HENDRICKS, SHERMAN, BANCROFT- 1884 -1891 217 



were going to call upon the President. He therefore 

 asked them, "How do you like this new President of 

 yours?" "Oh," answered the senators in chorus, "he is 

 a very good man a very good man indeed." "Yes," 

 said Senator Sawyer, "hut how do you like him?" "Oh," 

 answered the senators, "we like him very much very 

 much indeed." "Well," said Sawyer, "I will tell you a 

 story hef ore you go to the White House if you will agree, 

 when you get back, to tell me t honest Injun' whether it 

 suits your case." Both laughingly agreed, and Mr. Saw- 

 yer then told them the following story: When he was a 

 young man with very small means, he and two or three 

 other young wood-choppers made up an expedition for 

 lumher-cutting. As they were too poor to employ a cook 

 for their camp, they agreed to draw lots, and that the 

 one on whom the lot fell should he cook, but only until 

 some one of the company found fault; then the fault- 

 finder should become cook in his turn. Lots being 

 drawn, one of them, much to his disgust, was thus chosen 

 cook, and toward the close of the day he returned to camp, 

 before the others, to get supper ready. Having taken 

 from the camp stores a large quantity of beans, he put 

 them into a pot boiling over the fire, as he had seen his 

 mother do in his boyhood, and then proceeded to pour in 

 salt. Unfortunately the salt-box slipped in his hand, and 

 he poured in much more than he had intended in fact, the 

 whole contents of the box. On the return of the woodmen 

 to the cabin, ravenously hungry, they proceeded to dish 

 out the boiled beans, but the first one who put a spoonful 

 in his mouth instantly cried out with a loud objurgation, 

 "Thunder and lightning! this dish is all salt"; but, in a 

 moment, remembering that if he found fault he must him- 

 self become cook, he said very gently, "But I like salt." 

 Both senators laughed and agreed that they would give 

 an honest report of their feelings to Senator Sawyer 

 when they had seen the President. On their return, Saw- 

 yer met them and said, "Well, honest Injun, how was it!" 

 They both laughed and said, "Well, we like salt." 



