nd that they
not only were continually asking him to dinner (he usually timed his
visit so as to catch them just as they were entering the dining-room)
but insisted on giving him letters of introduction to their friends.

Only Mrs. Abraham Lincoln and Ralph Waldo Emerson neglected to register
extreme pleasure at being approached by the smiling lad. Both Mrs.
Lincoln and Emerson were failing in their minds at the time, however,
which satisfactorily explains their coolness, at least for the author.
In Mrs. Lincoln's case an attempt was made to interest her in an
autographed photograph of Gen. Grant. But "Edward saw that the widow of
the great Lincoln did not mentally respond to his pleasure in his
possession." Could it have been possible that the widow of the great
Lincoln was a trifle bored?

The account of the intrusion on Emerson in Concord borders on the
sacrilegious. Here was the venerable philosopher, five months before his
death, when his great mind had already gone on before him, being visited
by a strange lad with a passion for autographs, who sat and watched for
those lucid moments when then sun would break through the clouded brain,
making it possible for Emerson to hold the pen and form the letters of
his name. Then young Edward was off, with another trophy in his belt and
another stride made in his progress toward Americanization. Lovers of
Emerson could wish that the impersonal editor of these memoirs had
omitted the account of this victory.

* * * * *

Americanization seems, from the present document, to consist of, first,
making as many influential friends as possible who may be able to help
you at some future time; second, making as much money as possible (young
Edward used his position as stenographer to Jay Gould to glean tips on
the market, thereby cleaning up for himself and his Sunday-school
teacher at Plymouth Church), and third, keeping your eye open for the
main chance.

In conclusion, nothing more fitting could be quoted than the touching
caption under the picture of the author's grandmother, "who counselled
each of her children to make the world a better and more beautiful place
to live in--a counsel which is now being carried on by her
grandchildren, one of whom is Edward Bok."

Could detachment of author and hero be more complete?

XLIII

ZANE GREY'S MOVIE

The hum of the moving-picture machine is the predominating note in "The
Mysterious Ride