Roosevelt had called the momentous conference at Oyster Bay to decide what should be done about Cuba, and we escaped by only a few hours the terrible storm which swept east from the Gulf of Mexico that same evening. It was one of the worst storms the locality had ever known. It did untold damage to property, killed a number of people and by cutting the island off from outside communication gave the United States a short period of acute uneasiness on account of the thousands of American soldiers quartered in Cuba and the big fleet of American battleships lying in Havana harbour. The waters of Hampton Roads were so rough that after boarding the Dolphin for the trip up the Chesapeake and the Potomac to Washington we went ashore at Fort Monroe and took the train.

Busy Years

These were the days when Mr. Roosevelt, Mr. Root and Mr. Taft were known and very aptly caricatured as “The Three Musketeers,” a thing which both pleased and amused them. Mr. Roosevelt was, of course, D’Artagnan, Mr. Root was Athos and Mr. Taft was Porthos, and they worked together in such harmony and with such high mutual regard as one remembers now with singular satisfaction.