THE FAERY LAND FORLORN

The spectacle of the governor of a state so completely fallen under the away of his confidential secretary that a special session of the legislature is needed to remove her and unmesmerize him is noteworthy even in a day distinguished by such assaults on gubernatorial good taste as the battery of Texas Ma and Pa. Henry S. Johnson was governor of Oklahoma in name alone from the day when he appointed Mrs. O. O. Hammonds to the secretaryship, and she began the conversion of the governor to the cult of Rosicrucianism. Lacking the Fergusonian sanctitiy of the holy seal of matrimony, this union of authority became fair game for the state legislature.

That Rosicrucianism, with its elves, pixies and goblins, should emerge from encyclopedic obscurity to become the foe of the representatives of Oklahoma goes to show how changed are the public evils which the politician of to-day must be prepared to fight. If the state secures the removal of Mrs. Hammonds, it is not certain that the victory will be so sweet. If her power is that of a "superior mental force, as a certain group of citizens say, the situation is rather more humiliating than crucial. And if the power behind the throne is really that of Rosicrucianism, who can consistently deny a place in politics to a cult of belief in alchemy?