support for our legitimate interests!"
--_An Appeal to King Leo_.

The sifting of St. Peter
Seems quite credible to me,
When I see what's done to absentees
At our Society!
--_Annals of Sorosis_.

Any business man will be able to appreciate the difficulties which
beset the president of the Brassfield Oil Company, on the discharge of
Mr. Stevens. On the morning after the lodge meeting, behold Mr. Amidon
at his desk, contemplating a rising pile of unanswered letters. His
countenance expresses defeat, despair and aversion. His politeness
toward Miss Strong is never-failing; but that he is not himself grows
more and more apparent to that clear-headed young woman.

"Here's the third letter from the Bayonne refinery," she said. "An
immediate reply is demanded."

"Oh, yes," said Amidon; "certainly; that has gone too long! We must
get at that matter at once: let me see the contracts and
correspondence."

"That is the business," said Miss Strong, "which they claim to have
arranged with you in a conversation over the long-distance 'phone.
That's what seems to be the matter with them--they want to make a
record of it."

"I don't remember---- Well," said Amidon, "lay that by for a moment.
And this piece of business with the A. B. & C. Railway. Who knows
anything about this claim for demurrage?"

"Mr. Stevens," said Miss Strong, "had that in hand, and said he told
you all about it before you went away, and that you were going to see
about it in----"

"In New York, I suppose!" exclaimed Amidon. "Well, I didn't. Can't
you and Mr. Alderson take up this pile of letters and bring 'em to me
with the correspondence, and--and papers--and things? I've been too
lax in the past, in not referring to the records. I must have the
records, Miss Strong, in every case."

"Yes, sir," said Miss Strong; "but since we adopted that new system of
filing, I don't see how the records can be made any fuller, or how you
can be more fully acquainted with them than you now are----"

"Not at all," asseverated Mr. Amidon. "I find myself uncertain as to a
great many things. Let's have the records constantly."

"Yes, sir, but these are cases where there isn't anything. Nobody but
you and Mr. Stevens knows anything about them."

"Well, I can't answer them now," protested Mr. Amidon. "I've a
headache! My--my mind isn't clear--is confused on some of these
things; and they'll all have to wait a while.