The library where the President met the party was a dark room with a low ceiling. At the farther end of the apartment was a desk table, at which the Chief Executive sat. The ornaments about the room were tawdry and cheap, showing how little attention was paid to appearance; nevertheless, everything was scrupulously clean. Books and papers were scattered about in confusion; but, as we afterwards learned, this grand disorder was due to the fact that the President was preparing for his departure from the capital, a fugitive from the conquerors who were even then just outside the city. All thought of the peculiar personal appearance of President Krüger was dispelled when he spoke, or even when he was listening to anything of importance; for he conveyed the impression of being the possessor of a great reserve force, and of a wonderful mental power which grasped a subject instantly and with precision. Once in touch with the workings of his great brain, his untidy appearance was forgotten, and you thought of him as a magnificent relic of the noble Dutch blood, one who had reclaimed a new continent from wild beasts and wilder savages; a man who had fought his way, foot by foot, into the great veldt and into the mountains, and had built a home for thousands of contented followers, only to be driven out by a more powerful nation. At the time when the messenger boy presented the greetings from the young Americans, the President was visibly worried and his mind was evidently occupied by other matters. Within a few hours he expected to move once more from the place where he had settled, as he had done when he was a young man. But this time he was to go he knew not where, a fugitive from an overwhelming foe. As Mr. Reitz translated the speech which little Jimmie Smith cleverly delivered when he presented the documents he carried, the President listened graciously and thanked the boy heartily for the expressions of sympathy conveyed in the message. Coming at that time, it must have given him some little hope that the first republic of the world would do something towards saving to the list of nations these two republics of South Africa. A granddaughter of President Krüger told me that, after he left, Mrs. Krüger, who stayed in Pretoria, spent much time reading the book of American newspaper and magazine clippings regarding the Boer war which accompanied the message from Philadelphia. She was deeply gratified to note the sympathetic sentiments so strongly stated in the American press. [Illustration: A. D. T. Messenger James Smith, in front of President Krüger’s house, immediately after presenting the message from the American children.] As soon as the presentation took place the President shook hands with every one present, and then dismissed them politely, saying, “You must excuse me now, as matters of great importance concerning the state occupy my mind.” That night, just before midnight, the President and Secretary Reitz left Pretoria.