I was young and
inexperienced. A day or two after my nomination, Colonel Matson,
who had been in Congress for years, and was a lawyer here at the
time and almost retired, gave me some advice: "Find out where the
coat racks are, where your seat is, and when the Legislature
assembles take your seat and keep still. There will be times when
you will think that you have the exact solution for whatever is
being debated. When you feel this coming on you, get up and get
your hat and walk around the State House, then come back and sit
down and keep still. If you will do that, they will not find out
how ignorant you are. . . I don't want to hear of you taking any
part in the debates your whole first term, I don't want you to
introduce any bills. I just want you to be on the job every day
and every hour, and attend your Committees, and above all else,
keep still."
I followed that advice, I think absolutely, or nearly so.
But there was another side to the matter. . . After the Session
was over, I met a farmer friend who had worked hard for me, and I
asked him if he were pleased with the way I had conducted myself.
He was not. He said: "I thought if we sent a mouthy young lawyer
to the Legislature, he would get some laws through, and we would
hear from him, and he'd be up there doing something.
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