saying: "It's more than just ability and sincerity, Harry. There's
determination and honesty, too."

Matson said, "Amen to that."

Dr. Frank Cannon was just standing there, looking at his brother. There
was a definite look of respect on his face.

Senator Cannon said: "You're all great guys--thanks. But I've got to
get downstairs and make a speech. Ed, get the recording tape out of that
set; I want to make some notes on what he said. And hurry it up, we
haven't got too long."

"No canned speech for you, eh, Jim?" Spanding said.

"Amen to that, too," said Representative Matson as he opened the panel
in the side of the TV set.

* * * * *

From a hundred thousand loudspeakers all over the United States, from
the rockbound coast of Maine to the equally rockbound coast of Alaska,
from the sun-washed coast of Florida to the ditto coast of Hawaii, the
immortal voice of Bing Crosby, preserved forever in an electronic
pattern made from a decades-old recording, told of a desire for a White
Christmas. It was a voice and a tune and a lyric that aroused nostalgia
even in the hearts of Floridians and Californians and Hawaiians who had
never seen snow in their lives.

The other carols rang out, too--"Silent Night," "Hark! The Herald Angels
Sing," "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," "O Little Town of Bethlehem," and
all the others. All over the nation, in millions upon millions of
Christian homes, the faithful prepared to celebrate the birth, the
coming, of their Saviour, Who had come to bring peace on Earth to men.

And in millions of other American homes, the Children of Abraham
celebrated the Festival of Lights--_Chanukah_, the Dedication--the
giving of thanks for the Blessing of God upon the priestly family of
the Maccabees, who, twenty-odd centuries before, had taken up arms
against the tyranny of a dynasty which had banned the worship of
Almighty God, and who, by winning, had made themselves a symbol forever
of the moral struggle against the forces that oppress the free mind of
Man.

The newspapers and television newscasts were full of the age-old "human
interest stories" which, in spite of their predictability--the abandoned
baby, the dying child, the wretchedly ill oldster--still brought a tear
to the eye during the Holiday Season.

As President-elect Cannon slowly made his cabinet appointments, the
announcements appeared, but there was hardly any discussion of them,
much less any hue and