136 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



only occasionally by the stern necessity of work to provide food and 

 at least vestiges of clothing for Aunt Mandy and her twelve sable 

 offspring. The eldest was, of course, Ab'm, but for the successors 

 were chosen names taken from the breast-plate of the Hebrew High 

 Priest, for the couple had in their honeymoon been profoundly 

 impressed by the gorgeous succession of names of precious stones 

 read most sonorously if somewhat lacking in orthodox pronunciation 

 by their coloured pastor. And so there were Sardius and Topaz, 

 and Carbuncle (contracted to "Uncle"), and Emerald (who, though a 

 boy, was "Emmy"), and Sapphire ("Fire"), and Diamond, Ligure 

 (generally by a natural association of ideas called "Moonshine"), 

 and Agate ("Aggie"), and Amethyst and Beryl (transmogrified into 

 "Barrel"), and Onyx — her. Aunt Mandy thought well named as 

 she came onexpected. The fruitfulness of the happy couple had not 

 yet got so far as to produce a Jasper, "the only real nigger name in 

 the bunch" as the envious neighbours declared; but hope was not 

 dead. 



Thus flourished the happy family in Georgia when the great 

 day came around, the day fixed by the Act of January 23, 1845, the 

 Tuesday after the first Monday of November; and there were chosen 

 by the citizens of each State a certain number of gentlemen, not 

 being Senators, or Representatives, or holding offices of trust or profit 

 under the United States, and not having violated an oath previously 

 taken to support the Constitution of the United States by engaging 

 in insurrection or rebellion against the same or giving aid or comfort 

 to the enemies thereof. 



These were the men who were to select the President of the 

 United States for four years, irremovable except by death, resignation 

 or impeachment — and Presidents seldom die and never resign, while 

 no one tries an impeachm.ent since the attempt failed with Andy 

 Johnson. In case of inability to perform the duties of his office, 

 the Vice-President receives the powers of the President, but even 

 partial paralysis cannot disable a President, and that last resort of a 

 patriot, a bullet, could not disable one who had been a College Pre- 

 sident like Garfield — it had not yet been tried on Wilson but would, 

 if tried, be certain to fail unless it killed. 



These men, too, select the Vice-President who may, like Roose- 

 velt, succeed to the Presidency. 



The Constitution of the United States was framed by men who 



feared the wild passions of the mobility- — "great importance was 



attached by the framers of the Constitution to the interposition of 



he electoral college between the passions and prejudices of the 



