On the whole, it is rather surprising that Theodore Roosevelt ever
lived to grow up and become the President of the United States. He was
an exceedingly delicate child, suffering such tortures with asthma that
on many occasions his father was obliged to harness his four-in-hand
in the middle of the night, take the boy from his bed, and drive many
miles, in order that he might get his breath.
To my thinking, his inherent manliness, his independence of thought
and action, his firm determination to do his duty as he sees it, found
early expression in the character of Theodore Roosevelt when, as a
youth, in search of health and strength, he went to the great west. It
is probable that, while yet a young man, he was ambitiously inspired
to do something out of the ordinary, and was shrewd enough to know
that, to win success in life’s undertakings, vigorous health is a prime
requisite. He elected the arid plains and mountains of our western
country, as a likely locality wherein he might build up a constitution
sturdy and strong.