Part 42 (1/2)

CHAPTER XLVI

THE LAST DAY

I was greatly concerned lest the President should be unable by reason of his physical condition to stand the strain of Inauguration Day Indeed, members of his Cabinet and intimate friends like Grayson and myself had tried to persuade hiument be draay frouration of his successor, President-elect Harding The thought that the people of the country ht misconstrue his attitude if he should remain away and his firm resolve to show every courtesy to his successor in office were the only considerations that led him to play his part to the end When I arrived at the White House early on the uration, I found hiracious as ever He acted like a boy as soon to be out of school and free of the burdens that had for eight years weighed hi of relief that he was experiencing now that his term of office was really at an end I recalled to him the little talk we had had on the same day, four years before, upon the conclusion of the cereuration in 1917

At the ti away fro out of the hich overlooked the beautiful White House lawn and gardens, he said: ”Well, hoish this were March 4, 1921 What a relief it will be to do what I please and to say what I please; but s that have been going on under my own eyes I have felt constantly a personal detach I resent when I a reminded that I am President of the United States I feel toward this office as ahours he is obliged to perforet away froht I tell you, ain”

On this , March 4, 1921, he acted like a man as happy now that his dearest as to be realized As I looked at Woodrow Wilson, seated in his study thatword of the arrival of President-elect Harding at the White House, to nified; ready today upon which he was now to enter, in his countenance a calm nobility It was hard for me to realize as I beheld him, seated behind his desk in his study, that here was the head of the greatest nation in the world who in a few hours was to step back into the uneventful life of a private citizen

A few minutes and he was notified that the President-elect was in the Blue Roo his old blackthorn stick, the faithful co,” as he playfully called it, slowly he made his way to the elevator and in a few seconds he was standing in the Blue Rooracious way No evidence of the trial of pain he was undergoing in striving to play a modest part in the cere or attitude, as he greeted the President- elect and the ural Committee He was an ill h to the end

President-elect Hardinghim the keenest consideration and courtesy

And now the final trip to the Capitol from the White House The ride to the Capitol was uneventful From the physical appearance of the two men seated beside each other in the autooing and who the in-coard, broken He interpreted the cheering fro to the President-elect and looked straight ahead It was Mr Harding's day, not his On the left, Warren Gaorous, great-chested, showing every evidence in his tanned face of that fine, sturdy health so necessary a possession in order to grapple with the probleht, a battle-scarred veteran, a casualty of the war, noeary and anxious to lay down the reins of office; the other, agile, vigorous, hopeful, and full of enthusiasm for the tasks that confronted him Upon the face of the one ritten in indelible lines the scars and tragedies of war; on that of the other, the lines of confidence, hope, and readiness for the fray

The Presidential party arrived at the Capitol Woodrow Wilson took possession of the President's room Modestly the President-elect took a seat in the rear of the room while President Wilson conferred with senators and representatives who came to talk with him about bills in which they were interested, bills upon which hein a corner of the roo the end of the official relationshi+p of Woodrow Wilson with the affairs of the Government of the United States It was about eleven- thirty Senators and congressood-bye to the ratulate the President-elect

It was a few minutes before twelve o'clock The weary man at the table was still the President, still the ruler of a great people, the possessor for a little while longer, just a little while longer, ofin Christendoray-hairedthe President in a sharp, dry tone of voice, he said: ”Mr President, we have come as a committee of the Senate to notify you that the Senate and House are about to adjourn and await your pleasure”

The spokesuished senator from Massachusetts, the i

It was an interesting study to watch the face and e who by his attacks had destroyed the great thing of which the President had dreaht and for which he was ready to lay down his life It appeared for a second as if Woodrow Wilson was about to give full sway to the passionate resentment he felt toward the hout the faht But quickly the shadow of resenthost of a s hie, I have no further co”

Senator Lodge and the committee withdrew from the room I looked at the clock in the corner A few minutes more and all the pohich the weary man at the table possessed would fall from his shoulders All left the room except the President, Mrs Wilson, Admiral Grayson, and an to toll the hour of twelve