[Sidenote: =Of Dutch descent=]
=185. Theodore Roosevelt as a Boy.= Although the son of a rich
man, Roosevelt both as boy and man was most democratic. One of his
forefathers, Klaes Martensen van Roosevelt, came from Holland to
New York in the steerage of a sailing vessel, a most lowly way to
travel. This was long ago, before Peter Stuyvesant was governor of New
Netherland, as New York colony was then called.
Young Roosevelt had learned a few words of an old Dutch baby-song. When
in South Africa, he pleased the Dutch settlers by repeating the few
words he still remembered. The settlers still teach this song to their
children, though their forefathers left Holland for that country more
than two hundred and fifty years ago.
[Illustration: THEODORE ROOSEVELT
_From a photograph by Bell_]
Roosevelt's mother was a charming southern woman, who was true to the
South in the Civil War; her brothers were in the Confederate Navy. One
night, as she was putting the children to bed, Theodore broke out into
a rather loud prayer for the Union soldiers. The mother only smiled.
[Sidenote: =Absence of sectional bitterness=]
The father stood for the Union and for Lincoln. He helped fit out
regiments and cared for the widow and the orphan. But there was no
quarreling in this home over these differences. What a fine example to
set before children! No wonder Roosevelt could refer with pride, when a
man, to the heroic deeds of the Blue and the Gray.
[Sidenote: =What the Roosevelt children did=]
Theodore was a sickly boy. Hence he was sent to a private school or
had a tutor. The children spent their summers among the delights of a
country home. They had all sorts of frolicsome games. They had pets:
cats, dogs, rabbits, woodchucks, crows, and a Shetland pony. They ran
barefoot and joined their elders in playing at haying, harvesting, and
picking apples. In the fall they climbed the hickory and the chestnut
trees in search of nuts. Sometimes they played "Indians," in real
fashion, by painting hands and faces with pokeberry juice!
But the children thought that by far the happiest time was Christmas.
Roosevelt declares that he never knew another family to have so jolly a
time at that season of the year.
[Sidenote: =Praises father as model man=]
Roosevelt makes a statement I wish every boy could make: "My father was
the best man I ever knew." Roosevelt, the father, did not permit his
children to become selfish. Each was taught to divide his gifts--not
always an easy thing for older folks to do. In this home the children
were taught to avoid being cruel and to practice kindness. Idleness
was forbidden. The children were kept busy doing interesting things.
Neither was young Roosevelt permitted to play the coward. He was taught
to face unpleasant things like a man. His father could never stand a
lie, even if it were only a "white" one. There was no room in that home
for the coward or the bully.
[Sidenote: =Enters Harvard=]
At fifteen, after a year or more spent in Egypt, Palestine, and
Germany, Theodore came home a more enthusiastic American than ever. He
now began to prepare for college. He entered Harvard in 1876. He made
a good but not a brilliant student. Throughout his course he taught a
mission Bible class. He would not be without something to do even on
Sunday.
[Sidenote: =A boxing match=]
He graduated with Phi Beta Kappa honors. Yet he was not a "bookworm,"
but fond of all college sports. He was a genuine sportsman without
being "sporty," as a boxing match once proved. One day Roosevelt and
another student were having a hard fight. Students crowded around.
The battle was hot. Time was called. Roosevelt promptly dropped his
hands, while the other fellow landed a smashing blow on Roosevelt's
nose. "Foul! foul!" shouted the students. "No! He did not hear," cried
Roosevelt, and warmly shook hands with the offending student. How many
boys can stand a blow in the face and not get angry? Roosevelt could.
[Sidenote: =Fought hard for health=]
Roosevelt had a resolute will, and he determined to make himself
stronger, so far as he could. He took boxing lessons, and became
skilled in this art. He rode horseback in the chase. He took long
tramps into the dark woods of Maine. In the summer he went on canoe
trips, and in winter on long hikes on snowshoes.
This frail boy, through his determination, became a man noted for his
ruggedness and ceaseless energy. He had a keen love of adventure. As a
rancher, hunter and explorer he met constant hardship and danger. But
Roosevelt welcomed it all as part of the game.
[Sidenote: =Beginnings of political life=]
=186. Enters Politics.= He joined a local Republican association in
New York. His rich friends laughed at him for joining hands with
saloonkeepers and "ward heelers." They would not do it, but this young
democrat did. He was nominated for the assembly. He must now show his
mettle. He began canvassing the saloon vote. A saloonkeeper declared
his license too high. Roosevelt declared it too low; he said if elected
he would make it higher. In spite of opposition he won.
Before he got through at Albany he learned that no man could be a
fearless leader whose moral character was weak. Another lesson he
learned was that a man must act in office as if he were never to hold
another. He was elected three times to the assembly and made a name for
himself in fighting bad laws and demanding good ones.
[Sidenote: =Often lived life of cowboy on ranches=]
=187. Western Life.= After this, Roosevelt spent a number of years
in the great Northwest. These years added to his strength and helped
him become finely developed both physically and morally. In the time
he spent on the ranches of this wild region and on a Dakota ranch of
his own, he lived as a cowboy. He was a young man then, and with all
the enthusiasm of youth he hunted the big game of the Rockies, rode
the "bucking broncho," and slept with his saddle for a pillow in the
"round-up."
This life tested courage as well as endurance, but Roosevelt was equal
to the test. One day a drunken fellow with pistols in his belt ordered
him to treat the crowd. Roosevelt knocked him down and took his guns
from him.
[Sidenote: =Law enforcement under difficulties=]
Another time a boat was stolen, and Roosevelt, with two other men,
started down the river in pursuit. They caught the three thieves, but
an ice jam prevented them from going farther. Through days of bitter
cold the whole party followed the slowly moving jam. After while there
was nothing left to eat but bread made with the brown river water.
But Roosevelt was a deputy sheriff. He was determined to punish the
lawbreakers.
Finally provisions and a wagon were found. Leaving his men, Roosevelt
started with his prisoners on a two-days' overland trip. He had a
driver, but he himself tramped through the mud with his gun, behind
the wagon. At last after a one hundred and fifty mile trip, the
lawbreakers were landed in jail.
[Sidenote: =Wins admiration of West=]
In this big young country where bravery and manliness meant so much,
the people thought there was no one like him.
=188. Returns to Politics.= He was surprised just before he left for
the east to find that he was to be nominated for mayor of New York, at
the early age of twenty-eight. He was defeated.
[Sidenote: =Fights spoilsmen of all parties=]
He served as Civil Service Commissioner for four years under President
Harrison and for two years under Grover Cleveland, a Democrat. He was
not head of the commissioners, but he worked so hard and fought the
"spoilsman" so boldly that everybody called it Roosevelt's Commission.
He had to fight Republicans and Democrats alike, for they were bent on
turning all men out of office simply because the positions were needed
for their party workers.
[Sidenote: =Roosevelt and the children of the tenement=]
In 1895 Roosevelt was appointed police commissioner for New York
City. As head of the Police Board he was on the Health Board, too. He
took special delight in looking after playgrounds for the children
of the slums. He was aided by Jacob Riis, who wrote _How the Other
Half Lives_. Roosevelt's idea was to take children from the streets
and put them in playgrounds to prevent them from becoming "toughs."
A Washington city editor said, "Roosevelt is the biggest man in New
York City. I saw a steady stream of people go up and down the stairs
which led to police headquarters. He has more visitors than the
President." The truth is, as police commissioner for all New York he
was commander-in-chief of an army.
[Sidenote: =Merit system for police=]
A policeman before could not get promoted without a "pull." But
Roosevelt changed this. A Civil War veteran who had served for a long
time as a policeman and had no "influence" rescued twenty-eight men and
women from drowning. Congress had given him two medals, but New York
City did nothing. Roosevelt came. The veteran, one night, plunged into
the icy river and rescued a woman. Roosevelt showed his appreciation
by promoting him. Every man on the force did his best now, for he knew
promotion would come.
[Sidenote: =Builds up United States Navy=]
Roosevelt was called to be Assistant Secretary of the Navy, under
President McKinley. He built up the navy and sent Dewey with the fleet
to the Pacific. The war with Spain came (1898). Roosevelt resigned from
his office, raised the Rough Riders, and took command with Colonel Wood.
=189. Congress Orders Medal.= For bravery in leading the Rough Riders
in a gallant charge up San Juan Hill in the face of a murderous fire he
was promoted, and a medal was ordered for him.
He went back to New York with his Rough Riders. They fairly worshiped
him. "He knows everybody in the regiment," said one. "He is as ready
to listen to a private as a major-general," said another. The boys
presented him with a statue of the "Broncho Buster." Tears ran down the
sun-tanned faces as a comrade made a touching speech. Roosevelt now was
a real hero.
[Sidenote: =Defies bosses as governor=]
On his return from war he was elected governor of New York. He told
the leaders of his party that he would be controlled by no man or set
of men. He said that he would gladly talk with all classes of men, but
must be permitted to make up his own mind. This was plain talk for the
"bosses." "He just plays the honesty game," said a Tammany politician.
[Sidenote: =National recognition of his work=]
But he had the same old battles as in the days when he was a young
man in the assembly. He tried to run the government of the state in
a businesslike manner, and his fight for cleaner politics was so
determined that it caught the interest of the entire country.
[Illustration: COLONEL ROOSEVELT AND A GROUP OF ROUGH RIDERS]
[Sidenote: =Becomes Vice-President=]
After two years he was nominated for the vice-presidency. The New York
"bosses" were glad because they knew that as president of the Senate he
could do very little to disturb them. But he had set a good example,
and the great man who brought notice of his nomination said, "There is
not a young man in the United States who has not found your life and
influence an incentive to better things and higher ideals."
He made a whirlwind campaign. He spoke for eight weeks, in twenty-four
states, traveling more than twenty thousand miles, making nearly seven
hundred speeches to three million citizens.
[Sidenote: =Succeeds McKinley=]
In just six months President McKinley was assassinated and Roosevelt
became President.
[Sidenote: =How he had risen to high office=]
=190. At Height of Ambition.= The young man who had made himself
strong, who cherished the memory of his father and mother, who
had taught the mission class while in college, who had joined the
Republican Club against the advice of his friends, who had fought
against spoilsmen in state and national politics, who battled for the
right of children to a breathing place in New York City, who had led
the Rough Riders up San Juan Hill, who had stood as governor of New
York against wrongdoing in high as well as low places, who was made
Vice-President against his will, for the good of his party, now stood
at the height of political power in America.
The people loved him so well that they called him to be President a
second time; and that, too, by the largest majority ever given to any
President. He was the youngest President ever elected.
[Sidenote: =Square deal, his motto=]
His motto as President was "a square deal for everybody." He did many
wonderful things as President: he stopped men from stealing public
lands in the West; he built great dams in the dry regions to hold the
water for raising crops; he established national parks containing
millions of acres of woodland; he kept millions of acres of coal lands
from falling into the hands of private companies; he established
fifty-one national reservations where birds might nest and live
protected from harm. How he did enjoy saving what nature had given men!
[Sidenote: =A great writer=]
Down to his time, Roosevelt was the most learned man ever President. He
knew more subjects and knew them better than most men. He was a great
writer. For a long time he thought that writing was to be his career.
It turned out to be only a small part of his crowded life, yet he wrote
over thirty books--more than any other President.
[Sidenote: =Roosevelt's books=]
He wrote histories, books on hunting, essays on American life and
ideals, and lives of famous men. His story of his own life is well
known. In his book, "The Strenuous Life," he tries to rouse other
people to as active and fearless a life as he himself lived. He wrote
always in vigorous, stirring language. Nearly every one agrees that
Roosevelt's books alone would have made him famous.
=191. President Taft, an Advocate of Peace.= Roosevelt was President
nearly two whole terms. He refused another term, and worked for the
nomination of his Secretary of War, William Howard Taft.
Taft was well fitted for his new tasks as President. He had held many
public offices. He had made a very wise and successful governor of the
Philippines.
[Illustration: WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT]
President Taft was deeply interested in the need of world peace. He
submitted to the Senate wide-reaching treaties to uphold peace with
France and Great Britain, and also a reciprocity treaty with Canada.
Under this last agreement the two countries were to treat each other's
trade alike, and some things were to be free of duty. The outcome was
disappointing. Canada failed to accept the reciprocity treaty, and the
Senate passed the British and French peace treaties only after changing
them greatly.
The passage of a new tariff bill caused a sharp division among the
Republicans. The tariff was much criticized; but President Taft
defended it. This was one reason why, in the second half of his term,
the lower house of Congress became Democratic.
[Sidenote: =New laws passed=]
A divided Congress could not easily agree on any needed laws. Yet many
good laws were passed during Taft's presidency. One was a Parcel Post
measure. Two others proposed constitutional amendments for the taxation
of incomes, and the election of United States senators directly by the
people. Two new states, New Mexico and Arizona, were admitted to the
Union.
The growing differences between the two wings of the Republicans in
1912 led to the nomination of both Taft and Roosevelt. Both were
defeated by Woodrow Wilson.
[Sidenote: =Taft professor at Yale=]
After he left the presidency, Mr. Taft became professor of law at
Yale. But he now worked more earnestly than ever in behalf of world
peace. His sincere and generous efforts in this cause won him increased
influence and respect throughout the nation.
=192. Roosevelt's Active Life as Ex-President.= Roosevelt, after
his defeat in 1912, started out to explore a Brazilian river. Four
years before he had also made a hunting trip through the tropical
wildernesses of Africa.
[Sidenote: =Explores Brazilian river=]
Now Roosevelt and his party went into a jungle where no white man had
been before. They were faced with tremendous hardships of all kinds.
The trip was longer than they expected, and there was little food in
the jungle. They ate palm cabbages, and were glad to find a bit of wild
honey or shoot a monkey.
[Sidenote: =A hazardous voyage=]
Most of the party became ill with fever. But they scarcely dared halt.
With their few provisions they were in danger of starving. Roosevelt
begged the party to leave him behind, but no one would hear of it. So
with his party Roosevelt pushed on to civilization, at grave risk to
his life. The Brazilian government renamed the six-hundred-mile river
he explored Rio Roosevelt.
[Sidenote: =In the World War=]
In the great World War, Roosevelt stood for the Allies from the first.
He opposed our neutrality and our failure to get ready for the war
which he saw coming.
When America declared war he begged to take an army to Europe. Although
for some reason he was not sent, he did send four sons. Two of them,
Theodore and Archie, were wounded, and Quentin gave his life flying and
fighting inside the German lines.
In January, 1919, Theodore Roosevelt died. No other man carried the
love and admiration of the boys and girls as did Roosevelt. The
friendly name "Teddy" was the children's name for this great man.