THE STORY OF AN ENTOMOLOGIST 



a one as could be found. We kept it up till we arrived somewhere 

 out near the 7th Street road. There we found horses waiting for 

 us, and we rode back into the city. You can imagine the condi- 

 tion of our clothes and how we looked. I reached home toward 

 dark and as I came in the front door my old Irish nurse met me. 

 She held up her hands and said, 'Oh, Mr. Gi£Ford, you've been 

 with the President again!' " Pinchot urged us not to tell this 

 story, but now it can be told. The President was evidently trying 

 Bacon out, knowing that he was a man of wealth and could 

 readily stand the damage to his clothes. It was not the kind of 

 test that would appeal to most people, but it was Roosevelt 

 all over. 



At one time during his administration some one gave him or 

 the White House a beautiful grand piano. It had not been 

 installed very long before the Roosevelts gave one of their charm- 

 ing musicales. Mrs. Howard had a superb voice — a dramatic 

 soprano — and she was invited to be the soloist at this musicale. 

 I was invited to attend, but I had to leave that night for St. Louis, 

 where I was to give a lecture before the Twentieth Century 

 Club. I got ready to go to my train and stopped at the Cosmos 

 Club on the way to the station. Then it occurred to me that 

 I had time to listen to at least one song if I could arrange it. So 

 I left my bag at the Club and walked down to the east end of 

 the White House. There were numerous police. I walked up to 

 one who looked authoritative and at the same time good-natured, 

 and asked him if I could slip into the grounds and stand under 

 the window of the East Room to listen to my wife sing. He 

 didn't scratch his head, but looked as if he wanted to. 



"I'm afraid it would not be allowed, sir," he said. "But why 

 don't you go in? You say that you were invited, and I am sure 

 that they would let you in." 



[245] 



