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Show JTfELL I HKOUGH FLOOR . . . 4. Jhere'd Be Re-Joisting in the White House eve THE WORLD WOULD STAND AGHAST SS), " " H. I. PHILLIPS 'h 1 ot around five !ePr0 Irs to repair the White m fZli- "My bathroom fShad begun to fear fi eo through the floor. ' : . ee"why the President ii L l He would have been the first president ever to have fallen from one floor to another in his bath; it would have made history. his-tory. For s century there might have been signs in the White House: "President Harry S. Truman, Tru-man, 32nd President of the United Unit-ed States, Landed Here" or "On This Spot Harry S. Trnma Made the First Crash Landing Ever Made In a White House Bathtub, Glider Type." Had Harry kept his mouth shut, let the building deteriorate and bravely crashed through the floor in his tub, it might have been far from a calamity so far as his fortunes for-tunes are concerned. People love the dramatic these days. They crave entertainment and action as never before. There on the ground-floor ground-floor in his second-floor bathtub amid the rubble, his head unbowed, he would have won a new grip on the public. The picture might have taken a place beside Washington and the Delaware in water exploits. We can imagine some painter glorifying it with an oil entitled, "Truman Crossing the Dilapidated Beams." The accident would have given the people a new appreciation of what a president has to go through. It would have kindled a mood of warm sympathy and understanding. What man has ever stepped into a bathtub without at least a fleeting fear of an accident? And how many have known what it is to take a tumble in one? Can you fancy their feelings for a President who had stepped into a tub . . . powl . . . gone down a flight or two I This Is an era of rumor, gossip gos-sip and suspicion; the story would have spread that the Republicans Re-publicans had undermined the timbers, and this would have increased in-creased pity for the President. From coast to coast, across mountains and valleys, over brooks and rivers, from log cabin to mansion the one cry would have gone up: "How's Harry?" The world would have awaited breathlessly the hourly bulletins from the White House: 10 A.M. The White House morning morn-ing statement read: "The Presi dent is doing well, but still suffering suffer-ing from his own amazement." . Noon The President is resting. His face is not so red by 10 degrees as was after the mishap. 1 P. M. Mrs. Trumar was allowed al-lowed to visit ' the President this afternoon. She asked him simply, "It seems mighty funny to me that you and the tub went down two flights, but your bathrobe remained on the hook upstairs!" 2 p. M. President Truman got a telegram from Thomas E. Dewey. It read: "I join the bathtub users of America in my deepest gratitude that you piloted the tub to a safe landing and I sincerely hope you will soon be bathing again in the happiness and security which you have a right to expect from our country." 3 P. M. Henry Wallace was asked to comment on the President's bathtub bath-tub accident and replied: "It was too far away for me to know the exact facts. All I know is that you hear of nothing like that happening in Russia." 5 p. M. The doctors said they would permit the President to be interviewed by radio and television. "I only regret" Mr. Truman said, "that I have but one ceiling to give for my country." A New Jersey court has rnled that a night watchman sleeping on the premises is entitled to overtime if awake during his sleeping hours. If he sleeps during dur-ing his waking hours, does the boss get a refund? We just heard of a fellow who, needing rest and quiet, was ordered by his doctor to spend six months in Wall street. |