There is no denying that the arrangements made, during my absence in the north, for my participation in the events attending my husband's induction into the office of Governor of the Philippines were enough to fill me with dismay.
Mr. Taft had issued two thousand invitations for the reception at our house in honour of General MacArthur, and on my way down from Baguio I had been spending my time wondering how I should take care of the three or four hundred I imagined had been asked. I had received no information more definite than the simple statement that invitations had been sent out, and it was not until I reached Manila that I learned the startling number. I thought my husband knew something about the limitations of our house, but I found that he had not taken this important matter into consideration at all.
Fortunately we had a large garden in fairly good condition by this time, so I immediately went to work and had it decorated with long lines and festoons of Japanese lanterns; I ordered a large refreshment tent put up in the middle of the wide lawn; then I sat down and prayed for fair weather. It was the rainy season and I knew that only a specially importuned Providence could keep the afternoon of the Fourth of July clear.
The inauguration of the first American Governor was an occasion of great dignity and interest. The ceremony took place on a platform erected at one end of a large square in the Walled City which is enclosed on one side by the Ayuntamiento, or Insular Capitol, and on another by the Cathedral. The foundations of the Inaugural stand were of historic interest in that they were originally intended to support
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