t know. Since you are
acquainted with Marshall and McGuire you may know some of the
others. And Mr. Hale, I recall you young men were being facetious
at the entrance of this country in the World War over the names of
men recruited into the average company or regiment; you regarded
them as distinctly un-American names. That was rather amusing to
us old veterans, amusing for reasons that perhaps most young
persons would not understand. Just what is an American name?

"Now I am going to run over the names of the men who are on the
porch beside us three. Stand by, Mr. Hale!"

With a faint twinkle, he rattled off the following:

"Vasiliewski, Rochambeau, LaRoque, Goldberg, Tonti, Ross, Thomas,
Fletcher. And"--There was a pause, a break. The twinkle in the
fine eyes was gone. The features of the three turned grave. He
concluded his sentence haltingly:

"--Three are not here. They are--Schurman, Miller and Wrigley. But
come along, I will introduce you."

Jimmy was puzzled over the fact that, in varying form, the other
members of the group expressed astonishment at a member of the
staff of a New York paper being there. The venerable insurgent,
former speaker of the House, present United States Senator Frank
Ross, after a swift glance at Justice Higginbotham, blurted out:

"From the staff of the Eagle you say, Mr. Hale. How could you know
in time--"

He cast a startled look in the direction of Justice Higginbotham.
Senator Ross subsided, uneasily.

Mr. Marshall ended the painful scene. He addressed the entire
group:

"Gentlemen, we all know, of course, that the modern newspaper man
is not a peeping Tom, an impertinent individual, who pries into
the affairs of others. Mr. Hale honorably represents an honorable
profession. I have known him personally for a number of years and
I'll vouch for him. He was sent here by his city editor to cover
our reunion. That he comes here at such an unfortunate time is a
coincidence. We may speak to him frankly. We are perhaps
exaggerating and magnifying what is at worst only a normal thing
in the lives of old men. We have all lived our lives and death is--"
He paused and at several nods from members of the group he turned
to Jimmy.

"You come at an unfortunate time, Mr. Hale. Fourteen men were to
have gathered here for our reunion. At all our reunions all our
members are either present or in some way accounted for. When, for
some reason any one of us is unable to come, there is an a