two spanking dapples which usually drew the hearse
when it was needed. But this was tactfully kept from the President.

There had been some bitterness over the choice of the President's
companions in the carriage, since it was manifestly impossible for the
entire committee of seven to pile into the space of four, though young
Forshay, who had inherited his father's gift of humor, volunteered to
ride on the President's lap or hold him on his.

The extra members were finally consoled by being granted the next
carriage, an equipage drawn by no less than the noble black geldings
usually attached to the chief mourners' carriage.

As the President was escorted to his place he remarked that a
trolley-car was waiting at the station.

"I see that Wakefield boasts an electric line," he beamed.

"Yes," said Pettibone, "that's some of Shelby's foolishness."

A look from Spate silenced him, but the President had not caught the
slip.

The procession formed behind the town band, whose symphony suffered
somewhat from the effort of the musicians to keep one eye on the music
and throw the other eye backward at the great visitor.

"What a magnificent building!" said the President as the parade turned a
corner. Nobody said anything, and the President read the name aloud.
"The Shelby House. A fine hotel!" he exclaimed, as he lifted his hat to
the cheers from the white-capped chambermaids and the black-coated
waiters in the windows. They were male waiters.

"And the streets are lighted by electricity! And paved with brick!" the
President said. "Splendid! Splendid! There must be very enterprising
citizens in Gatesville--I mean Wakefield." He had visited so many towns!

"That's a handsome office-building," was his next remark. "It's quite
metropolitan." The committee vouchsafed no reply, but they could see
that he was reading the sign:

THE SHELBY BLOCK:
SHELBY INDEPENDENT TELEPHONE COMPANY
SHELBY'S PARADISE POWDER COMPANY
SHELBY ARTESIAN WELL COMPANY
SHELBY PASTIME PARK COMPANY
SHELBY OPERA HOUSE COMPANY
SHELBY STREET RAILWAY COMPANY

The committee was not used to chatting with Presidents, and even the
practical Pettibone, who had voted against him, had an awe of him in the
flesh. He decided to vote for him next time; it would be comforting to
be able to say, "Oh yes, I know the President well; I used to take long
drives with him--once."

There were heartaches in the carriage as the President, who commented on
so many thin