oaching you on the subject
while he remained a member of your official family. In this connection I
may state that I would be the last to hamper and embarrass the National
Administration. I feel the force of this remark will be all the more
deeply appreciated when I tell you that, though never actively concerned
in politics, I have invariably voted the Republican ticket on each and
every occasion when the fact that election day had arrived was directed
to my attention.

Secondly--Through similar motives of consideration I studiously
refrained from bringing this recital of events before you during your
correspondence with a certain foreign Power--to wit, Germany--touching
on the course and conduct of hostilities on the high seas. With myself
I frequently reasoned, saying, in substance, this: "Who am I that I
should intrude my own grievances, considerable though they may be, on
our President at this crucial hour when he is harassed by issues of even
greater moment? In the unsettled and feverish state of the public mind,
who can foretell what new complications may ensue should I thrust my own
affairs forward? Shall I do this? No, no; a thousand times no! I shall
restrain myself. I shall stay my hand. I shall wait." You will
understand that I did not go so far as audibly to utter these
sentiments. I merely thought them.

Thirdly--No little difficulty has been experienced in ascertaining the
exact whereabouts of my chief fellow sufferer and co-witness; also in
ferreting out the identities of the principal offenders against us. In
these matters I am able to report progress, but not entirely
satisfactory results. Zeno the Great, it would appear, is a person of
unsettled habitation, being found now here, now there, now elsewhere. At
last accounts he was connected with a travelling aggregation known as
De Garmo Brothers' Ten-Million-Dollar Railroad Show; but since that
organisation fell into the hands of the sheriff at Red Oak Junction,
Iowa, I have been unsuccessful in tracing his movements. Nor can I at
this time furnish you with the names and exact addresses of the bearded
ruffian in the long blue blouse, the porter of the hotel, the warder of
the dungeons, or the others implicated in those culminating outrages of
which I was the innocent victim. Repeatedly have I written the mayor of
the town of Abbevilliers, to the general commanding the French military
forces, and to the President of the Republic of France, demanding the