“It is to be hoped that the patriotic Samuel Gompers will not abandon his pursuit of Williamism even after the war ends. “The big point of the whole thing is this: One day the Leatherhead Monarch, came into this office, closed the door behind him, sat down beside me and said: “'Mr. Potter, I see that I have the intellect of an idiot. What shall I do to be saved?' “At last he had learned something--a really serviceable and important fact--and he had learned it not by success but by failure.” As he approached his climax, Mr. Potter had shown a little annoyance at the arrival of the waiter and the hash and the eggs and the pie. Mr. Potter rose, stood his rifle in a corner and said: “I regret that my climax and this wandering Ganymede with his load of hash should have arrived at the same moment.” The waiter spread the table in front of the fireplace. Mr. Potter put a coin in his hand and pointing at the door said: “Go hence and come not back until to-morrow.” He placed chairs by the table and we sat down. “Is this pie, apple, that I see before me the handle toward my hand?” he playfully remarked, as he lifted a firm built piece of pie in his hand and began to eat it in the old fashion. “Bread may be the staff of life, but pie is the light in its windows. I don't want to be hurried by its invitation, so I guess I'll get it out of the way.” CHAPTER III.--WHICH PRESENTS THE STORY OF THE SMOTHERED SON Our dinner over, Mr. Potter put a new log on the fire. Then we set the table aside and lighted our cigars. “There is another sector in the line of the Williamites that is pretty thoroughly dug in,” said the Honorable Socrates, as he put his feet upon the fender and leaned back comfortably in his chair. “Let me tell you the story of THE SMOTHERED SON. “She was a Williamistic widow--the relict of the late Samuel Butters. “She was also a Shrimpstone, of Kalamazoo. My friend, why do you sit there in cold indifference when I mention a fact so inspiring?” “Who were the Shrimpstones?” I inquired. “The Shrimpstones! Jiminy crickets! Is it possible that you are not familiar with the fame of Joshua Shrimpstone?” “I have to plead guilty,” was my answer. “To tell you the truth, so do I,” he went on, “but my own ignorance never surprises me. There is so much of it that a little more or less does not matter. It is the ignorance of so many of my fellow countrymen regarding this important subject that fills me with pity and astonishment. I have never met a man who could give me the slightest information regarding the Shrimpstones.