Plymouth Notch. Doesn't sound much like a place that would produce a President of these United States, but it did. He was Calvin Coolidge who was born and buried there. Some say the town was like Coolidge...low-key and quiet. It is a beautiful little town looking much like it did a hundred years ago. A call came to him late in the night when he was vice-president. He was at home in Plymouth Notch. President Warren Harding had suddenly died and Coolidge was now President. He needed to be sworn in. There were no judges or officials nearby. Well, there was one, "Silent Cal's" father was a Notary Public, so he swore his son in as President by the light of a coal-oil lamp at 2:30 AM on August 3, 1923.
He came to office during the "Roaring Twenties" much like the last several years of recent time. His leadership was reserved. He was an intelligent man, having graduated from Amherst College with honors. He had served as governor of Massachusetts before being elected Vice-President. Walter Lippman once said that Coolidge's political genius was his talent for effectively doing nothing!
His home was modest in comparison to others who served in this office. I was impressed when I saw his "summer white-house". It was a room above the post office and store. Steep stairs led up to this plain room.
Silent Cal was at a gathering when a young lady next to him said: "Mr. President, I bet I can make you say more than two words." He answered: "You lose.". On another occasion his wife was ailing so he went to church alone. She asked him when he returned, "What did the preacher preach about?". Coolidge answered, "Sin". "Well, what did he say about sin?", she asked. . His answer was: "He's against it.".
He chose not to run for a second full term and retired back to Plymouth Notch. Before he died in 1933 he shared with a friend, "I feel I no longer fit in with these times.".
Some of you who are older, like myself, can relate to that statement. Often I feel I no longer fit in to the frantic, changing, computerized times we live in, but I am here,and we are here at present, and for a purpose. We must never lose sight of that purpose; the purpose God has for us being here. I sat alone for several minutes at Plymouth Notch, looking out over the fields no longer plowed and the barns filled with relics of the past. I saw the apples on trees and lying on the ground. Greater Canada geese felt right at home there. And for a moment I was back in time and could almost see that flickering lamp and the Bible Calvin Coolidge placed his hand on as he took the oath of office for the biggest job in the world.