the best men in
the Nation"--with a very solemn tone as he sat bolt upright, with a
stern look on his face, and a lonely look.

I told him my idea of the country school that must be and talked of the
Bureau of Education. He saw quickly and assented to all my propositions.

And then we talked somewhat more conservatively of Conservation, about
which he knows less.

I asked if he would care to have me make briefs about the Agricultural
Department, the Bureau of Education, the Rural Credit Societies, and
Conservation. "I shall be very grateful, if it be not too great a
sacrifice."

I had gained that permission, which (if he respect my opinion) ought to
guide him somewhat toward a real understanding of how the Government may
help toward our Great Constructive Problem.

I gained also the impression that he has no sympathy with the idea of
giving government grants to schools and agricultural colleges--a very
distinct impression.

I had been with him an hour and had talked (I fear) too much. But he
seemed hearty in his thanks. He came to the front door with me, insisted
on helping me on with my coat, envied me the motor-car drive in the
night back to New York, spoke to eight or ten reporters who had crowded
into the hall for their interview--a most undignified method, it seemed
to me, for a President-elect to reach the public; I stepped out on the
muddy street, and, as I walked to the Inn, I had the feeling of the
man's oppressive loneliness as he faced his great task. There is no pomp
of circumstance, nor hardly dignity in this setting, except the dignity
of his seriousness and his loneliness.

* * * * *

There was a general expectation that Page would become a member of
President Wilson's Cabinet, and the place for which he seemed
particularly suited was the Secretaryship of Agriculture. The smoke of
battle had hardly passed away, therefore, when Page's admirers began
bringing pressure to bear upon the President-elect. There was probably
no man in the United States who had such completely developed views
about this Department as Page; and it is not improbable that, had
circumstances combined to offer him this position, he would have
accepted it. But fate in matters of this sort is sometimes kinder than a
man's friends. Page had a great horror of anything which suggested
office-seeking, and the campaign which now was started in his interest
greatly embarrassed him. He wrote Mr. Wilson