A politician running hard for office toured the country on a whirlwind campaign that took him from Portland, Maine, to Portland, Oregon, and from Anchorage to Miami as well as to every backwoods hamlet and village between the larger centres.

And like other office-seekers, the campaigning politician always took his wife along, especially to the more remote locations.

“But it proved of little use,” he said to a friend, “she always found her way back.”