VEST, George Graham, American lawyer: b. Franlcfort, Ky., 6 Dec. 1830; d. Sweet Springs, Mo., 9 Aug. 1904. He was graduated from Centre C,ollege, Danville, Ky., in 1848 and from the law department of Transylvania Col lege in 1853. In the last-mentioned year he re moved to Georgetown, Mo., where he engaged in the practice of law, removing thence to Boonville, Mo., in 1856. He was a member of the Missouri legislature in 18b0-61, and at the outbreak of the Civil War he espoused the cause of the Confederacy. He served in the Confederate army in the summer of 1861, and was elected in that fall to the Confederate Con gress, in which he served for three years. After the War he resumed his law practice, settling at Sedalia, Mo. He was elected to tiie United States Senate in 1879, and was re-elected in 1885, 1890 and 1897. He was prominent as a committeeman in the Senate; earned a national reputation as a debater; and was an aclmowl edged leader in national affairs. He was the last member of the Confederacy to act as a member of Cong.ress. In 1903 physical disabil ity necessitated his retirement from office.
VESTAt the Roman goddess of the hearth identified with the Greek liestia. The worship of Vesta arose from the necessity and difficulty in primitive times of obtaining fire. The cus tom came about of maintaining at some point a perpetual fire for general use, and this was continued after the necessity had ceased. The flame was personified, and associated with the Penates (q.v.) as a deity of the state. Vesta was not represented by any statue in the temple devoted to her honor, but by the symbolic fire kept perpetually burning on the hearth or altar by the vestals, her virgin priestesses. In Rome, on 1 March of every year, the sacred fire and the laurel tree shading her hearth were re newed; on 9 June, the festival called Vestalia was celebrated; and on 15 June her temple was cleansed and purified. Prietors, consuls and dictators, before entering upon their functions, sacrificed at Lanuvium, where the cult was be lieved to have been established first in Italy.