LeRoy, my faithful, able and efficient private secretary, contracted
tuberculosis, and fell a victim to it after a long and gallant fight.
At Honolulu we met with a severe disappointment. It was of course
our duty to call on Governor Dole. We were advised that silk hats
and frock coats must be donned for this visit, and it was perishing
hot. We reached the palace in a reeking perspiration and had a long
wait in a suffocating room. When Mr. Dole appeared, he was closely
followed by an attendant bearing a large and most attractive-looking
bottle carefully wrapped in a napkin, and our spirits rose. But,
alas! It contained Poland water.
At Tokio we had an audience with the Emperor and were received by the
Empress as well. In the high official who had charge of the palace
where these events took place, I discovered an old University of
Michigan graduate who made the occasion especially pleasant for me.
We finally reached Manila on the morning of June 3. Although the
thermometer was in the nineties, a certain frigidity pervaded the
atmosphere on our arrival, which General MacArthur, the military
governor, seemed to regard in the light of an intrusion.
He had been directed to provide suitable office quarters for us. To
our amazement and amusement we found desks for five commissioners
and five private secretaries placed in one little room in the
Ayuntamiento.
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