CHAPTER I. THEODORE ROOSEVELT. SKETCH OF HIS LIFE MARKED CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MAN A PRODUCT OF THE AGE- BLOOD OF HEROES IN HIS VEINS IN AN AGE OF MATERIALISM HE STANDS AS THE GREAT EXPONENT OF THE VIRTUES-HIS FIRST HISTORICAL WORKAMBITIOUS TO DO DEEDS RATHER THAN CHRONICLE THEM. Restless as the sea his forefathers sailed to reach the new world; active as the soil that answered to the tickling of their hoes with bursts of golder laughter; fearless as the native chiefs who fought European encroachment on their domains with a savage valor worthy of the ancient Greeks; patient as the mothers who reared children in a wilderness where danger and death lurked on every hand, and with a soul as broadly sympathetic as the missionaries who led the way for the pioneer into the new world, Theodore Roosevelt, the twenty-sixth President of the United States, stands to-day the embodiment of Americanism. He is as much a product of the laws underlying all life as is the air we breathe or the country we inhabit; as much the result of the combination of harmonious forces as the battle-ship Brooklyn or the Constitution of the United States. Born to ease and luxury, President Roosevelt has lived a life of constant toil and struggle; heir to a delicate body his indomitable will has transformed it to a sinewy frame, wherein his active mind, bent on the conquest of evil, is supplied with an unfailing host ready at all times to fight for his ideals. What these ideals are he has made plainly apparent. The one trait of his character that stands out preeminent above all others is absolute frankness. In all his public life he has made no secret of his plans for the general good. Sincerity is the keynote of his nature. Having satisfied himself as to the truth of any matter he immediately takes the whole country into his confidence, relying on the good sense of the people for support in his battle for its establishment. As his life's motto he seems to have taken that comprehensive ritual of a brave man's creed enunciated by Shakespeare: "Beware of entrance to a quarrel; but, being in, bear't that the opposer may beware of thee." He must be sure of his ground before he espouses any cause, but once he has made the decision there is no thought of surrender. He is as great in defeat as in victory, because he fights for the truth in all its nakedness, and, while he may not succeed in his undertaking, the principle for which he battles remains impregnable. Among all the famous characters that make American history a continuous story of romance and adventure, none can compare with Theodore Roosevelt in purposeful action. From the day he first entered Harvard College to the day he stood up in Buffalo and, with eyes dim from grief, declared his intention of carrying out the policy of his murdered chief, he seems never to have rested. In college he was not only a diligent student, but the leader in all manly sports and pastimes. He wrestled and boxed, ran races and played football with the same tense earnestness that he gave to his studies. He could never bear to remain in second place in any adventure, and had his full share in the gay rout that keeps alive the humanity of young men getting the foundations of an education. No sooner was he out of college than he plunged into active work. The son of wealthy parents, he might have lived a life of idle luxury, letting his less fortunate fellows get on as best they could. The path was well beaten before him. Four generations of economy and thrift had placed him and all those with whom he was on intimate terms, beyond the need of toil, and the rosy gate of pleasure stood open before him. But the ways of the drawling and effeminate imitators of foreign degeneracy were as impossible to him as the ways of a trained ape would be to a royal Bengal tiger. He was the owner of a spirit that would not let him rest. His whole being demanded action, and his reason would be satisfied with nothing less than action to some good end. He plunged into literature and in less than two years completed a most incisive work, the "History of the American Navy in the War of 1812." This work was published before he was twenty-four years old, but young as the author was it bears the stamp of a finished historical investigator. For the period which it covers it is looked upon in the Navy as the final word, and a copy is kept in every ship's library. But to be simply a chronicler of noble thoughts and heroic deeds could not satisfy a man of Theodore Roosevelt's fiber. He had already gained a broad and firm grasp on the main threads of American history, and the ambition to be an actor in the growth and development of this great nation, even as his fathers had been before him, took possession of him, and he at once became active in the affairs of his State. Mr. Roosevelt early developed a liking for politics. He had descended from a long line of merchants, but his paternal ancestors for four generations had always taken an active interest in public affairs, and had served their city and State as aldermen, assemblymen and Congressmen. But in Theodore Roosevelt all the ambitions of his race seem to have crystallized in the one thought of country. In his philosophy, to be a free man under a free government is the nearest approach to earthly happiness. He became a hunter of wild beasts almost as soon as he was able to sight a rifle, and took as much pride in the trophies of the chase as any old viking would have done. The floors of his house at Oyster Bay are strewn with the skins of bears and mountain lions, as well as many of those of smaller though not less ferocious animals, slain by him in their native fastnesses. Horns of stag and moose decorate the halls, and sea-turtles are |