Blue-grass blade (Lexington, Ky.), January 11, 1903
By JOSEPHINE K. HENRY
Versailles, Kentucky.
Through the Blade I wish to extend my thanks to Capt. Geo. W. Lloyd of New Rochelle, New York, for an art lathe pen staff made from a small twig of the hickory tree that grew out of the grave of philosopher, statesman Thomas Paine. It seems a strange coincidence that this souvenir should drift to me at this late date. My maternal grandfather was forced to seek a home in the United States because his house in Leeds, England, was the rendezvous of the followers of Thomas Paine. The meetings were held in the third story, but the church dignitaries and civil authorities prohibited the meetings and threatened the participants with arrest.
I particularly prize this unique souvenir because my grandfather renounced allegiance to the Church of England and said that the teachings of Thomas Paine were good enough for him, and led on by stern conviction I done the same, and for the reason that the voice of the immortal Paine was the first ever raised in the new world not only for the rights of man, but the rights of women.
I shall ever hereafter use this pen staff in my work for the Blue Grass Blade, hoping that my feeble efforts to secure Liberty and Justice for both women and men may not be wholly useless. If the world would put aside its confusing and conflicting creeds and adopt that of Thomas Paine, “The world is my country, to do good is my religion,” the finer forces of the human heart and brain would impel humanity to higher thinking and nobler living.
Thanks to the New York patriot for this Paine souvenir. May he have a superabundance of love, lucre, liberty and longevity.