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200   My Brother Theodore Roosevelt

ging of the carriage by ardent cowboy admirers, or, worse luck, eventuated in terrifying runaways, which, however, never seemed to produce anything but casual discomfort.

Mr. Curtis Guild, of Boston, and Judge John Proctor Clarke accompanied Governor Roosevelt on this trip, and on one occasion the aforesaid "bellowing" chairman introduced my brother as "one whose name was known from shore to shore and whose life story was part of every fireside, and whose deeds were household words from the Atlantic to the Pacific." Finding that this introduction was greeted with vociferous applause, he then made use of the same extravagant exaggeration in introducing Mr. Guild. The only trouble in the latter case was that, after stertorously repeating the aforesaid introduction, the chairman suddenly forgot the name of the second speaker, "so well known from the Atlantic to the Pacific," and turned with solemn disapproval to the refined New England statesman, whispering hoarsely: "What in h- is your name, anyway?"

Such were the tales with which he regaled us that too-short night in November, i9oo. Any other man, having so disobeyed the doctor's stern commands to refrain from using his voice, would have been punished the following evening by not having any voice at all; but, on the contrary, his tones were clear and strong, his personality vital and inspiring, as he leaned from the platform toward the thousands of cheering human beings in the great Madison Square Garden, to put the finishing touch on that stirring campaign for the second nomination of McKinley.

The inauguration in Washington, in March, i9oi, had a peculiar charm about it. Perhaps one felt this charm especially because of the youth of the Vice-President and of his wife, and because of the contrast between those two happy young people and the more serious President, weighed down as he was with many cares, the greatest of which was his loving anxiety for his fragile little wife.

Because we were the sisters of the Vice-President, Mrs. McKinley sent for my sister, Mrs. Cowles, and me just after the

How the Path Led to the White House 201

inauguration, and I remember very well the touching quality

of that dainty personality, in whose faded face was the remains

of exquisite beauty. She received us up-stairs in her bedroom,

and by her side was a table on which was a little Austrian vase

in which bloomed one superb red rose. As we sat down she

pointed to the rose with her delicate little hand, and said softly:

"My dearest love brought me that rose. He always brings me

a rose every day, Mrs. Robinson." And then, a faint smile flit

ting over her face, she said: "My dearest love is very good to

me. Every evening he plays eight or ten games of cribbage

with me, and I think he sometimes lets me win." I remember

the feeling in my heart when she spoke those words, as I thought

of the man in the White House, oppressed with many cares;

even, perhaps, at the time when the shadow of the war with

Spain hung over his troubled head, sitting down with gentle

affection and quiet self-control to play "eight or ten games of

cribbage," "one for his nob, and two for his heels," with the

pathetic little creature from whom the tender love of his early

youth had never swerved.

The scenes outside of the White House connected with the young Vice-President were very different. In the home of my sister, Mrs. Cowles, where we all stayed for the inauguration, quaint happenings occurred. A certain Captain , a great admirer of my brother, telegraphed that he was sending from Thorley's florist shop in New York a "floral tribute" to be erected wherever the Vice-President was staying. My sister's house was moderate in size, but that made no difference to Captain . That "floral tribute" had to be erected. It cost, if I remember rightly, in the neighborhood of three thousand dollars. (My brother laughingly but pathetically said it was about half of his income at the time, and he wished the tribute could have been added to the income.) It had to be erected, and erected it was. It arrived in long boxes, painfully suggestive of coffins, much to the delight of the young members of the family, who were also staying with my always hospitable sis-