Mr. Roosevelt ended a most delightful and characteristic speech by
the frank confession that he liked being President:-
" He was not going to speak any cant. It was a great thing to have a big place. He remembered when he was President sitting at a table with six or eight other statesmen, and each was explain- ing how he regarded being in public life,—how nothing but the sternest sense of duty kept him in it, how the strain of working for a thankless constituency was telling upon him, and nothing but the fact that he felt he ought to do it kept him in a position so distasteful. That went round the table until it came to him. This was in his first term. He said ; Now, gentlemen, I do not wish thero to be any misunderstanding. I like my job, and I hope to keep it for four years more.' He did not think any President ever enjoyed himself more, but the other fellow did not always find it so pleasant as he did ; and he did not think any ex-President ever enjoyed himself more after he left office."
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