Book Fourteen

Within Sight

1926

A sepia photograph from the 1920s, taken from the altar rail of an old colonial church, with a silver chalice on a white linen cloth in the foreground: down the aisle between white box pews full of a Sunday congregation and young naval officers in white caps, through the open west door, three men in silhouette stand in a line with their arms on one another's shoulders, and beyond them a short street climbs between brick houses and trees to a red-brick house with white columns and a flag. Crown on the Potomac Within Sight Book Fourteen 1926

June 1926. The Seventh Amendment has been in force for six years, the Prime Minister enforces it without enthusiasm, and Maryland, says its Lieutenant-Governor over a toast in grape juice, keeps the law. Fiorello La Guardia, the Independent member for East Harlem, bets him that before midnight on Sunday he will be served a drink within sight of Government House. The Governor-General, who came to Annapolis to present the Naval Academy's commissions, is made referee.

Within Sight follows one weekend of June Week through the eyes of John J. Pershing, the most correct man in the Realm: a jug on the City Dock, a bucket on the State House lawn, a physician from Baltimore, a punch bowl, a skipjack full of something, a federal agent and a Bureau investigator who arrest each other, the Governor-General's son, who should not be helping, and the one lawful drink in Maryland on a Sunday morning.

Each chapter opens with a short extract from the Universal Register, the encyclopedia of the world the book is set in. The extracts are quoted from the Register as it stands; the chapters show what happened in the rooms it was not in.

Begin reading: Chapter One, The Annapolis Line → Characters

Part One: Friday (4 June 1926)

  1. 1 The Annapolis Line Pershing. 16 min.
  2. 2 Government House Pershing. 15 min.
  3. 3 Grape Juice Pershing. 18 min.
  4. 4 The City Dock Pershing. 15 min.
  5. 5 The Step Pershing. 14 min.

Part Two: Saturday (5 June 1926)

  1. 6 Prescription Pershing. 15 min.
  2. 7 Commissions Pershing. 13 min.
  3. 8 Near Beer Pershing. 14 min.
  4. 9 The Garden Pershing. 12 min.
  5. 10 The June Ball Pershing. 14 min.
  6. 11 The Severn Pershing. 15 min.

Part Three: Sunday (6 and 7 June 1926)

  1. 12 The Plan Pershing. 11 min.
  2. 13 Church Circle Pershing. 12 min.
  3. 14 The Rail Pershing. 11 min.
  4. 15 Clause Five Pershing. 15 min.
  5. 16 Quietly Pershing. 15 min.