He is always smiling, cheerful, always amusing, but when the dignity of his official position is threatened he can be serious enough.

When he was charge d'affaires in Havana a young Cuban journalist assaulted him.

That journalist is still in jail.

In Brussels a German officer tried to blue-pencil a cable Gibson was sending to the State Department.
Those who witnessed the incident say it was like a buzz-saw cutting soft pine.
When the present administration turned out the diplomats it spared the consuls-general and consuls.

It was fortunate for the State Department that it showed this self-control, and fortunate for thousands of Americans who, when the war-cloud burst, were scattered all over Europe.