I had been a member of Washington’s official family for five years and knew as well as need be the various phases of the position I was about to assume, so my plans were not so difficult to put into form, however difficult I may have found them to put into execution.

We made a trip to Panama in February before the Inauguration and did not reach Washington until the end of the month when we went to stay with our friends, Mr. and Mrs. William J. Boardman, and their daughter, Miss Mabel Boardman, at their residence on Dupont Circle. We spent with them a busy week as the recipients of varied and delightful hospitality, which was terminated by a splendid reception in our honour on the evening of the second of March.