There is no pomp of circumstance, nor hardly dignity in this setting, except the dignity of his seriousness and his loneliness.
* * * * * There was a general expectation that Page would become a member of President Wilson's Cabinet, and the place for which he seemed particularly suited was the Secretaryship of Agriculture.

The smoke of battle had hardly passed away, therefore, when Page's admirers began bringing pressure to bear upon the President-elect.

There was probably no man in the United States who had such completely developed views about this Department as Page; and it is not improbable that, had circumstances combined to offer him this position, he would have accepted it.

But fate in matters of this sort is sometimes kinder than a man's friends.

Page had a great horror of anything which suggested office-seeking, and the campaign which now was started in his interest greatly embarrassed him.