The thick black cloud was cleft, and still / The Moon was at its side; / Like waters shot from some high crag, / The lightning fell with never a jag, / A river steep and wide.

This month at 47, Colonel Polich retires after 20 years of service; as a reservist and an engineer, bird colonel is about the highest peacetime rank he can achieve.

Most probable that one presentation and 40 years possession thereafter, is sufficient to prescribe a right of patronage.

Eleventh-hour executive changes are not unique to this outgoing Administration — President Bill Clinton launched a number himself before leaving office.