"That's as true as Gospel, Mr. Rattlinger--at least as far as I am concerned; and I wish, as a representative of the moral force (supposedly so) to confess right here, that I have not done my whole duty with regard to our Independence Day peril; for while I have lost no opportunity of warning my church people against it, I feel that I have done very little outside of the church and ought to repent, not exactly in sack-cloth and ashes, but by doing double duty hereafter--working outside of the church as well as in it. I therefore propose that a notice be drafted prohibiting the selling or giving away of any kind of explosives to any person within the corporation and that said notice be printed and posted up early tomorrow morning in all of the most conspicuous places. I don't know as to the legal efficiency of such a notice in suppressing the nuisance at once, but I think it would help very greatly. Am I right, Mr. President." "In view of the shortness of time and more especially of the ease with which prohibitory laws are evaded," replied the President, "I propose that instead of a prohibitory notice there be a short but stirring appeal to the people, one and all, to refrain from buying, selling, using or giving away any of the iniquitous Fourth of July implements. According to the doctrine of love and trust that I have been taught, a good strong appeal is far ahead of prohibition. Prohibition savors of tyranny and kingliness. It is American bossism. It is squarely against human nature. Tell a child he shan't do a thing and impose a heavy penalty, and he is sure to do it, if possible. It's the same with children of a larger growth and more especially so with the makers of millions. They care nothing for fines and even imprisonment is being made delightful for them; but they have a lot of human nature in them and they can be ruled by love as well as the rest of humanity. "As to Millionaire Schwarmer we should love him for the good he _might do_, and probably _would_ do, had he been brought up and educated in an Ideal Town and under an Ideal Government. We should love _him_ and hate his _fireworks_ and rid ourselves of them as soon as we can get hold of the infamous things. I see that Editor Parnell is present. I think he could get up the right kind of an appeal--an appeal that would be so truly loving that it would reach every heart and yet be as urgent as it possibly can be without antagonizing the will. We would like to hear from him at all events." The editor replied "that he did not come to express his own opinions but to report and publish the opinions of others, but he would say that he thought the President's idea of an appeal in place of prohibition was an excellent one; and since he had given such a luminous idea of it, he was willing to undertake it and would make it as urgent as possible without distancing the party for whom it was chiefly intended."