© Harris S. Ewing.THE STATE DINING-ROOM OF THE WHITE HOUSE, SHOWING TAPESTRY PRESENTED TO MRS. TAFT BY THE EMPRESS OF JAPAN
© Harris S. Ewing.THE STATE DINING-ROOM OF THE WHITE HOUSE, SHOWING TAPESTRY PRESENTED TO MRS. TAFT BY THE EMPRESS OF JAPAN
© Harris S. Ewing.THE STATE DINING-ROOM OF THE WHITE HOUSE, SHOWING TAPESTRY PRESENTED TO MRS. TAFT BY THE EMPRESS OF JAPAN
Baron Tajiri wanted to be appointed Minister of Finance when Yamagata retired, but he was put, instead, at the head of the Board of Audits, a life position. Marchioness, now Princess Oyama, wife of the Field Marshal, told my husband this on the occasion of his second visit to Japan, and said that the disappointment had made Tajiri very much of a recluse. In any case, Mr. Taft has never seen him again, although he has tried to seek him out and has made inquiry about him every time he has been in Japan.
We were very much interested in our Legation at Tokyo. It was the first one we had ever seen that the American government owned. The house was not what it ought to have been, but it was surrounded by spacious and beautifully kept grounds and was so much better than the nothing that we have in other countries that we liked to dwell upon it as an honourable exception to the disgraceful and miserly policy pursued by Congress in dealing with our representatives to foreign capitals.
Mrs. Wright, with her daughter Katrina, had decided to remain with us in Yokohama for the summer, so we took a cottage together on The Bluff, a high foreign residence sectionof the city, and prepared to make ourselves most comfortable.
Two days later the Commissioners and the rest of the party went aboard theHancockand we waved them good-bye from a harbour launch as they steamed away toward Manila.