun bonnet too, anything clean and neat
for the women would do.
For it wasn't a question of what you should wear, the thought uppermost was the preaching
and prayer.
In the little old church in the valley, where I first learned of sorrow and joy, I can see
Mother there with her head bowed in prayer, as she prayed for her wandering boy.
It was there that I first met my Saviour, like an angel on earth, oh it seems.
As she sang sweet and low, in the long, long ago, in the little old church of my dreams.
Thank you boys and friends, while we are in fancy in that little old church, let's again
listen to some of the old time songs that we used to hear there.
Let's start out with one that is familiar to most everybody, Shall We Gather at the
River.
Shall we gather at the river, where bright angels' feet have trod, with its crystal
tide forever, flowing by the throne of God.
Yes we'll gather at the river, the beautiful, the beautiful river, gather with the saints
at the river, that flows by the throne of God.
On the margin of the river, washing up its silver spray.
On the river lay we every burden down, grace our spirits will deliver, and provide a robe
and crown.
Yes we'll gather at the river, the beautiful, the beautiful river, gather with the saints
at the river, that flows by the throne of God.
Friends I surely do appreciate the many fine letters that you folks in Radio Land write
in about these Sunday programs.
I am glad that they seem to please so many of our listeners, and we are mighty glad to
sing the numbers that you folks suggest in your letters.
The next song is one for which we have received so many requests lately, a very consoling
song at this particular time, Whispering Hope.
Hope with a gentle persuasion, Whispers her comforting words,
Wait till the darkness is over, Wait till the tempest is done,
Hope for the sunshine tomorrow, After the shower is gone.
Whispering hope, Oh how well from God, Welcome my heart,
Making my heart, Making my heart, In its sorrow rejoicing.
If in the dusk of the twilight, Dim be the region of fall,
Will not the deepening darkness, Brighten the glimmering stars,
Then when the night is upon us, Why should the heart sink away,
When the dark midnight is over, Watch for the breaking of day.
Whispering hope, Oh how well from God, Welcome my voice,
Making my heart, Making my heart, In its sorrow rejoicing.
Amen.
Dear friends, in these trying times when there appears to be so many enemies and it is so
difficult to know definitely just who our friends are, it is comforting to know that
we have one friend on whom we can always rely.
What a friend we have in Jesus.
All our sins and grief to bear.
What a privilege to carry, Everything to God in prayer.
Oh what peace we offer and forfeit, Oh what needless pain we bear.
All because we do not carry, Everything to God in prayer.
Have we trials and temptations, Is there trouble anywhere,
We should never be discouraged.
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
When we find a friend so faithful, Who will all our sorrows share.
Jesus knows our every weakness, Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Are we weak and heavy laden, Compered with a load of care,
Pressure Savior still our refuge, Take it to the Lord in prayer.
To thy friends despise forsake thee, Take it to the Lord in prayer.
In his arms he'll take and shield thee, Thou will find us, hold us there.
Friends it is becoming more and more apparent to most everybody daily, that we as a nation
have been somewhat negligent with respect to keeping prepared for the defense of our
country.
It seems that we were somewhat complacent and felt a sense of security which must have
been based on confidence in some other nation fighting for our protection.
Almost in the twinkling of an eye we are suddenly awakened to the fact that although we thought
we were living in a fast age and traveling a rapid pace and keeping up with the modern
swing, yet we instead appear to have been somewhat asleep.
We had sort of forgotten the admonition and the practical examples set by our forefathers
in keeping our powder dry.
And while we are now so abruptly awakened in that respect, is it not proper that before
we get another jolt that we recall some admonitions of our forefathers with reference to keeping
our religious lamps trimmed and burning, especially should we refresh our memory of what George
Washington, the father of our country, said about it.
Nobody can deny that George Washington lived in the horse and buggy age.
Nobody can deny that he had common sense which we now refer to sometimes as horse sense.
Here is what George Washington said in his farewell address, quote, morality is a necessary
spring of popular government.
Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion.
Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar
structure, reason and expression both forbid us to accept that national morality can prevail
in exclusion of religious principle, unquote.
That my friends was the admonition of George Washington, the father of our country, the
father of America, the beautiful.
Oh, beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain, for purple mountain majesties
above the fruited plain, America, America, God shed his grace on thee, and crown thy
good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea.
Oh, beautiful for pilgrim feet, though stern in passion's dress, a thoroughfare for freedom
be across the wilderness, America, America, God mend thine every flaw, confirm thy soul
in self-control, thy liberty in law.
And so my friends in these dark hours of world crisis, here in America, the beautiful, let's
return to some of the fundamentals upon which happiness and prosperity are built.
The fundamentals taught in the Bible, the teachings of Christ, the same rules and teachings
which were also recommended by George Washington and our forefathers, the only enduring principles
which civilization has evolved and which time has proven sound and true.
While our nation spends billions of dollars for our defense and protection, let us, figuratively
speaking, get off the soft cushions and rubber tires and off the smooth gliding detours that
have been getting us nowhere fast and swing onto the old horse and buggy at a slower gate.
On the bumpy road, yes, so bumpy that it will keep us awake.
And if we are short on horse sense ourselves, old Dobbin, good old Dobbin with his horse
sense will get us to church at least in time to hear the sermon.
That's what we need, the sermon.
Go to the church of your choice every Sunday, friends, and listen to the preacher.
This is Governor W.E.O. Daniel of Texas speaking.
Goodbye.
From the front steps of the Governor's Mansion here in the city of Austin, the Texas State
Network has presented another friendly chat with your Governor, W.E.O. Daniel.
The views and opinions expressed by the speaker on this broadcast were his own and do not
necessarily reflect those of this network or the station to which you're listening.
Yours truly, Conrad Vernon.
This broadcast originates through facilities of KNOW, this network's affiliate for the
state capitol in Austin.