distance, and it was 6.30 at night when Mr. Roosevelt arrived at the little settlement of summer cottages where his family was staying. There was no telegraph or telephone wire there, and he despatched a runner to the nearest one, ten miles below.

His position was most trying. He wished to avoid the appearance of an indelicate haste in returning to Buffalo. Yet he could not be careless of his grave duty under the Constitution. Even then the nation might be without a chief.

It was nearly midnight when the messenger returned from the distant telephone, and he bore a message saying, "Come at once." In ten minutes the Vice-President tossed his suit case into a light vehicle, drew his hat down upon his head, and told the driver to go at full speed. He must ride through the night more than thirty miles down the mountain roads to reach the railway. The first part of the drive was along a mere trail. On one side stretched a steep bank down to the shores of a chain of little lakes, twenty to thirty feet below. On the other side rose the rugged mountain, which the wagon must hug or run the risk of tumbling into the water. Often the wheels would scrape against the rough

boulders or huge stumps, or drop into deep mudholes nearly to their hubs. A heavy fog made it impossible to see the road.

The driver himself, used

though he was to the way, hesitated to drive fast, but his passenger insisted, "Go on; go right ahead."

Daylight came while they were yet hurrying on. It was 5.20 when the Vice-President leaped out upon the station steps at North Creek, only to learn that William McKinley had died at two o'clock that morning.

The Vice-President found his secretary, Mr. Loeb, at North Creek, with a special train in readiness. The journey across the state began at once. Every effort was put forth by the railway men to cover the distance in the shortest possible time. At least one of the miles was made in forty-two seconds. The sympathetic people along the line knew the meaning and mission of the hurrying train. No one, however, could know the crowding thoughts of Theodore Roosevelt in the solitude of his mountain drive and of his eight hours within the curtained car of his special. No one could share with him the great responsibilities thus thrust upon him in a night. From Mt. Marcy to Buffalo it is four hundred

and forty miles. The Vice-President arrived at the latter place early in the afternoon of Saturday. Driving to the home of a personal friend, he found the Cabinet of the dead President awaiting him. For thirteen hours and a half the government had been without a constitutional head. The awful spell of the national tragedy was upon the company, numbering about forty persons, which was gathered in the library of the house. Greetings were exchanged in silence.

"Mr. Vice-President," said Secretary Root, the ranking member of the Cabinet present. Then his voice broke and tears blinded him. By a strange fortune this was the second time that Mr. Root had taken part in such a scene. As a friend he had stood with Vice-President Arthur, twenty years before, when, on the death of President Garfield from an assassin's wound, he was sworn in as President.

The Secretary of War told Mr. Roosevelt, in broken tones, that it was the wish of the Cabinet, for reasons of state, that there should be no further delay. All around him men were weeping. The Vice-President said: "I shall take the oath at once in accordance with your request, and in this hour of

deep national bereavement. I wish to state that it shall be my aim to continue, absolutely unbroken, the policy of William McKinley for the peace, prosperity, and honor of our beloved country." Then, as Judge Hazel read, a few words at a time, the Vice-President repeated after him the simple but solemn oath which all the presidents from Washington have taken: "I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States."

By sheer force of will the Vice-President summoned the strength to pronounce his pledge to his countrymen in a voice without a tremor. At the end of the oath he added, "And thus I swear." His uplifted hand fell to his side, his chin rested on his breast, and the twenty-fifth President of the United States stood in silent prayer.

President Roosevelt's first thought was for the sorrowing widow of the late President. He did all that a tender solicitude for her could suggest, and toward the friends of Mr. McKinley he showed every consideration. He went to Washington on the funeral train and thence to the burial at Canton, Ohio.

GRASPING THE REINS

The new President confronted with the most difficult task in American politics. Called by death to fill the place of a President chosen by the people. — Failure of other Vice-Presidents in the Presidency. President Roosevelt's unparalleled success in making a Roosevelt Cabinet out of a McKinley Cabinet and a Roosevelt administration out of a McKinley administration. He retains the friendship of Senator Hanna, the Warwick of the old administration. The country's confidence quickly won. He proves his right to leadership.

THE task of the new President was the most difficult one that can fall to a man in American politics. He had received his commission from the hand of Death and not from the people. They had chosen another for the place less than a year before, and by the largest majority that any President ever had received.

When his life had been so cruelly cut short, William McKinley's popularity was at flood tide. North and South, East and West, had been knit together in their affection for him. He and his party were in a harmony such as few Presidents had known. His administration was associated with an abound