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to this place. Mr. George R. Peck at that time was the General Solicitor of the Chicago and Milwaukee Railroad, with headquarters in Chicago. Upon his invitation, a party of gentlemen met in Chicago for the purpose of making a trip to the Yellowstone Park, in company with and in the official car of Mr. Peck. The party consisted of Judge John F. Philips of Kansas City, Missouri, Judge Smith McPherson of Iowa, Judge O. M. Spencer of St. Joseph, Missouri, Honorable John Allen "Private John" of Tupolo, Mississippi, Mr. Rosington of Topeka, Kansas, Mr. Peck and myself.

We met in Chicago on the morning of July 15, and were joined there for lunch at the Chicago Club by Mr. Justice Brewer of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was enroute to Milwaukee and accompanied the party that far. In the evening of that day most of the party went as far as Oconomowoc to be the house guests of Mr. Peck for the night. I remained in Chicago to meet members of my family the next morning. They were going to make the trip to the Yellowstone in the same train with the party of gentlemen above named. On the morning of the sixteenth of July my wife, two daughters, Lizzie and Louise, and my wife's sister, Miss Claudine Hunt, came from St. Louis, and my son-in-law, Mr. Hunting and his wife and two little boys came from Grand Rapids. This made quite a family party.

We left at 6:30 P. M. on the train for St. Paul. At Oconomowoc the private car of Mr. Peck was attached to the train and we arrived at St. Paul in the early morning, spending the day there. The party of gentlemen, Mr. Peck's guests, took a look at the

Minnesota Club, while Mrs. Dyer and others of her party had lunch at the Ryan Hotel.

At 10:30 P. M. the party left on the Northern Pacific Railroad for the park. The trip across the country was uneventful, the train arriving at Livingston at 7:00 A. M., the 19th. Here my family was joined by Colonel L. P. Hunt, U. S. A. (brother of Mrs. Dyer), his wife and two children. We arrived at the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel, at noon. Here Mr. Peck's party was joined by United States Senator Carter of Montana. Sunday was spent in sightseeing in and about the Hot Springs.

An amusing incident took place among Mr. Peck's guests. The party had played cards on the train and after arrival at the hotel. Here we found a woman, a Jewess, who seemed bent upon snapping with her kodak these guests of Mr. Peck on all occasions. Her activity in this regard became very annoying. There was a card room adjoining the bar on the first floor of the hotel. The gentlemen assembled in the card room and about a round table to play for small stakes the great "American game." Shortly after the playing began, Judge Spencer withdrew and went out into the hall. No attention was given to this as his withdrawal did not interfere with the game. In a little while the door leading into the hall suddenly opened and the little kodak friend "snapped" the party. This gave great offense to some, particularly Judge Philips, who insisted upon the camera and the film being destroyed. John Allen, who was a member of the World's Fair Board, expostulated with the lady by saying, "Madam, I am holding office under a most strenuous administration (Roosevelt's) and if it were

known that I was playing cards on Sunday, it would mark the end of my distinguished and glorious career and utterly humiliate me before my constituents in Mississippi." The film was destroyed and the kodak went out of use.

On Monday morning, the 21st, the whole party clothed with dusters and mosquito netting about the head, started in two "Concord" coaches, drawn by four horses each, on what to me was a wonderful six day tour. The wonders of that park have been most beautifully described by others and I could not, if I would, add to it.

The hotels were splendidly managed, the coaches were excellent and comfortable conveyances, and the distances between resting places were easy. The "roaring mountain," the deep gorges, the snow capped mountains, the playing of "Old Faithful" and other geysers, the beautiful and placid lake lying in a valley seven thousand feet above sea level, the magnificent and unequaled falls of the Yellowstone, the great herds of elk and deer, and the numerous black, cinnamon and grizzly bears made a continuous panorama that was as strange and wonderful as it was varied and entertaining. No one who loves nature in its wildest form, will ever go to the park without wishing on some day, to repeat the visit.

Altogether it was an enjoyable trip, for which we were all indebted to that splendid host, George Peck. The remembrance of the pleasure given me by that ten days of delightful association and wonderful sight-seeing, is saddened by the thought that all but two of the party that went in the car with Mr. Peck have passed into that undiscovered country "from

whose bourne no traveller returns." Philips, McPherson, Allen, Peck, Rosington, and Carter have gone; Spencer and I remain. Others of that party who have answered the final summons are my wife, Colonel and Mrs. Hunt. The joy and pleasure of that trip will linger in my memory until the final trumpet shall sound the note that will call me to join those who have gone before.

The carving out from the country's wonderful domain so many beautiful "play grounds," so many magnificent parks, are splendid monuments erected to the wisdom of the people's representatives in Congress that will not perish from the earth. How significant the remark of General Sherman in San Francisco in 1886: "The American people spend great fortunes in looking for wonders in the old world while they pay no heed to the greater ones in this."

XIV

THEODORE ROOSEVELT

National Republican Convention of 1900-Appointed U. S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri -Senator Vest- Senator Burton-The Peonage Case-The White House, 1907-Become U. S. District Judge-Letters from the President and others.

I was a delegate-at-large from Missouri to the National Republican Convention that met in Philadelphia in 1900. It was this convention that nominated William McKinley a second time for President. Roosevelt was then the Governor of the State of New York, and it was well known that he did not stand in great favor with the political bosses of that State, especially with Senator Platt. They were anxious to get rid of him and sought to do so by having him nominated for Vice-President on the ticket with McKinley. Roosevelt understood the purpose of his enemies and was reluctant to become a candidate for Vice-President, but the better element of the Republican party also sought his nomination, though for a different reason than that of the disreputable bosses. The bosses disliked him because he was honest, fearless, courageous, and independent, while the people, good, sincere, and patriotic citizens, loved him because of these qualities.

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