THE STORY OF AN ENTOMOLOGIST 



All this is well known to people in general, but only the elect 

 know of the Round Table Club. Dr. Putnam started this as a 

 lunch club soon after he came to Washington, and the principal 

 heads of the departments in the library, and the near-by elect, 

 like Henry Pritchett and O. H. Tittman of the Coast Survey 

 and others, got together about a round table and had luncheon, 

 at first daily, and later from time to time. The group was en- 

 larged, and literary, artistic and scientific celebrities dropped in, 

 until the Round Table Luncheon became a unique function. 

 Conversation was general. Controversial subjects were avoided. 

 Wit and good humor abounded. 



I was invited to be a member many years ago, but since the 

 Department of Agriculture was so far away, I seldom went, 

 only, in fact, when something especial was going on, such as the 

 presence of some particularly distinguished man, or when I had 

 a famous guest and took this chance to introduce him to the 

 right group. In fact, in a somewhat different way, the Round 

 Table paralleled Graham Bell's Wednesday evenings, for while, 

 on the whole, it was perhaps as entertaining, it was less in- 

 formative. 



On November 7, 1919, after an interruption of several years, 

 due to the War and to Dr. Putnam's activities in Europe, a group 

 of the members in Washington held a meeting, and made it 

 special in that a loving cup was presented to Putnam for his 

 leadership in the institution. It was a remarkable group. Am- 

 bassador Jusserand of France; Secretary Lane of the Interior 

 Department; Mr. Justice Holmes of the Supreme Court; David 

 Jayne Hill, ex-Ambassador to Germany; Thomas Nelson Page, 

 ex-Ambassador to Italy; Dr. Garfield, president of Williams Col- 

 lege and coal administrator during the war; Assistant Secretary 

 Roosevelt, and a number of others (thirty-five in all) were there. 

 That delightful man, the Reverend Dr. Roland Cotton Smith, 



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