THE STORY OF AN ENTOMOLOGIST 



lady in the tonneau. Dr. Wiley sat between them, I sat imme- 

 diately in front of them, and the Major sat with the chauffeur. 

 After we had started. Dr. Wiley pulled out a box containing 

 the cross of the Legion of Honor, showed it to the ladies, and 

 remarked that the Major had introduced a bill in Congress to 

 permit him to accept it. I jokingly leaned forward and asked 

 the Major if he would introduce a bill for me when I got my 

 decoration. The Major replied, "Yes, I'll do it tomorrow. Doc- 

 tor." I supposed that he understood the joke, but, to my horror, 

 I discovered two days later that he had introduced such a bill 

 and had left Washington. I was petrified and thought of all 

 possible means of stopping the publication of any notice of 

 such a bill. I telephoned the clerk of the Congressional Com- 

 mittee that it was a mistake, and even thought of going to the 

 French Ambassador and explaining, lest some one in the Em- 

 bassy should learn of the bill and correspond with Paris, to the 

 utter destruction of all the respect of my many friends in 

 France, But I found that the Ambassador was away for the 

 summer and concluded that it was better to say nothing about 

 it. As a matter of fact, it was overlooked, the bill was never 

 resuscitated by the Committee (very possibly the clerk to whom 

 I had telephoned had destroyed it), and the incident ended. I 

 did, however, get the decoration sixteen years later, and my 

 friend. Dr. H. W. Temple, annually introduced a bill to permit 

 me to accept this and other decorations. None of these bills has 

 ever been reported out from the Committee, and the insignia 

 still rest in the safe of the State Department, where my daugh- 

 ters will find them after my death. Even now I can't have them, 

 since I am on a pension. 



Of course, as a good American citizen, I don't want to wear 

 crosses and things, but, after all, it seems rather an absurd way 



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