As soon as they could master their Emotions and get control of their Voices, they told Josephine what they thought of her.  They said she made the Good Samaritan look like a Cheap Criminal, and if she would only say the Word they would begin to put Ground Glass into the Food at Home.  Then Josephine called them “Boys,” which probably does not make a Hit with one who is on the sloping side of 48.  More of the Men seemed to awake to the Fact that they were Overlooking something, so they came on the Velvet Foot back to the Dining Room and declared themselves In, and flocked around Josephine and called her “Josie” and “Joe.”  They didn’t care.  They were having a Pleasant Visit.

Josephine gave them Allopathic Slugs of the Size that they feed you in the Navy and then lower you into the Dingey and send you Ashore.  Then she let them go out on the Porch to smoke.  By the time the Lady President came to the last Page there were only two Men left in the Front Room.  One was Asleep and the other was Penned In.

The Women were Huffy.  They went out to make the Men come in, and found them Bunched on the Porch listening to a Story that a Traveling Man had just brought to Town that Day.

Now the Plan was that during the Reception the Company would stand about in little Groups, and ask each other what Books they liked, and make it something on the order of a Salon.  This Plan miscarried, because all the Men wanted to hear Rag Time played by Josephine, the Life-Saver.  Josephine had to yield, and the Men all clustered around her to give their Moral Support.  After one or two Selections, they felt sufficiently Keyed to begin to hit up those low-down Songs about Baby and Chickens and Razors.  No one paid any Attention to the Lady President, who was off in a Corner holding an Indignation Meeting with the Secretary and the Vice-President.

When the Women began to sort out the Men and order them to start Home and all the Officers of the Club were giving Josephine the frosty Good Night, any one could see that there was Trouble ahead.

Next Day the Club held a Special Session and expelled Josephine for Conduct Unbecoming a Member, and Josephine sent Word to them as follows:  “Rats.”

Then the Men quietly got together and bought Josephine about a Thousand Dollars’ Worth of American Beauty Roses to show that they were With her, and then Homes began to break up, and somebody started the Report that anyway it was the Lady President’s Fault for having such a long and pokey Essay that wasn’t hers at all, but had been Copied out of a Club Paper published in Detroit.

Before the next Meeting there were two Factions.  The Lady President had gone to a Rest Cure, and the Meeting resolved itself into a Good Cry and a general Smash-Up.

MORAL:  The only Literary Men are those who have to Work at it.

THE FABLE OF WHY ESSIE’S TALL FRIEND GOT THE FRESH AIR