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was the purchase of a hat.  Next morning's dynamic headline yelled "A Hat, A Hat, My Auto for A Hat" ... says Blanche.  I made his story come true by buying and anchoring myself under a beauty.

The official party and a large group of the curious were on hand when the ferry docked at San Francisco.  But something new had been added .... The Army Division stationed at the Presidio [[strikethrough]] tured [[/strikethrough]] turned out military band and all!  The massive street parade terminated at the famous Cliff House Restaurant.  Here I had one more ceremonial job to do before the trip was officially finished.  Mayor Gaynor [[strikethrough]] Hyham [[/strikethrough]] of New York at our departure and with all due solemnity, gave us a small bottle of Atlantic Ocean water which I was to empty into the Pacific Ocean.  This bottle and its contents had been widely publicized.  It was a big [[strikethrough]] and [[/strikethrough]] sentimental symbol of our trip ... "FROM THE ATLANTIC TO THE PACIFIC."  In the back of my mind I could hear the panic buzzer start chattering ... the dammed bottle was nowhere to be found.  A [[strikethrough]] [[?]] [[/strikethrough]] whirlwind demolition search of our luggage turned up nothing.  It was LOST .... LOST!  This widely built=up union of the two oceans, about which reams had been written in both New York and San Francisco suddenly became very important.  We knew we had to do something about it.  A mad search got underway for our press agent.  He would save the situation.  He'd know what to say.  He'd rescue us.  For all practical purposes he became invisible.  Find him we could not.  This called for super-strategy.  I called a ;bus boy.  [[strikethrough]] and [[/strikethrough]] For a generous bribe he supplied a small bottle.  I filled it with hotel tap water ... and with the impressed officials and a cheering crowd watching every move, I solemnly poured the water into the Pacific.  Inwardly I was almost convulsed as I speculated on what they ... and New York's Mayor Gaynor would say as I perpetuated the phoniest merger of all time.