E 757 Con- ^ Tkeodore Kocs^veH' pennulife* E 757 .038 Copy 2 iDDDDQQSopSSaoSaaDDQcSDUDQuSmaQQDDmDLODOaQQDOaQaaOODODDaDDQOQCO^ idore Roosevelt By William C Deming ''^^^^^^^.■^^S.^n%^^^°^^^'^^^^^^'^^^^^^-^°-^^ Theodore Roosevelt By William C Deming .11 38: Theodore Roosevelt retired from the presidency March 4, 1909. Shortly thereafter he made his great hunting and explo- ration trip to Africa. Emerging from the jungle he was re- ceived and entertained with great honor in Egypt, France, Germany and by Great Britain. Returning to America early in the summer of 1910 his first extended tour was to Cheyenne, Wyoming, as the special guest of the Frontier association, where he witnessed that unique show. He spent three days in Cheyenne and was entertained one evening at the large sheep ranch of U. S. Senator Francis E. Warren. About one hundred visitors and local guests were present After dinner Colonel Roosevelt was surrounded by a number of newspaper men in the "bunk house" and for an hour talked as man to man. There was no formality and no restraint. William C. Doming, editor of the Wyoming State Tribune, was present on that occasion, and on the following day pub- lished this pen picture of Colonel Roosevelt : Gift Col- Roosevelt When He Was President As He Appeared in 1910 There are occasions which mark real mile posts in people's lives. But let the guest of honor he a cowboy, an ex-president, a traveler, a naturalist, a soldier, a writer, a lecturer, a Roosevelt, all in one, and the occasion becomes an epoch. Sitting around a new pine table on a big Wyoming ranch, while viands such as only kings at times command are served, is in itself quite satisfying to a hungry man- Yet after all it was not in the beautiful new ranch house on Pole creek, sixteen miles north of Cheyenne, where comfort, luxury and good cheer mingled uninterruptedly and lavishly for one hour that we saw the real Roosevelt. Though even there he divested himself of every suggestion of place and posi- tion, forgetting the historic welcome of royalty abroad and the cold shoulder of the "Old Guard" at home, and threw him, elf into the esprit of the informal affair like college boys at a class reunion. But it was after the dinner was served, and the first table had retired to the adjacent bunk house for coffee and cigars that we began to feel the presence of the master and get true glimpses of the weird, inexplicable character of the man. In the middle of the main floor was a long pine table, and on either side benches in lieu of chairs. One lamp dispelled the darkness of the hour and the smoke of the Havanas. Gathered in knots about the room were ex-cabinet officers, United States senators, newspaper men with international reputations, gov ernors, city officials, chauffeurs, and ranchmen. The cowboys and ranch hands of the Warren Livestock company came and went in the discharge of their duties, now and then lingering to catch a word from the old cowman whose range was the universe, and who has roped and hog-tied every honor within his native land. Even tfi(. ni\i'i;i(fs ol' slMi's si'ciiird to he peeping flircjugli the (ip/(Mi tliiois and w indows al a man who had rnn tlie ganntlet of hiiii.aii cinlcavor at .")], and is now i)Teparcd, if not eager to do it all o\ci- again. Ill the midst of the snioke and the babel of tongiies sat RooscNcIt, and those who eould get ncai" him sat opposite or besi(h' him, oi' hovered aronntl witiiin hearing distanee. The man or nation that tliinks wis(h)m is found only in the head ol' the Sphinx never ]nck O'Xeill. ami the colorcMf ti'oops. He discoui';;ed on the pi'esent peace, and any possihh' future War. telling ol' his plans to raise the I'jiited States volun- teers it' the opporlnnity e\('r comes in his time. He tiaii'|)ed through Afi'ica. sailed down the Xile. and dined with kings, discussed royalty and philosophy, compared, monaiclis and republics, and said theit' is a i>lace and a woi'k foi' caidi. One tired cowpinicher who had sle[)t all day Sunday came shambling (U)wn the stairs — it was a two-story affair —rubbing his i-ed e\-es, and I'eiiiarketl. "I thought I lu'ard a strange boss in the corral." Always and e\ei- the lighting s])irif of the man was dom inant. "I told the boys who enlisted with me in 1898 it would be no picnic— that the place of honor was the post of danger, and that each must expect to die." "^'Like the Trojan mothers, yon expected your men to return with their shiehls," and hefore we could finish tlie (|uo tation he added, "or upon them," and dashed away on another suhject. As in all else, he can give the other man a liandiea]), even in a quotation, and beat him to the finish. But we M'ho sat near him desii-ed to h( ar him talk about liimself and asked him many (|uestions that would helj) us to g:ain some understanding of this human dynamo, this composite man of the north and south, the east and the west, whom all respect, and none (luite comprehend. And he was just as ap proachable on that subject as any other. One of the party, call- ing attention to the fact that the New York Sun characterized his speeches as commonplaces and platitudes, he gritted his teeth and said "But I live them. " He is Just as willing to challenge any criticism of himself as to fight the battles of his country. "1 do not ])retend to he an orator,'" saul he, "})nt Avhat T say is true, and finds an echo in the hearts of the common people. As T spoke today, 'Beauty is fine, but strength is finer' — the strength of character and of mind and the ])ody that enables a man to eonciner a wild horse or conquer these broad plains.'' A comjiarison was suggesteil between him and Em- peror William, wdiereupon he said, "The kaiser inherited his ])lace — T made mine." Taking u]) another suggestion he remarked, ''Oh, 1 kiu)w they say I am not a scholar, but the great universities of Eu- rope w^ere ready to take a chance on that," thus coloring his answer with a bit of American humor. In this connection he remarked Sunday: "1 presume there are those wdio wdll criticise me for leaving the stand at Frontier park, and riding around the track, but I felt there were several thousand people who were curious to see me. and that it was as little as T could do to give them the opportunity." "After all." turning to J. M. Irwin, father of Charles, he said, slapping the old horseman on the shoulder with his soft hat, "to be the father and grandfather of children who ride like yours is greater than to be ju-esident or a king. Oh, boys, this is the life!" For the tiiiii! being this first citizen of the world let :il)so- lutely nothing ra:se a barrier between him and those who were intent upon seeing him. and hearing him talk. He was as nat- urally exuberant as a schoolboy who has won his first prize. He was so absolutely unaffected that he did not affect even modesty. Be was too earnest and honest to let a mere conven- tion destroy a eharaeler study of himself by those whose sym- pathy and friendship he could feel. And who kno\^ s but that as he looks back over thirty yoars. and tries to follow his own career from the Had Lands of Dakota to the presidency, and then through a royal tour across Europe that Roosevelt is a study and a problem to himself t He is the strangest man America has produced — a greater enigma, if not a greater character than Lincoln. He does not s)noke, l)ut occasionally sips l!is wine at dinner and when someone said at 9 o'clock, "('ome on Colonel, (|uit talking politics; it is time to go," he declared half humorously, but with Jacksonian emphasis and in the presence of all the assembled, "I have not said a damn word about politics." His favorite cuss-word, however, is "By George." He is a rare combination of unconventionality, candor, self- confidence, fearlessness, aggressiveness, positiveness, and ner vous physical enerpy, and it is no doubt this combination that has made him the popular leader lie is today. I cannot better close this hasty smnmary of Roosevelt's characteristics than by quoting some lines spoken recently in his honor by his lifelong friend, Henry Cabot Lodge : He dwelt with the tribes of the marsh and moor, He sat at the board of kings ; He tasted the toil of the burdened slave And the joy that triumph brings- But whether to jungle or palace hall, Or white-walled tent he came, He was a brother to king and soldier and slave; His welcome was the same. Cheyenne, Wyoming, August 10. 1!)19. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 013 981 502 6 i \ LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 013 981 502 61