The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1913-05-11
Photo by Clinedinst.

we gradually grew to style the Tennis
Cabinet; and then We extended the term
| to take in many of my old-time West
| ern friends, such as Ben Daniels, Seth
Bullock, Luther Kelly. and others who
| had taken part with me in more serious
i outdoor adventures than walking and
riding for pleasure.
| Most of the men who were oftenest
| with me on these trips-men like Maj.
| Gen. Leonard Wood, or Maj Gen.
/ Thomas Henry Barry, or Presley
| Marion Rixey. Surgeon General Of the
| Navy; or Robert Bacon. who was after
| ward Secretary of State; or James Gar
| field, who was Secretary of the Interior;
or Clifford Pinchot, who was Chief OF
the Forest Service-were better men
physically than was, but I could ride
| and walk we'll enough for us all thor
| oughly to enjoy it,
Real French Politeness.
Often, especially in the winters and
early springs, we would arrange for a
point to point walk, not turning aside
| for anything-for instance, swimming
Rock Creek or even the Potomac il II
came in our way. OF course under such
circumstances We had to arrange that
our return TO Washington should be
when it was dark, so that our appear
ance might scandalize no one. On sew
eraf occasions we thus swan Rock Creek
| in the early spring when the ice was
| floating thick upon it. II we swan the
| Potomac, We usually took off our clothes.
] | remember one such occasion when the
7 French Amba ssador, Jusserand. who was
| a member of the Tennis Cabinet, was
along, and, just as We were about to
get in to swim. somebody said: Mr..
Ambassador Mr.. Ambassador, you
haven't taken off your gloves" to which
he promptly responded, II think / will
leave them on; we might meet ladies'"
We liked Rock Creek for these walks
because we could do SO much scrambling
and climbing along the cliffs: there was
almost as much climbing when We
walked down the Potomac to Washing
ton from the Virginia end Of the Chain
Bridge. 1 would occasionally take some
big-game friend from abroad, Selous or
ST. George Littledale or Capt. Radcliffe
or Paul Niedicke, on these walks. Once
/ invited an entire class Of Officers who
were attending lectures at the War Col
lege to come on one of these walks; L
chose a route which gave us the hardest
climbing along the rocks and the deepest
crossings of the creek; and my army
friends enjoyed it hugely-being the right
sort, to a man. -
On March 1. 1909. three days before
leaving the Presidency, various members
of the tennis cabinet lunched with me at
the White House. Tennis cabinet. was
an elastic term, and. Of course, many
who ought to have been at the lunch
were for one reason or another, away
from Washington: but. to make UP Tor
this, a goodly number Of out-of-town
honorary members, so to speak, were
present-for instance, Seth Bullock, Luz
ther Kelly better known as Yellowstone
Kelly in the days when he was an army
scout against the Sioux, and Abernathy,
the wolf hunter. At the end of the lunch
Seth Bullock suddenly reached forward.
swept aside q mass of flowers which
made a centerpiece on the table, ana re-
vealed a bronze cougar by Proctor, which
was a parting gift to me. The lunch
party and the cougar were then photo-
graphed on the lawn.
Some of the younger officers VINO were
my constant companions on these walks
and rides pointed out to me the condi-
ton of utter physical worthlessness into
which certain of the elder ones had per-
mitted themselves to lapse. and the. very
bad effect this would certainly nave II
ever the army were called into service. 1
then looked into the matter for myself.
and was really shocked at what ! found.
Many of the older officers were 20 unit
physically that their conefusa ~ouo