The Mockingbird's Ballad

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"Mrs. Bryan, I'm Mary Louise Stevenson. Pleased to meet you," Lou said as 32 year-old, petite Mary Baird Bryan extended her gloved hand. They stood in the lobby of the Maxwell House three hours after the Bryan rally.

"Is it Mary Louise or just Mary, Ma'am?" responded the candidate's partner in life and work. Her manner was warm and sincere. Lou liked her immediately.

"Well, Mrs. Bryan, it's actually, Lou," said forty-eight-year-old Lou with a reserved smile.

"Then Mrs. Stevenson, please call me Mary, and if you permit I'll call you Lou," instructed the confident small woman.

"Yes, Mrs. Bryan - Mary - I'd be pleased," Lou granted. They stood chatting for a minute - Mary Bryan, small pretty and petite - Lou, tall, thin and plain.

The crowd in the ornate lobby had pretty well thinned and those left were hovering with Mr. Bryan and Bob Taylor. The three had an animated conversation underway with each taking a turn talking and the others nodding their heads. Taylor, the cigar smoker, took care to blow his wicked smelling Cuban away from Bryan, the teetotaler. Solon shared with them the misery and struggle he saw in his annual four month preaching season in Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi.

"The times and people need a better deal," he told them.

"Lou, let's find a table in the restaurant and have some coffee. I've never been fond of tea you know, coffee suits me best," Mrs. Bryan told Lou. "Oh, and this new rage - Maxwell House Coffee - has me intrigued," Mary asserted with the skill of a natural politician. The two spent nearly two hours talking at a neat, white table clothed table in the ornate hotel café. Then Lou and Solon went with the Bryan's down the six blocks to Union Station by trolley to get the north bound for Louisville. When Lou had gone with Mrs. Bryan to the café the twins were allowed to ramble around sight-seeing for a few hours. The twins were instructed to meet Lou and Solon there at six for their trip home. Each was given a fifty-cent piece by their father with the admonition to "not waste it".

The boys thought the whole occasion - ride up on the L & N, trolley from station to just west of Vanderbilt University, the festive rally at the exposition site, exploring the grand hotel while the adults did what adults do, and now a few hours on the town - a great adventure indeed. They went straight down the north side of the Capitol Hill to Sulphur Dell. Finding a way into the empty baseball park they pantomimed pitching and hitting on the same ground of their baseball team, the Nashville "Volunteers". The "Vols" were on the road that Saturday playing a consistent rival, the Memphis "Chickasaws". The Vols were given good coverage in the Nashville Banner and the boys were faithful fans with Uncle Alex tracking their teams' fortunes, good and bad. Jim dreamed of being a speedy shortstop and Joe thought of himself as a wicked left-handed pitcher. The day was balmy and they had a wonderful outing. Lou found and spent time with a new friend and heroine, Solon stood with national and local politicians and gave them his two-cents worth. The twins had had an opportunity to explore a larger, fascinating world. It was a very big day for the Stevensons.