Rain

Thick grey curtains of rain descended upon the northwestern corner of Wisconsin. All week they brushed the forests, slowly, monotonously. Everything dripped and the rust-colored road from Lake Superior to small Brule, the inland riverbank settlement, developed treacherous potholes despite the thousands of dollars Wisconsin had just spent to make it a safe road for a President to travel. An Army truck transporting mail-of-state foundered and tipped over. A light passenger car transporting a heavy, round-shouldered figure out of the dismal wilderness, slithered into a rut, stuck, had to be dragged out by horses.

The round-shouldered man was William Morgan Butler, outgoing chairman of the National Republican Committee. After leaving the dais at Kansas City, he had fulfilled his duty by calling on the holder of "the most important position in the world."-In the wet woods, on an island, in a cabin, beside a fire, they had discussed politics scarcely at all, Mr. Butler said. They had talked about fishing. They had gone fishing. Mr. Butler had caught some fish. He would not tell whether President Coolidge had caught any. He was going to Boston. The rain continued.

After Mr. Butler had gone, the Summer White House issued an announcement: President Coolidge had caught six fish, including a Loch Laven trout weighing 1 3/4 Ibs. and a Rainbow trout weighing 1 1/4 Ibs.

The Wisconsin conservation commission had appointed John La Roque, a half-breed (Chippewa-French) several years older than Calvin Coolidge, to be the official Coolidge fishing guide. Newsgatherers, barred from the damp fastnesses of the Cedar Island estate by iron gates and soldiers, got hold of Guide La Roque and questioned him. Thus spoke the red man:

"He uses dry flies and worms. He catches about fifty-fifty with the two baits. He fishes in the lakes and in the river and he catches the trout both places. He doesn't talk very much, just when necessary. He never gets at all excited when he takes a good fish. He's fine that way."

The newsmen further learned that the Coolidge fishing costume was as follows: last year's Western (high-heeled) boots, khaki trousers, khaki shirt, slicker, last year's Western ("ten-gallon") hat.

The rain turned to warm fog, then back to rain. President Coolidge did not visit his office in the high school at Superior. Col. Lindbergh was reported flying to Brule from Madison, Wis., but he flew on over, landed at St. Paul. One newsgatherer got desperate and hired Carl Miller, a nephew of Guide La Roque, to paddle him seven miles down the Brule from a place called Stone Bridge. Past beaver houses, mink holes, deer licks, naked rampikes, swarms of mosquitoes and a military outpost, who carefully examined the voyageurs, the newsgatherer came to a thin hedge screening the river from a lake which it entered. Across the lake was a log cabin with a wet U. S. flag hanging over it. On the lake was a guide boat with a chair in it. In the chair sat a figure in a slicker and ten-gallon hat. He was watching trout come to the surface to snatch morsels of liver, their semiweekly rations. The surface of the lake was grey, desolate, broken. It was still raining.

Between acts, thoughts, dreams of fishing, President Coolidge gave his attention to an irreducible minimum of other matters.

P: President and Mrs. Coolidge again attended blind John Taylor's Sunday service at the First Congregational Church of Brule. Another worshipper who arrived late was Governor Theodore Christiansen of Minnesota. After service, President Coolidge had driven away before Governor Christiansen came out, so they did not meet and greet. Governor Christiansen said: "But the President saw me and nodded. He nodded very pleasantly as he passed down the aisle."

P: The Department of Justice reported fully, and unfavorably, on the cases of three young men who killed a District of Columbia policeman. President Coolidge read the report, refused clemency. Accordingly, in Washington, one Nicholas Lee Eagles, 32, was led to the electric chair. "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?"* he wailed. Next went John Proctor, 19, semiconscious, groaning. Last went Samuel Moreno, 20, who flipped away a cigaret and kissed a crucifix just before sitting down in the chair. It was Washington's first triple execution since the hanging of Mrs. Surratt and the accomplices who plotted with her to assassinate President Lincoln in 1865.*

P: Mrs. Coolidge went to a beauty parlor in Superior, Wis., for a shampoo, marcel, manicure, facial treatment. A crowd of 2000 gaped outside the door but saw nothing.

P: On a siding in Superior, 35 miles from the lodge, a special train kept steam up night and day lest it be necessary for Mrs. Coolidge to hurry to her invalid mother in Northampton, Mass. Railroad officials worked out a schedule of 32 hours for the run.

P: Interviewed last week about his plans, John Coolidge said: "I'm to see my father. . . . He may have some ideas. He told me he'd like to talk things over pretty soon."

P: In the huge saga of pleasantries which has grown up about Calvin Coolidge, there is observable a tendency to characterize the President as a sly sport and a man of wit. This tendency was exhibited in a charming though possibly scandalous item contributed last fortnight by Editor Burris Atkins Jenkins to his "Journal of Progressive Religion," The Christian. The item:

"Miss Ethel Barrymore told me this story. She was at luncheon at the White House, with the President and Mrs. Coolidge at the ends of the table and quite a number of guests, when a housemaid tiptoed in to summon Mrs. Coolidge to the telephone. Her reply was, I cannot come now. I cannot leave my guests.' But the maid whispered, 'It is Mrs. Longworth, and she said it is very important.' Mrs. Coolidge, therefore, excused herself. In a moment she came back, her face wreathed in smiles, and said to the company, 'It was Alice, and it was important. She says she is going to have a baby.' Everyone at once was very much excited, and someone asked, 'When is it to be?' 'Oh,' said Mrs. Coolidge, 'I forgot to ask her!' Then came a quiet drawl from the other end of the table, 'Middle of March!":

The baby referred to is Paulina Longworth, born February 14, 1925. C. Under the name of Ruth Elder, famed aviatrix, the following was syndicated last week in U. S. newspapers--part of a description of a White House luncheon: "The event was jolly. I noticed President Coolidge ate very little and I won one of his rare smiles when I said: 'Why, Mr. President, you eat just like a canary.' "

* Definition by President Coolidge (TIME, June 25). -Christ's cry on the cross. Translation: "My 'God! My God! Why hast thou forsaken me?"

* Last week at Florence, Ariz., four Chinamen were executed (hanged) together for the murder of another Chinaman.