in reading aloud to his friends, adding that it was perfect doggerel, which in deed it was. Each of the hundreds of relics bore a vivid memory to him and suggested anecdotes that he would tell with indescribable humor, and one marvelled as he did, at the diverse experiences that had been recorded in his life. From each experience he seemed to have acquired knowledge, and not only this, but had laid it away in the storehouse of his memory to be picked out and used at the opportune moment. In seeing the Colonel meet people of all nationalities and of all stations in life, his versatility was simply marvellous. I shall never cease to be grateful that this great and good man ever came into my life and love. This portrait so life-like, beside being the tribute of a friend, fairly expresses the opinion of the business men of the United States with reference to Mr. Roosevelt. CHAPTER XXXI ESTIMATES OF GEN. LEONARD WOOD-SEC. FRANKLIN K. LANE-REV. J. R. DAY I WROTE Gen. Leonard Wood asking him for an estimate of his dear personal friend, Theodore Roosevelt, and received from him the following answer: "I shall be glad to help. I am sending you a brief statement which I sent George Wharton Pepper, of Philadelphia. It is short and to the point. and I believe will give you what you want.” The following is the estimate: Theodore Roosevelt's death has brought to many thousands a feeling of personal sorrow, and to all Americans a sense of great and irreparable loss to our country in this great crisis. We have lost the great leader. Theodore Roosevelt's life was one of service for country, for humanity, and for right as he saw it. If he feared anything, it was duty undone. Honest, upstanding, God-fearing, a man of vision, of wide experience, with a breadth of human sympathy which embraced all races, all creeds and all lands, he was easily the most inspiring, and hence the most dominant figure in American life since Abraham Lincoln. He is dead, but his influence lives after him. In the example of his life and work, in his ideals, we shall ever find inspiration for patriotic effort, and incentive to high endeavor. He loved the strenuous life with its fierce struggles. He knew that words alone are not sufficient and that we must |