478 ADDRESSES AND STATE PAPERS

Boushell, a charter member and past President of the Mountain Road
club. While I never had the opportunity to meet Mr. Boushell, I
understand he was a very special person and I am honored that you
have asked me to participate in this tribute to him.

Although we moved to Annapolis over eight months ago, continuous
pressure has kept me from enjoying my adopted hometown to the
fullest.

In fact, if I believed in omens, after our first twenty-four hours in
Government House, I would have to assume nature did not intend
the Agnew family to reside in Anne Arundel County. We found water
faucets that wouldn't turn on when needed or off when wanted, so
that every shower became a challenging adventure. Then there was
the heating system. Government House had two furnaces that not only
worked independently but in hostility to the system coming in from
the heating plant.

A few months later there was what I can only describe as the "great
Champagne Ball rumble. " Believe me, ladies and gentlemen. I don't
want to be remembered as the Governor who dried out the State
House. It was my feeling that in keeping with its dignity and history,
this stately public building should not be used for social events by one
segment of the population unless opened equally to all for similar
purposes, with or without drinks. But I underestimated the furor this
position would create and I lost the Battle of the Ball on a 2 to I vote
at the Board of Public Works. I stand before you chastened but un-
convinced.

Once we moved to the yacht conditions improved considerably. But
it did take some adjustment to become a living tourist attraction and
accept the intensive scrutiny of all sightseers each time we ventured top-
side or forgot to draw the drapes. Naturally, the plumbing problems,
which I now am convinced are a part of the family, followed us aboard
the Maryland Lady and one thunderstorm this summer caused a flash-
flood which almost made me a moment in history—Maryland's first
Governor to drown in his boat.

Thus I come to you tonight—bloodied but unbowed—and still firmly
convinced that the natives are friendly even if the Evening Capital
sometimes reflects otherwise. As a once quite active Kiwanian and past
club president, I naturally am concerned over my tarnished attendance
record. I definitely would like to improve it and one day when there
isn't a crisis over bridge or beltway, prison or parkland, college or Cam-
bridge, perhaps I can.