I cannot remember how, he got on the
subject of the Black Republic, and of how, in his opinion, such states
ought to be governed. On this matter he was voluble, and voluble with
unguarded emphasis. I never heard the accents of instinctive autocracy
more clearly than, for some ten minutes, I then heard them in his. I
wished I could have seen him at Washington, but I had no unoccupied week
during which he would have been able to receive me.

[Illustration: THEODORE ROOSEVELT]

From Cambridge I went in succession to Chicago, Philadelphia, and
Baltimore. At each of these places I addressed considerable gatherings,
and everywhere (except at Philadelphia) I encountered some hostile,
though no acrimonious, questioning. At the doors, however, on some
occasions a quiet Socialist emissary would offer some tract to the
in-goers, in which my arguments were attacked before they had been so
much as uttered. Why the temperament of one place should differ from
that at another is not easy to say, but at Philadelphia I was not only
listened to without question, but at every salient point I was greeted
with uproarious applause. Having spent some days at Baltimore, and
having accomplished what I had undertaken to do on behalf of the Civic
Federation, I returned to New York, and, except for two speeches outside
our formal program, I gave myself up for a month to the relaxations of
society.

My return to New York was marked by a curious incident, which occurred
when I left the ferryboat. The porter whom I secured told me, having
looked about him, that there was not a cab available. I pointed to a row
of four-wheeled motor hansoms, but none of these, he said, was going out
to-night, except one which had been just appropriated. While he was
explaining this to me, from the darkness of one of these vehicles a
courteous voice emerged, asking where I was going, as the speaker
perhaps might be able to drop me somewhere. I told him my destination;
he agreed to take me, and I was presently seated at his side,
perceiving, indeed, that he was a man and not a woman, but quite unable
to distinguish anything else. He presently informed me that he was just
back from a golf course. I informed him that I was from Baltimore.
"You," he said, "to judge from your voice, must, I think, be English. I
have often played golf in England not very far from Chichester." I asked
him where, on those occasions, he stayed. He answered, "With Willie
James." I told him th