while the third was the avowed intention to take no action at the
caucus which could be deferred until the winter convention in America,
when the home brother and the navy could be jointly represented and a
permanent organization could be effected. I say that these things were
evident by midnight of March 15th for those who have attended many
conventions know that from the casual word heard here and there, the
whispered conference of a few leaders, and from the general tenor of
discussions carried on by delegates gathered together in little
groups, the spirit of the body politic is most perceptible.

After the adjournment of the afternoon session on that day, members
of the committees closeted themselves and started work on their
special functions, while those who were to pass on the committee's
actions, the "hoi polloi" were here and there in groups, in the "Y"
huts or in boulevard cafes discussing the real meaning of the
gathering. A colonel in the Officers' Club said there must be no
disagreement on this or that question; a private in the Bal Tabarin
told his buddies the same thing.

And so it came to pass that on the following day in the Cirque de
Paris, where the final meetings were held, the delegates formally
gathered, sensed the gossip of the clubs and boulevards, and acted
accordingly. One of the things done was to endorse the action of the
temporary committee in appointing itself and in calling the caucus.
Another was to adopt a tentative constitution. It is in reality little
more than a preamble, but it gave a working basis, expressing enough
and yet not too much.

Newspaper men have told me that the Sermon on the Mount is the finest
bit of reporting in the history of writing because it tells a long
story succinctly. Lieutenant Colonel Buxton and his committee on
constitutions are certainly entitled to credit of the same type--for
they tell a great deal in a few lines.

[Illustration: Henry D. Lindsley
Temporary Chairman, who presided at St. Louis]

[Illustration: The Paris Caucus
This gathering had no time for official photographers. A half hour
before a session began one slipped in and took this picture with more
than half the caucus delegates absent]

Here's the tentative constitution under which the Legion worked--it
was read by Lieutenant Colonel Bolles:

"We, the members of the Military and Naval Service of the United
States of America in the great war, desiring to perpetuate the
prin