The mother had to go along, the boy insisted, to see the great event, and so the trio found themselves shaking the hand of the President's secretary at the White House.
"Oh, the President is looking for you, all right," he said to the boy, and then the next moment the three were in a large room.

Mr.
Roosevelt, with beaming face, was already striding across the room, and with a "Well, well, and so this is my friend Curtis!" the two stood looking into each other's faces, each fairly wreathed in smiles, and each industriously shaking the hand of the other.
"Yes, Mr.President, I'm mighty glad to see you!" said the boy.
"I am glad to see you, Curtis," returned Mr.Roosevelt.
Then there came a white rose from the presidential desk for the mother, but after that father and mother might as well have faded away.

Nobody existed save the President and the boy.

The anteroom was full; in the Cabinet-room a delegation waited to be addressed.

But affairs of state were at a complete standstill as, with boyish zeal, the President became oblivious to all but the boy before him.
"Now, Curtis, I've got some pictures here of bears that a friend of mine has just shot.