The Further Adventures of Quincy Adams Sawyer and Mason's Corner Folks

f magistrate. They can aid him greatly, or they can "clip his wings" and materially curb his freedom of action. The Council is a relic of the old provincial and colonial days, its inherited aristocratic body clothed in democratic garments. As its duties could be performed by the Senate without loss of dignity, and with pecuniary saving, its retention as a part of the body politic is due to the "let well enough alone" policy of the American citizen which has supplanted the militant, progressive democracy of his forefathers.

At the end of the short corridor was the office of the Executive Secretary and his stenographer from which, through an opening hung with portières, one passed into the general reception room where the faithful messenger stood guard, authorized to learn the business of each new-comer.

The private secretary had opened the mail and had assorted it as "ordinary," "important," and "most important." For an hour the Governor dictated steadily, and it would take several hours'