He was a page in the Illinois legislature—"House Page No. 7," the bright metal badge on the lapel of his little coat said—and all day long he heard nothing but "Here, boy!" from city members, or "Hey, bub!" from country members, or "Hi, there, kid!" from the other pages, or "Get a move on you, Seven!" as the chief page snapped his fingers at him in his lordly way. His real name was James, but he never heard that, now that his father was dead. His mother called him Jamie.
Jamie was kept very busy and yet he enjoyed his legislative duties. He felt that it was a big thing to help, even in his humble little way, to make laws for all the people in the state. It was pretty important, for instance, to carry a paper from some member up to the clerk's desk, for after the clerk had read it, on three different days, and the house had voted on
