ry them
bottom up, you know.

"But you ask how I like it? I would never admit it before Jerry,
because the good fellow expects more of me than I am able to fulfill,
but as a matter of fact this is hardly a one-man job. There ought to be
at least seven of us, each to go on duty one day a week. No--you see,
being a kind of government museum, I don't even get Sundays off because
lots of people can only get here that day. Next after Mount Vernon and
Independence Hall, I get more visitors than any other national shrine.
And almost all of them expect me to have a go at their favorite drink
while they're watching me. Being what you might call the most public
spirited man in the country, I have to oblige them as much as possible.
But I doubt whether I shall be a candidate for reelection.

"I think the government has rather overestimated my capacity," he
continued. "They import a shipload of stuff from abroad every month,
and send an auditor here to check over my empties. I've been hard put
to it to get away with all the stuff. I've had to fall back on your old
plan of using wine to irrigate the garden. It's had rather a
dissipating effect on the birds and insects, though. Really, you ought
to spend an evening here some time. The birds sing all night long: they
have to sleep it off in the morning. A robin with a hang-over is one of
the funniest things in the world."

"We saw one!" cried Theodolinda. "He was more than hanging over--he had
fallen right off!"

"There's a butterfly here," said Bleak--"Rather a friend of mine, who
can give a bumble bee the knock-out after he gets his drop of rum. I've
seen him chase a wasp all over the lot."

From the temple came the sound of chimes striking twelve, and down in
the valley they heard the whistle of a train.

"There's the excursion train leaving Souse Junction," said Bleak. "I
must get back to the bar!"

They returned to the shrine, and Bleak entered his little enclosure.

"Jerry," he said, "the crowd will soon be here. I must get busy. What
do you recommend?"

"Better stick to the Scotch," said Jerry, and put the decanter on the
mahogany. Bleak drank two slugs hastily, and turned to his friends with
an almost wistful air.

"Come again and stay longer," he said. "I see so many strangers, I get
homesick for a friendly face." He called Quimbleton aside. "Does Mrs.
Quimbleton keep up her trances?" he whispered.

"Not recently," said Virgil. "You see, in South America there w