MINIATURES
a coming bout. He was an agreeable fellow, but had an unhealthy look, and my anticipation that he would be beaten in the coming contest was verified by the result.
“Uncle Joe” and O'Brien took off their coats and, with raised fists, faced each other in front of the inn, and in this attitude were photographed. From there we went to the Merion Cricket Club at Haverford, where we lunched with a large party of ladies and gentlemen, and some of us made speeches. He spoke sensibly and with a certain persuasiveness. A tall, gaunt, grizzled and homely man, with a fund of anecdote from the prairies and with rugged bluntness of phrase, he gives the impression of possessing character and resolution. At this luncheon, being one of those who appreciate his public life and services, I had a personal and, in a sense, a confidential chat with him. He made it plain to me that he thought Roosevelt, in his disturbance of all existing interests and conditions and his use of the power of the presidency to advance his friends and control the succession, had done much harm.
It is the fate of every old lion when his teeth begin to loosen and his legs to stiffen to fall a prey to the jackals who howl and hunt in packs. Even now, as this is written, March 19, 1910, the jackals are gathering around “Uncle Joe” with the chances that his work is over.
Taft
Monday, February 22, 1909, at the dinner of the alumni of the University of Pennsylvania, I sat through the evening alongside of the Honorable William H. Taft, and made this memorandum the next morning. He said to me:
“You were about to say something to me this morning when we met at the Academy of Music and were interrupted?”
"Oh, I was only about to express my surprise at your
