440 ROOSEVELT'S RETURN TO CIVILIZATION 



beast doubtfully, he swayed backward and forward as the tall creature 

 jerked itself upward on its long legs, and clung on for dear life when 

 the full altitude was reached. Surveying the members of his family 

 from this point of vantage, he exclaimed: 



"I think I'd rather try a rhino." 



At the government school he made a brief address, exhorting 

 them to be good citizens and good Christians, and to do their duty to 

 the government that had replaced the old savagery of that land with 

 the blessings of civilization. Later in the day, the one preceding St. 

 Patrick's day, he appeared with a sprig of shamrock in his hand, 

 one of a bunch which a patriotic Irishman had sent him. 



"I always wear the shamrock on St. Patrick's day," he said. 



March 17, St. Patrick's day, the natal day of the patron saint of 

 Ireland, was the final day of the Roosevelt party in Khartum. The 

 Colonel kept it by gathering around him at a lunch in the palace the 

 remaining members of his hunting enterprise, among the guests being 

 Sir Alfred Pease, his first host in Ireland, Clayton Bey, of the Sirdar's 

 staff, and Captain Meredith, commander of the steamer Dal. 



He tried to make the occasion as lively as possible, but was much 

 moved when the time came to shake hands in farewell to those with 

 whom he had been so long and pleasantly associated. Meanwhile 

 Mrs. Roosevelt and Ethel had been packing up preparatory to their 

 departure and attended none of these functions. At 9 o'clock that 

 night they all took the train and bade farewell, as they rolled away 

 from the station, to the frontier city where they had spent three very 

 active days and had been so agreeably entertained. 



