“Now it is not well for the white manTo hurry the Aryan brown,For the white man riles and the Aryan smiles,And it weareth the white man down.And the end of the fight is a tombstone whiteWith the name of the late deceased,And the epitaph drear: ‘A fool lies hereWho tried to hurry the East.’â€
“Now it is not well for the white manTo hurry the Aryan brown,For the white man riles and the Aryan smiles,And it weareth the white man down.And the end of the fight is a tombstone whiteWith the name of the late deceased,And the epitaph drear: ‘A fool lies hereWho tried to hurry the East.’â€
“Now it is not well for the white manTo hurry the Aryan brown,For the white man riles and the Aryan smiles,And it weareth the white man down.And the end of the fight is a tombstone whiteWith the name of the late deceased,And the epitaph drear: ‘A fool lies hereWho tried to hurry the East.’â€
“Now it is not well for the white man
To hurry the Aryan brown,
For the white man riles and the Aryan smiles,
And it weareth the white man down.
And the end of the fight is a tombstone white
With the name of the late deceased,
And the epitaph drear: ‘A fool lies here
Who tried to hurry the East.’â€
It was decided at once by everybody, including the doctors, Mr. Root and President Roosevelt, that Mr. Taft must leave the Islands as soon as he was able to travel, and there were several reasons, besides those connected with health, why it seemed best for us to return to the United States. The principal one was that Congress was becoming very active with regard to Philippine matters, and as Mr. Taft was anxious that the right kind of legislation should be passed, he wished to go to Washington and present the facts about the situation as he had found them during his long hand-to-hand struggle with the problem. Mr. Root cabled him that his presence in Washington was necessary and granted him a three months’ leave of absence from his duties as Governor, while General Wright was appointed vice-Governor to fill his place for the time being.
Mr. Worcester was the ranking member of the Commission, but my husband felt that he had not quite the same talent for genially dealing with every kind of person, whether evasive Filipino or dictatorial Army officer, which General Wright so conspicuously displayed, and, moreover, Mr. Worcester was entirely engrossed with the problems of his department, which included health and sanitation and the satisfactory adjustment of the difficulties connected with the government of the non-Christian tribes. These were matters which appealed to Mr. Worcester’s scientific mind and which he vastly preferred to the uncongenial task of administering the routine of government, so he was onlytoo willing not to be encumbered with the duties of Governor. This, I understand, was Mr. Worcester’s attitude throughout his thirteen years as Secretary of the Interior, during which time he was always the ranking Commissioner with the first right, under a promotion system, to the Governorship whenever a vacancy occurred in that office.
The transportGrantwas assigned for our use by General Chaffee, and we made our preparations for an extended absence.
One incident of my husband’s convalescence in the hospital I think I must relate. In an adjoining room General Frederick Funston was recovering from an operation for appendicitis and he was sufficiently far advanced to be able to walk around, so he used to call on Mr. Taft quite often. Now General Funston, for the benefit of those who have no mental picture of him, is by no means gigantic. He has the bearing of a seven-foot soldier, but the truth is he is not more than five feet three or four inches in height.
One day there was an earthquake of long duration and extended vibration which would have been sufficient to destroy Manila had it not lacked a certain upward jerk calculated to unbalance swaying walls. One gets used to earthquakes in the Orient in a way, but no amount of familiarity can make the sensation a pleasant one. My husband was alone at the time and he had decided to hold hard to his bed and let the roof come down on him if it had to. The hospital was a one story wooden building and he really thought he was as safe in it as he would be anywhere. Moreover, he was quite unable to walk, so his fortitude could hardly be called voluntary, but he had scarcely had time to steel himself for the worst when his door was thrown open and in rushed General Funston.
“We must carry out the Governor!†he shouted; “we must carry out the Governor!â€
“But how are you going to do that, General?†asked Mr. Taft.
He knew quite well that General Funston, in his weakened condition, would be incapable of carrying an infant very far.
“Oh, I have my orderly with me,†responded the doughty General, and by this time he had begun to get a firm grasp on the mattress while behind him hurried a soldier, shorter even than his chief, but with the same look of dauntless determination in his eye.
In spite of the straining on the rafters, Mr. Taft burst out laughing and flatly refused to let them try to move him. Fortunately for them all the upward jerk necessary to bring down the roof didn’t occur, so there is no way of telling whether or not, for once in his life, General Funston started something that he couldn’t finish.
We sailed from Manila on Christmas Eve, 1901, and, much as I had enjoyed my life and experiences in our new world of the Philippines, I was glad to see the tropic shores fade away and to feel that we were to have a few months in our own land and climate, and among our own old friends, before I sighted them again.