to stay all night with me. I met him at the Pennsylvania Station, where I always met him when he came in on the Congressional Limited about nine o'clock. How sweet to see him, the familiar bag in hand, the great overcoat which I always loved, and which used to make him look even more of a giant than he was! And how I remember his cheery, "Hullo, dearie!" when it seemed to me I could feel myself being kissed as he said it. And the query which invariably followed, "Glad to see me?" as I tried to match my shorter steps to his long ones as we made immediately for a taxi. Even now, so vividly does the sight of the Pennsylvania Station recall these meetings to me, that I sometimes think I shall scream with terror to realize anew that he is actually gone, that I shall see him no more!
That night we were talking and Mr. Harding said to me, "Nan, guess with whom I came over in the train tonight?" I couldn't guess. "Charles E. Hughes," Mr. Harding said, and there was pride and respect in his tone. It was then that he told me how he used to think if he could ever make the nominating speech for a presidential candidate he would have attained his highest ambition. But, he added, this wouldn't satisfy Mrs. Harding. I recalled how in 1910 it was rumored that it had been Mrs. Harding who took her husband's gubernatorial defeat with rebellious feeling. And Mr. Harding was reported to have remained calm throughout, merely averring, "Well, that is the last time I shall ever run for anything!" This recalls also to my mind a clipping in my Harding book, and I think the anecdote given is amusing enough to quote:
Who Should Get Harding's Job if He Should Die? Guess!
"Who would take President Harding's place if he should die?" an applicant for naturalization, Pieroni Amato, of 1339 West Grand Avenue, was asked yesterday by Judge Joseph Sabath of the Superior Court.
"His wife," was the answer.
Amato was given final papers.
