RECOLLECTIONS OF FULL YEARS
too willing not to be encumbered with the duties of Governor. This, I understand, was Mr. Worcester's attitude throughout his thirteen years as Secretary of the Interior, during which time he was always the ranking Commissioner with the first right, under a promotion system, to the Governorship whenever a vacancy occurred in that office.
The transport Grant was assigned for our use by General Chaffee, and we made our preparations for an extended absence.
One incident of my husband's convalescence in the hospital I think I must relate. In an adjoining room General Frederick Funston was recovering from an operation for appendicitis and he was sufficiently far advanced to be able to walk around, so he used to call on Mr. Taft quite often. Now General Funston, for the benefit of those who have no mental picture of him, is by no means gigantic. He has the bearing of a seven-foot soldier, but the truth is he is not more than five feet three or four inches in height.
One day there was an earthquake of long duration and extended vibration which would have been sufficient to destroy Manila had it not lacked a certain upward jerk calculated to unbalance swaying walls. One gets used to earthquakes in the Orient in a way, but no amount of familiarity can make the sensation a pleasant one. My husband was alone at the time and he had decided to hold hard to his bed and let the roof come down on him if it had to. The hospital was a one-story wooden building and he really thought he was as safe in it as he would be anywhere. Moreover, he was quite unable to walk, so his fortitude could hardly be called voluntary, but he had scarcely had time to steel himself for the worst when his door was thrown open and in rushed General Funston.
"We must carry out the Governor!" he shouted; "we must carry out the Governor!"
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