"Roosevelt, sitting at his desk, overheard me.
"'What's that you are saying?' he asked.
"I repeated what I had said to Mr. Taft.
"'Why do you think I should not kill bears?' demanded the President.
"'Well, Mr. President,' I replied, 'you know that the various nations have their special symbols in the animal kingdom. America has the eagle, Britain the lion, France the cock, and Russia, well——'
"He got up, laughing and came over to me.
"'Nevertheless,' he said, 'I shall go right ahead and kill bears!'
"Before he left on that hunting trip I went to see him and asked as a special favour that he give me the skin of one of the bears he should kill.
"He refused, saying that if he were to start presenting trophies to his friends they would all be after him.
"At that I said to him, 'If I were asking this for myself, Mr. President, I would not pursue the matter further, but I am not asking it for myself. I want that bear skin for our Emperor.'