speech with, 'May
I not,' and the chairman of the meeting will take him at his word and
put it to a standing vote, and it is going to surprise the President how
few people is going to remain seated on the proposition of whether or
not he shall continue to begin letters and speeches with, 'May I not.'"

"Say!" Morris exclaimed. "When we get by mail a cancelation and answer
it, 'Dear Gents, Your favor received,' does that mean we think the
customer is doing us a favor by canceling an order on us? _Oser a
Stuck._ And in the same way, when Mr. Wilson says, 'May I not?' nobody
fools themselves for a minute that the President is asking permission.
That's just a habit us and him got into, Abe, and in fact, Abe, Mr.
Wilson's 'May-I-nots' have always meant that not only was he going to
say what he intended to say, but that he was also going to do it, too.
So, therefore, you take the speech he made at the Gelthall in London,
and--"

"But as I understand your story, Mawruss, he only just arrived in
Dover," Abe said, "so go ahead with your lies, and tell me what happened
next."

"Well," Morris went on to say, "after the mayor of Dover had presented
Mr. Wilson with the Freedom of the City in a gold casket--"

"Excuse me, Mawruss," Abe interrupted, "but what is this here Freedom of
the City that mayors is all the time presenting to Mr. Wilson?"

"I don't know," Morris replied, "except that seemingly a Freedom of the
City always comes in a gold casket."

"Sure, I know," Abe said, "but what does Mr. Wilson gain by all these
here Freedoms of Cities?"

"Gold caskets," Morris replied, "although I think myself that some of
these mayors ain't above getting by with a gold-plated silver casket, or
even a rolled-gold casket, relying on the fact that Mr. Wilson is too
much of a gentleman to get an appraisal, anyhow till he returns to
America."

"Well, if I would be Mr. Wilson, I wouldn't take it so particular to act
too gentlemanly to them mayors," Abe commented, "because I see in the
papers that when the mayor of London presented him with the Freedom of
the City, Mr. Wilson got the Freedom part, but he was told that the
gold casket was in preparation, which I admit that I don't know nothing
about this here mayor of London, but you know how it is when a customer
gets married, Mawruss, and we put off sending him a wedding present till
we could get round to it, y'understand, which we are all human, Mawruss,
and it wouldn't surprise me