ABSTRACT
A myth tells what one should desire and how to get it; the way people are and how they should be; the reasons why things happen the way they do, especially when they go wrong; myths provide values and meaning and ideas and plans and stratagems and alternative forms of social organization. A myth is a form of pretence, an oversimplified representation of a more complex reality. Invoking the name of Lewis Henry Morgan, a scholar industrious in the collection of fact and ingenious in its interpretation is honored. A man of collegial bent, rejoicing in the company and the conversation of others who, like Morgan himself, took their pleasures in serious discussion of the serious intellectual questions of their day. Thirdly a man is honoured who was deeply involved in the world, as a lawyer, as a man with investments to manage and–from time to time and without great success–as a candidate for and holder of political office.
