My dear fellow, do you know the two most extraordinary things I have seen in your country? Niagara Falls and the President of the United States-both great wonders of nature.

Mr. Roosevelt feared such praise would be misunderstood and bring a reaction, so he said about it:

That was a very nice thing of Morley to say, so long as it is confined to one or two of my intimate friends who won't misunderstand it! Just at the moment, people are speaking altogether too well of me. . . . Reaction is perfectly certain to come under such circumstances, and then people will revenge themselves for feeling humiliated for having said too much on one side by saying too much on the other.

And discussing his popularity in the midst of its highest tide in 1906, before he had met any reverses, he reminds a friend in a letter that he is not thinking about his popularity, for he felt that if he was at that time popular, it would not be long before he became unpopular. He concludes: "I am not paying heed to public opinion. I am paying heed to the public interest."

Publicity always brings a dangerous experience. It will search out all the weakness of habit or trait in the individual. Limelight is likely to go to the head. It may become an opiate, and when gone may drive one to foolish sensationalism for its recovery or cause one to sit in soured and dispirited idleness. But Mr. Roosevelt proved his unegotistical selfconfidence by such a devotion to his country that no victory could overturn or no defeat sour him.

Through all conditions and with all available aid

he persevered to bring in better ways and days. He gathered all available evidence-he valued advice as he understood its source, and he viewed all sides before he came to a decision. But when he had reached a decision, he proceeded with patience and perseverance to carry it out with a self-confidence that did not question his ability or the ultimate outcome. That is the mark of a Christian leader who believes in the call of God and the sufficient "grace" that accompanies the call. It is the confidence of Paul, who affirmed, "I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me."

CHAPTER VII

A COURTEOUS CHRISTIAN FRIEND

"The highest type of philanthropy is that which springs from the feeling of brotherhood, and which, therefore, rests on the self-respecting, healthy basis of mutual obligation and common effort."-Theodore Roosevelt.

A man that hath friends must show himself friendly. -Prov. 18. 24.

I'

Na letter never published, and loaned to the writer by Mr. Bishop, Mr. Roosevelt differentiates between "sentiment" and sentimentality in answering a charge that he discounted both:

I regard sentiment as the great antithesis of sentimentality, and to substitute sentiment for sentimentality in my speech would directly invert my meaning. I abhor sentimentality, and, on the other hand, think no man is worth his salt who isn't profoundly influenced by sentiment and who doesn't shape his life in accordance with a high ideal.

Some German sympathizers mistook Mr. Roosevelt's association with the Kaiser and so tried in a personal visit to smother his intelligence by appealing to a blind admiration and thus win his support for their cause. Mr. Roosevelt acknowledged the courtesies shown him by the Kaiser on his visit to Germany and admitted that he corresponded with him but concluded, "Indeed, sirs, my relations with

the Kaiser have been exactly the same as with the King of the Belgians. Good afternoon."

It

Sentiment is clean, strong affection backed by intelligence and fed by respect. It is the basis of patriotism, happy life, and friendship. Without it one is marked as either heartless or brainless. does not make one soft or mushy but gives poise and ballast to the powers. The Man of Galilee loved John and wept over Jerusalem, but he also called the religious leaders "whited sepulchers" and lashed the grafting dealers out of the Temple. Theodore Roosevelt was a consistent, tender, and affectionate friend, but he too was a fearless assailant of evil and an ardent advocate of righteousness. Christ's disciples normally illustrate both traits.

Mr. Roosevelt always kept his feelings susceptible to impressions; he was never hard. He quickly saw the pathos of the Negro freedmen who fought with Jackson in 1812, "who were to die bravely as freemen only that their brethren might live on ignobly as slaves." They were to "shed their blood for the flag that symbolized to their kind not freedom but bondage." For at that time the United States permitted slavery.

He was not averse to expressing his affection for his friends. President Butler told me that in private he was exuberant in his manifestations. After saying of Mr. Riis that, next to his father, he was the "best man I have ever known," he added, "I learned to love him like a brother."

The newspaper men were all knit to him by genuine affection. A taxicab driver overheard one news