McKINLEY AND ROOSEVELT- 1891-1904 247 



But alas! the triumph was short-lived. One morning 

 in September, while I was slowly recovering from two of 

 the greatest bereavements which have ever befallen me, 

 came the frightful news of his assassination. Shortly 

 afterward, for family and business reasons, I went for a 

 few weeks to the United States, and, in the course of my 

 visit, conferred with the new President three times first 

 at the Yale bicentennial celebration, afterward in his pri 

 vate office, and finally at his table in the White House. 

 Hard indeed was it for me to realize what had taken place 

 that President McKinley,whom I had so recently seen in 

 his chair at the head of the cabinet table, was gone forever ; 

 that in those rooms, where I had, at four different times, 

 chatted pleasantly with him, he was never to be seen 

 more ; and that here, in that same seat, was sitting my old 

 friend and co-laborer. Hard was it to realize that the last 

 time I had met Mr. Roosevelt in that same room was when 

 we besought President Harrison to extend the civil ser 

 vice. Interesting as the new President s conversation was, 

 there was constantly in my mind, whether in his office or 

 his parlors or the dining-room at the White House, one 

 deep undertone. It was like the pedal bass of an organ, 

 steadily giving the ground tone of a requiem the vanity 

 and evanescence of all things earthly. There had I seen, 

 in the midst of their jubilant supporters, Pierce, Lincoln, 

 Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Cleveland, Harrison, and, finally, 

 so short a time before, McKinley. It seemed all a dream. 

 In his conversations the new President showed the same 

 qualities that I had before known in him earnestness, 

 vigor, integrity, fearlessness, and, at times, a sense of 

 humor, blending playfully with his greater qualities. The 

 message he gave me to the Emperor William was charac 

 teristic. I was naturally charged to assure the Emperor of 

 the President s kind feeling; but to this was added, in a 

 tone of unmistakable truth: &quot;Tell him that when I say 

 this, I mean it. I have been brought up to admire and 

 respect Germany. My life in that country and my reading 

 since have steadily increased this respect and admiration. 9 



