great demands upon him,
and it was decided to cut down his program that day to a Garden Party
in the charming grounds of Government House, and to shelve all
engagements for the next day, Friday, August 29th.

The Prince agreed to the dropping of all engagements save one, and that
was the Public Reception at the City Hall on the 29th. It was the most
exacting of the events on the program, but he would not hear of its
elimination; the only alteration in detail that he made was that his
right hand, damaged at Toronto, should be allowed to rest, and that all
shaking should be done with the left.

The Public Reception took place. The only invitation issued was one in
the newspapers. The newspapers said "The Prince will meet the City."
He did. The whole City came. It was again the most popular, as well
as the most stimulating of functions. And it followed the inevitable
lines. All manner of people, all grades of people in all conditions of
costume attended. Old ladies again asked him when he was going to get
married. Lumbermen in calf-high boots grinned "How do, Prince?"
Mothers brought babies in arms, most of them of the inarticulate age,
and of awful and solemn dignity of under one--it was as though these
Ottawa mothers had been inspired by the fine and homely loyalty of a
past age, and had brought their babies to be "touched" by a Prince,
who, like the Princes of old, was one with as well as being at the head
of the great British family.

And with all the people were the little boys, eager, full of initiative
and cunning. Shut out by the Olympians, one group of little boys found
a strategic way into the Hall by means of a fire-escape staircase.
They had already shaken hands with the Prince before their flank
movement had been discovered and the flaw in the endless queue
repaired. That queue was never finished. Although, on the testimony
of the experts, the Prince shook hands at the rate of forty-five to the
minute, the time set aside for the reception only allowed of some 2,500
filing before him.

But those outside that number were not forgotten. The Prince came out
to the front of the hall to express his regret that Nature had proved
niggardly in the matter of hands. He had only one hand, and that
limited greetings, but he could not let them go without expressing his
delight to them for their warm and personal welcome.

The disappointed ones recognized the limits of human endeavour. His
popularity was