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CHARLESTON, W. Va., April 28 (AP) - Sen. Hubert Humphrey (D-Minn) received a polite, almost hearty ovation at the windup of a 35-minute talk to students at Morris Harvey College.

Then he called for questions from the 400 or so in the auditorium.

Bob Mathis, 18-year-old senior at Charleston High School, stood up.

"Sen. Kennedy."

The audience roared.

Mathis' blush made his dark red sport shirt appear a pale pink.

Humphrey, with a tight grin, waited until the laughter subsided.

"My good friend," Humphrey said, "about 100,000 people in Wisconsin made the same mistake."

Sen. John F. Kennedy (D-Mass) defeated Humphrey by about that margin in the Wisconsin primary April 5. The two meet again in the May 10 West Virginia primary.

Mathis then asked Humphrey whether he thought a candidate's religion should be a factor. Humphrey gave him his stock answer - that a man's religion was his own business.

The Minnesota senator hobnobbed with passersby on the downtown streets of Charleston and greeted workers at two offices Thursday. He leaves Friday morning for a swing through Huntington and Logan, in the southwestern section of the state.

Humphrey told the Morris Harvey group he didn't believe students should be required to take a loyalty oath to qualify for a government - supported scholarship program.

Several universities and colleges have pulled out of the government-backed education aid program because of the oath.

"The foundation of this country must be based on trust," he said. "A man should be considered innocent until he is proven guilty."

Saturday, Humphrey goes to Richwood, in the east-central part of the state, to take part in the annual ramp festival.

A ramp is somewhat of a black-sheep cousin of the onion and wild garlic. You cook them. Its exceptionally forceful odor reports have it - can be so obnoxious that it has caused families to break up for days.

Humphrey has nothing scheduled Sunday and Monday. Perhaps it's just as well.