pretend not to notice, as he would pretend
not to notice any infirmity or vanity of yours. It is his vanity to be
still the best shoe clerk in town--as he is. There is a gracious
satisfiedness about the old man that radiates contentment and makes you
comfortable for the time in most uncomfortable shoes. And as old Rudd
says:

"You'll find that the best shoe is the one that pinches at first and
hurts a little; in time it will grow very comfortable and still be
becoming."

That is what Rudd says, and he ought to know.

In these days he is so supremely comfortable in his old shoes that his
own fellow-clerks hardly know what to make of him. If they only
understood what is going on in his private world they would realize that
Eric is about to be married--in the White House. The boy was so busy for
the country and loved his mother so that he had no time to go sparkin'.

But Marthy got after him and said: "Eric, they're goin' to make you
President for the third term. Oh, what's that old tradition got to do
with it? Can't they change it? Well, you mark my words, like as not
you'll settle down and live in the White House the rest of your life.
You'd ought to have a wife, Eric, and be raisin' some childern to
comfort your declining years. What would Will and me have done without
you? I'm gettin' old, Eric, and I'd kind o' like to see how it feels to
be a grandmother, before they take me out to the--"

But that was a word Rudd could never frame even in his thoughts.

Eric, being a mighty good boy, listened to his mother, as always. And
Marthy looked everywhere for an ideal woman, and when she found one,
Eric fell in love with her right away. It is not every child that is so
dutiful as that.

The marriage is to take place shortly and Rudd is very busy with the
details. He will go on to Washington, of course--of evenings. In fact,
the wedding is to be in the evening, so that he won't have to miss any
time at the shop. There are so many people coming in every day and
asking for shoes, that he wouldn't dare be away.

Martha is insisting on Will's buying a dress soot for the festivities,
but he is in doubt about that. Martha, though, shall have the finest
dress in the land, for she is more beautiful even than Eric's bride, and
she doesn't look a day older than she did when she was a bride herself.
A body would never guess how many years ago that was.

The White House is going to be all lit up, and a lot of big folks will
be