Every time the President of the United States gives a State of the Union address I hear in my mind the opening words to The Devil and Daniel Webster by Stephen Vincent Benet:
IT'S A STORY THEY TELL IN THE BORDER COUNTRY, where Massachusetts joins Vermont and New Hampshire.
Yes, Dan'l Webster's dead-or, at least, they buried him. But every time there's a thunder storm around Marshfield, they say you can hear his rolling voice in the hollows of the sky. And they say that if you go to his grave and speak loud and clear, "Dan'l Webster-Dan'l Webster!" the ground'll begin to shiver and the trees begin to shake. And after a while you'll hear a deep voice saying, "Neighbor, how stands the Union?" Then you better answer the Union stands as she stood, rock-bottomed and copper sheathed, one and indivisible, or he's liable to rear right out of the ground. At least, that's what I was told when I was a youngster.
For the Wikipedia, Internet encyclopedia, listing of the short story of "The Devil and Daniel Webster" click on the title above for a link.
