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Anything that can put new life into a man - cause him to go around afterward with his shoulders thrown back and his head so lifted that it feels as if it were in the clouds - deserves the urgent consideration of the highest power in the land. Fortunately, what may be the elixir was discovered the other day in Washington, where this power is centered, and it was discovered by a government clerk. The bare facts are that he found out what it feels like to drive through a considerable stretch of the nation's capital with a police escort, his car bowling along a route that had been cleared of all traffic for somebody of eminence. The whole incident was the result of fortuitous circumstances. Some work was being done on his four-year-old station wagon. The mechanic, who is also a friend, arranged to lend him for that day, an enormous Cadillac, which he had bought & put in good condition after it had been wrecked by the owner. As he was driving home, the police mistook him for somebody of eminence & let him onto the route blocked off for this person.

See the rest of the story at newyorker.com