GLAMOUR

The machinery of government is often halted while the chief executive of the State lays a corner stone; but it is very seldom that a busy governor can spare ten minutes of the people's time to write a personal letter of encouragement to a small and unknown invalid. That is what Governor Fuller has done, however, and it is safe to say that little Eddie O'Neil of Attleboro will treasure till his dying hour the card and note that reached him on his fifth birthday.

There is much more in this than a mere act of kindliness and sympathy on the part of an overworked official. It is quite likely that Governor Fuller was actuated by nothing more weighty than the generous impulse of a moment, and that when he had finished his letter, the incident was crowded swiftly from his mind before a press of state affairs. 'It is probable that he will never see the boy to whom he wrote, and equally probable that the boy will never see him.

But all these probabilities will make no difference to Eddie O'Neil. He has received a letter from the Governor's own hand, and that is enough. From now on he is a citizen and a patriot, just as certainly as though astrology were a proved science. In the years to come, others may rail at authority and scoff at law; Eddie will be a constant supporter of the established order. For him the glow of the State House dome will always be more than mere gilt paint, and the majesty of government something less distant than a vaguely imagined, impersonal "they".