We all know the ending of this statment don't we? But do you know who first said it? Our very own Jane McLaren's great-grandfather. I had it as part of my email signature for quite awhile and received many comments, including one from Jane telling me who the author was!
Here's the story: "It was at a naval banquet in Phily. Willard Duncan Vandiver, my great-grand father, was a rep in congress, and a member of the Naval Committee of the 56th Congress. This excerpt was written after the fact and the author seems to have proven my ggf's authorship. My Great-grand father was known as a great orator, of the "rough and ready" type. He looked just like Mark Twain and was often mistaken for him. The saying, I'm from Missouri and you've got to show me, "stands as a protest against shams, pretenses and hypocrisy."
"I'm from the land of corn and cotton and cockle-burrs and democrats, and frothy eloquence neither convinces nor satisfies me. I'm from Missouri, you've got to show me." New York Herald, Sunday April 2nd, 1911, magazine section. THANKS Jane for sharing your famous family connection with us!
So I was behind a car yesterday with 2009 expiring license plates and actually paid attention to the fact that "SHOW ME STATE" is still on the plates; I was thinking how long that's been on the plates when I glanced over at my own 2010 expiration brand new plates lying on the floor of the car & to the bottom of the plate first, and the saying was gone! Upon looking again I saw at the top, in a bit smaller letters, it's STILL there!
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