g has been called as the result of my
having received the following letter. 'James Wintermuth, Esq., and so
forth--I hereby tender my resignation as Vice-President of the Guardian
Fire Insurance Company of New York, to take effect on December
thirty-first or on such earlier date as may suit your convenience.
Signed, F. Mills O'Connor.' That is the letter, and so far as I am
concerned, that closes the matter, except for the vote whereby I ask
you gentlemen to confirm my action in accepting Mr. O'Connor's
resignation--as of yesterday morning."

There was no discussion, and the vote was taken.

"Now," continued Mr. Wintermuth, "the office of Vice-president has been
declared vacant, and I will request your consideration of the filling
of the vacancy. As you know, it has always been the policy of the
Guardian to fill all vacancies, official and otherwise, by the
promotion of its own men. It is my own belief that this is the only
satisfactory and in fact the only honorable system. But Mr. O'Connor's
resignation was so unexpected as to leave us unprepared--perhaps more
so than we should have been--and it now seems as though a deviation
from our usual course might be forced upon us."

He then very briefly acquainted them with the qualities of the men
under O'Connor in much the same way that he had reviewed them in his
own mind. The directors listened in silence. In short, silence was
their only possible attitude, for the contingency which now confronted
them was one which took them wholly by surprise.

"To sum up the situation," Mr. Wintermuth concluded, "there is only one
man now in the employ of the company who is qualified to fill the
vice-presidency, and that is Richard Smith, our present General Agent."

He hesitated. Personally he would have been glad to go farther and
recommend Smith for the position, but in his own mind he was not
convinced of the wisdom of this.

"Isn't he pretty young?" inquired Mr. Whitehill, of Whitehill and
Rhodes, the large real estate operators, who sat at Mr. Wintermuth's
right.

"Yes, he is. I'm afraid he's almost too young," was the frank reply.

"How old is he, anyway?" another director asked.

"Thirty-two or thereabouts, I believe. But he's had good training."

"He won't do," said Mr. Whitehill, tersely. "The man for that job
ought to be more seasoned--at least forty. Don't you agree with me?"

"I'm afraid I do," the President conceded, rather reluctantly. "At
least