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by which we signify the qualities of duty, of mercy, of devotion to the right, of lofty disinterestedness in battling for the good of others. There have been other men as great and other men as good; but in all the history of mankind there are no other two great men as good as these, no other two good men as great. Widely though the problems of today differ from the problems set for solution to Washington when he founded this nation, to Lincoln when he saved it and freed the slave, yet the qualities they showed in meeting these problems are exactly the same as those we should show in doing our work to-day."

This thing he did, exhibited the same qualities that Washington and Lincoln did in the settlement of the problems of his time and with them makes up the trio of immortal American heroes.

HIS BIRTHPLACE AND BOYHOOD

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CHAPTER II

HIS BIRTHPLACE AND BOYHOOD

S the birthplace of Theodore Roosevelt is only ten minutes' walk from where I am writing, I

thought I would go over and see what it looked like and describe it outside and in, as a proper setting for this chapter on his birth and childhood. To my deep regret I found that the old house had been torn down and a little two-story brick business building had been put up in its place. I entered the store and asked the man if that was the site on which Roosevelt was born. He said, "Yes," and that the old house had been taken away about a year before. I asked him if any part of the old building had been left in the new. He said, "No." I continued, "Is there not, about the place, a window out of which Theodore looked, or a piece of flooring over which he romped, or a banister down which he slid?" He answered, "Not one!" "I am sorry," I said, "for there are thousands of people who would cross a continent or come the length of an ocean to look at the place where Theodore Roosevelt was born, and pay their homage at this shrine.”

Well, just here in this sweatshop district, which sixty years ago was a rich, fashionable, residential neighborhood, here at No. 28 East 20th Street, just off Broadway, New York City, Theodore Roosevelt was

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