"The President and I . . . "

C, "You have been nominated for the most important position in the world. Your great ability and your wide experience will enable you to serve our party and our country with marked distinction. I wish you all the success that your heart could desire. May God continue to bestow upon you the power to do your duty."* Calvin Coolidge to Herbert Clark Hoover, via telegraph.

"The President and I send to you and yours our love and best wishes."--Grace Goodhue Coolidge to Lou Henry Hoover, via telegraph.

P: Graciously, President Coolidge desired to accept a return consignment of goodwill brought from Mexico City to Washington by Captain Emilio Carranza, 20, Mexican flying ace. Forced by fog to land at Mooresville, N. C., in his Ryan monoplane, sister ship of the Spirit of St. Louis, Captain Carranza had refused nourishment, had mused: "I guess the people in Washington won't be so glad to see me now and my countrymen won't be so proud of me." President Coolidge determined to provide nourishment and dispel unhappy fears by a public mark of favor. He asked Captain Carranza to lunch.

Unhappiness, lifted from Capt. Carranza, descended upon the White House housekeeper. Hours since had the kitchens been scoured, the house put in order for the summer. She faced the President, spoke the truth: "We have nothing in the ice box, sir." A moment's hesitation, and the President was master of the situation. Said he: "Very well, we will eat out." They lunched at the Pan American Union building.

P: Delayed for two days because Mrs. Coolidge had been ill, the Coolidge Special rolled from Washington, D. C., to Superior, Wis. It was a quiet trip. The President made no back-platform speeches. He did not turn on the radio to listen to the G. O. P. convention.

He left the train at Superior and was driven through the streets in the middle of a small parade of American Legionnaires and police. He reached Cedar Island Lodge on the Brule River, 35 miles away, shortly before noon. Mrs. Coolidge appeared at the lodge 40 minutes later, having stayed on the train until it reached a place called Winneboujou, in order to avoid a long automobile ride.

The President limped no more,* was in a frisky mood, jested with photographers and allowed them to snap him in several positions. "I brought them with me so I wouldn't be lonesome," said he airily flicking his wrist.

Almost before anybody could say "Jack Robinson," the President pulled out a fishing rod and was angling in Brule River from the bridge near the lodge. Then he went to Lake Nebagamon, several miles away; but no one knew which fish he caught, if any.

P: Facing the problem of Sunday worship, President Coolidge had to make a choice. He might go four miles to the Presbyterian Church at Nebagamon, where expectant elders were viewing new and expensive decorations. Or, he might attend the tiny Congregational Church at the Brule crossroads, painted cream-yellow an'd freshly trimmed at the staggering cost (for a congregation of 30) of $800. If he went to Brule, who should have the honor of preaching? Should gray-haired, blind John Taylor, a mere layman, be allowed to fill the pulpit as usual? Or should Brule call upon the Rev. B. Ernest Bayes, ordained pastor from big neighboring Superior?

The President chose Brule and Layman Taylor, arrived promptly to take his place in one of the six rows of pews. Head cupped in hand, Mr. Coolidge listened to straight Fundamentalist doctrine from the gospel of St. John with every mark of attention and interest. He dropped a greenback in the plate. Graciously he took the arm of Preacher Taylor and led him to the waiting photographers.

Later, Preacher Taylor commented briefly: "I have looked upon him as an able President, but I have looked upon him, too, as a worthy Christian gentleman, together with his amiable helpmate." Amiable Helpmate Grace Goodhue Coolidge, indisposed, had remained in camp to tidy her room.

* Commented French Historian Jacques Bainville, last week in Liberte: "The congratulatory message of M. Coolidge to M. Hoover is couched in the language of a pontifical sovereign or a Roman emperor. . . . The Americans are drunk with power."

The Countess of Oxford & Asquith, pleading for higher pay for British Prime Ministers, called their office "world's most powerful."

*Two days before leaving Washington, he had had a blister on his right heel.