"I... Eternal...."

"I. . . Eternal. . . ."

Once employed by New York Life Insurance Co., courageous little Senor Augusto B. Leguia ("The Bantam Roosevelt of Peru") is now in his fourth term as President. Last week he gave the entire membership of the Chamber of Deputies a surprise party at his imposing Presidential Palace.

What fiery little Leguia wanted of them the Deputies did not know. It appeared, as he began to speak, that he wished to tell them about a 17-year-old boy, one Humberto Pena Olivera.

This boy, the President explained, had been present when he addressed the citizens of La Punta, when he received a delegation of students from Arequipa and when he opened the San Marcos University a few days ago. "Well, what of it?" puzzled Deputies began to ask each other.

"This young boy" cried President Leguia, "with promises of money and glory they dazzled him! They gave him a revolver, and three times he carried it, to shoot me--but three times his courage failed!"

That was the surprise. The rest of the party consisted in pledges of frantic loyalty to the President by the Deputies. As a matter of fact several are known sympathizers of Judge Manuel Jesus Urbina of the Iquitos Judicial Court who was under arrest last week charged with instigating the 17-year-old pistol carrier, his servant. Therefore the cheers of all the Deputies, their cries of "Viva Leguia! Live, live 10,000 years!" were especially loud.

At last the President, actually a benevolent Dictator, closed his surprise party with these words:

"My Government is that which re-established America's respect for Peru. No assassin's bullet can destroy my work. It is eternal. Should I die, the assassin's own hand will inscribe my name in history."

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