. Congressman Pumphrey, the people's friend. put neat name-cards, with hand-painted flowers on them,at each plate. Little red, white and blueelectric bulbs imparted quite an orientaleffect to the room. At eight oclock the guests were to ar-rive. It seemed kind of late to start a din-ner, but Louey said that was the proper45 CONGRESSMAN PUMPHREY hour for Washington. At six we were alldressed and ready, and at six-thirty thecalamity happened. It arrived in theshape of old Simon Jordan and his wife,just in from Minerva Junction to see thesights in Washington. We wanted to surprise you, they an-no
. Congressman Pumphrey, the people's friend. put neat name-cards, with hand-painted flowers on them,at each plate. Little red, white and blueelectric bulbs imparted quite an orientaleffect to the room. At eight oclock the guests were to ar-rive. It seemed kind of late to start a din-ner, but Louey said that was the proper45 CONGRESSMAN PUMPHREY hour for Washington. At six we were alldressed and ready, and at six-thirty thecalamity happened. It arrived in theshape of old Simon Jordan and his wife,just in from Minerva Junction to see thesights in Washington. We wanted to surprise you, they an-nounced joyfully, and so we didnt tele-graph. Were nearly starved, they said,and whenever youre ready we are. Itold them I was glad to see them. In fact,I said it over and over again. It was theonly thing I could say. In the meantime I was doing some en-ergetic thinking. You see, old Simon isthe editor of the paper that has been sup-porting me for years. He is the originalPumphrey man. Hes the strongestfriend I have in Minerva Junction, and46. At six-thirty the calamity happened. It arrived inthe shape of old Simon Jordan and his wife, just infrom Minerva Junction to see the sights in Wash- THE PEOPLES FRIEND his paper can swing an election any wayit wants to. So I got them registered and went tohave an executive session with my was in tears. Theyll spoil the dinner entirely, shecried. Simon Jordan never wore a dress-suit in his life, and his wife doesnt drinkanything but milk. Shell be sure to askfor it. It was a crisis with a capital K, Ihated to turn down an old friend, but mywife insisted that they should not be al-lowed to come to the table. So after astormy interview I finally sent out mes-*sengers to the guests saying that the din-ner was called off on account of illness inthe family. If Simon Jordan finds it out Ill not get49
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