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float:left; margin-left:-6em; width:6em; clear:both; } -dl.biblio dt.center { margin-left:0em; text-align:center; text-indent:0; } -dl.biblio dd { margin-top:.3em; margin-left:3em; text-align:justify; font-size:90%; } -p.biblio { margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; } -.clear { clear:both; } -p.book { margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; } -p.review { margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; font-size:80%; } -p.pcap { margin-left:0em; text-indent:0; text-align:center; margin-top:0; font-size:110%; } -p.pcapc { margin-left:4.7em; text-indent:0em; text-align:justify; } -span.attr { font-size:80%; font-family:sans-serif; } -span.pn { display:inline-block; width:4.7em; text-align:left; margin-left:0; text-indent:0; } -</style> -</head> -<body> - -<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Christmas at Sagamore Hill with Theodore Roosevelt, by Helen Topping Miller</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Christmas at Sagamore Hill with Theodore Roosevelt</p> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Helen Topping Miller</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: July 9, 2021 [eBook #65809]</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Tim Lindell, Stephen Hutcheson, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from images made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.)</div> - -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHRISTMAS AT SAGAMORE HILL WITH THEODORE ROOSEVELT ***</div> -<div id="cover" class="img"> -<img id="coverpage" src="images/cover.jpg" alt="Christmas at Sagamore Hill" width="676" height="1000" /> -</div> -<div class="box"> -<h1>Christmas at -<br />Sagamore Hill</h1> -<p class="center"><b>WITH THEODORE ROOSEVELT</b></p> -<p class="center"><span class="smaller">by</span> -<br />Helen Topping Miller</p> -<p class="tbcenter">LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO. -<br /><span class="smaller">NEW YORK · LONDON · TORONTO</span> -<br />1960</p> -</div> -<p class="center smaller">LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO., INC. -<br /><span class="small">119 WEST 40TH STREET, NEW YORK 18</span></p> -<p class="center smaller">LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO., <span class="sc">Ltd.</span> -<br /><span class="small">6 & 7 CLIFFORD STREET, LONDON W 1</span></p> -<p class="center smaller">LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO. -<br /><span class="small">20 CRANFIELD ROAD, TORONTO 16</span></p> -<p class="center smallest">CHRISTMAS AT SAGAMORE HILL</p> -<p class="center smallest">COPYRIGHT © 1960 -<br />BY -<br />J. A. HILL AND DONALD G. TOPPING -<br />ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO REPRODUCE THIS BOOK, OR ANY PORTION THEREOF, IN ANY FORM</p> -<p class="center smallest">PUBLISHED SIMULTANEOUSLY IN THE DOMINION OF CANADA BY -<br />LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO., TORONTO</p> -<p class="center smallest">FIRST EDITION</p> -<p class="center smallest">LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NUMBER 60-53227</p> -<p class="center smaller">Printed in the United States of America</p> -<h1 title="">Christmas at Sagamore Hill</h1> -<div class="pb" id="Page_1">1</div> -<div class="img"> -<img src="images/p1.jpg" id="ncfig1" alt="Decorative glyph" width="400" height="135" /> -</div> -<p>The night was bitterly cold and a raw wind was blowing -off the Bay, sending dry leaves scudding and whipping -the naked boughs of the trees, when Theodore Roosevelt -alighted from his carriage at Sagamore Hill. He got out -backward very cautiously, easing his muscular bulk down -lightly on his feet although he was holding both arms -straight out before him. The burden they bore was precarious.</p> -<p>In his arms he balanced a great globe in which a dozen -goldfish were swimming dizzily. Already a thin film of ice -had formed on top of the water and fragments of it followed -the fish about in their hysterical dashings back and -forth.</p> -<p>He walked to the steps, setting his feet down firmly as -not long since he had tramped the rough vine- and fern-tangled -hills in Cuba. Only now, he thought gratefully, -nobody was shooting at him.</p> -<p>The door of the big rambling house opened as he -mounted the steps and warm light greeted him. So did a -chorus of assorted shrieks.</p> -<p>“Father’s home!”</p> -<p>Four children came rushing out into the night, staid -Alice trying to remember the dignity expected of a young -lady of fourteen, Theodore, frail and owlish, peering -through his spectacles, Kermit, slender and fair with legs -<span class="pb" id="Page_2">2</span> -that seemed too slim to support his wiry body, and after -them four-year-old Archie, stumbling and falling flat on -the cold floor.</p> -<p>“Pick him up!” directed Roosevelt. “You see I have my -hands full. And hold the door and let me in before I drop -this slippery thing.”</p> -<p>“What in the world is it, Father?” asked Alice, hurrying -to prop the door wide for him.</p> -<p>“Can’t you see?” demanded Kermit. “It’s fishes.” He -scuttled behind his father.</p> -<p>“Move all those things,” Roosevelt ordered, pointing to -the hall table. “Let me set this down.”</p> -<p>Alice hastily removed the card tray and candlesticks -from the table, setting them carefully on the floor. The fish -continued their giddy pirouette and small Archie pressed -his button of a nose against the cold glass.</p> -<p>“They dancing,” he exclaimed delightedly. “Father, -fishes dancing!”</p> -<p>“Silly! Fishes can’t dance,” declared Kermit. “They’ve -got no feet. Have they got feet, Father?”</p> -<p>“No, they haven’t any feet. They’re just excited,” said -his father, hanging up his hat and overcoat.</p> -<p>There was a scurry of feet on the stairs and seven-year-old -Ethel came flying down followed at a quieter pace by -her mother.</p> -<p>“We were putting the baby to bed. Oh, goldfish! But -Theodore—”</p> -<p>“They’re ours,” Kermit said. “I counted and there are -twelve of them. Which is the mother fish, Father, the one -who lays the eggs?”</p> -<p>“They aren’t ours,” answered his father. “I got them for -the school for you to give the other children as a goodby -<span class="pb" id="Page_3">3</span> -gift. This house is freezing, Edie, can’t that man do something -about the fires?”</p> -<p>“There’s one burning wherever there’s a fireplace, Theodore, -and they’ve been stoking both furnaces continually -all day. This house is just hard to heat on a windy -day.”</p> -<p>“My room is like an icehouse,” said Alice. “My fingers -got practically stiff while I was dressing.”</p> -<p>“We’ll hope that the house in Albany is easier to heat,” -said Mrs. Roosevelt.</p> -<p>“I don’t want to move to Albany,” Ethel whimpered. -“I don’t want to leave my puppies and my pony.”</p> -<p>“Silly!” scorned young Ted, who had stood a little aloof -from all the excitement over the goldfish, as he usually did -from things he considered childish. “You should be proud -to go to Albany, Father’s going to be governor of New -York.”</p> -<p>“Is that like being president?” asked Ethel.</p> -<p>“Slightly less than being president,” Ted conceded, “but -not much less.”</p> -<p>“Theodore, we’re due at the schoolhouse right now,” -his wife reminded him. “Children, get your hats and coats -and everyone must put on overshoes. We don’t want any -frosted fingers or toes for Christmas. Theodore, I don’t -really know if Ted should go or not. His chest is still frail -from that grippe.”</p> -<p>“Bundle up well, Ted,” ordered his father. “Cold -weather never hurt anybody.”</p> -<p>“It hurts me.” Alice shivered. “I get goose bumps and -I hate them and the end of my nose turns red.”</p> -<p>“Get ready at once, Alice, and you too, Ted, if you’re -going,” directed their father.</p> -<div class="pb" id="Page_4">4</div> -<p>“Mother had me excused from making my speech,” -said Ted. “I still think I was well enough to have made it.”</p> -<p>“I can say mine,” Kermit shouted, halfway up the -stairs, “‘Higgledy piggledy went to school—’”</p> -<p>“You’ll be scared when the time comes,” Ted jeered. “I -bet you forget half of it.”</p> -<p>In the big carriages packed with robes and hot bricks -they rode the short distance to the Cove Creek school. -The schoolhouse bell, creaking and jangling merrily, was -ringing loudly as they came near; they could hear the -wheels that turned it squeak and the ropes groan and slap -against the sides of the belfry.</p> -<p>“Someday,” announced young Ted as he climbed out of -the carriage, “that old thing’s going to come crashing down.”</p> -<p>“Then the children won’t have to go to school,” said -Ethel.</p> -<p>Theodore Roosevelt, governor-elect of the State of New -York, marched into the little schoolhouse carrying the -bowl of goldfish in his arms and followed in a train by his -family, to be greeted with loud clapping by the assembled -parents. With a bow he presented the fishbowl to the -teacher, sweeping off his gray campaign hat as he marched -back to a rear seat. Father shouldn’t sit in the back, thought -Alice, who was beginning to feel more like a princess every -day and felt cheated because they were not more prominently -seated. Father ought to be dressed up, too, wearing -his silk hat and his beautiful white vest and striped trousers, -not that old gray suit and knickers as though he were -merely anybody instead of the governor.</p> -<p>One by one the children gestured or stammered through -their “pieces,” most of which had a very military quality. -A young archfoe of Ted’s finished with a tribute to the -<span class="pb" id="Page_5">5</span> -governor-elect, “We’ll send you to the White House for -the gallant deeds you’ve done,” which was tumultuously -applauded by all the children and parents.</p> -<p>Then the governor-elect, who had hoped to escape by -silently sitting in the rear, was called upon to speak. As he -strode up to the stage, he was aware of a low whisper from -his daughter, “Father, don’t talk long! Think of the poor -children.”</p> -<p>Roosevelt did not speak of Christmas or the Holy Birth, -which had been said a dozen times already. In simple language, -talking directly to the young fry, he outlined his -philosophy of life, counseled them to decide that they were -going to have a good time as long as they lived, and that -without being quarrelsome they should stand up for their -rights, be honorable and fair to all people. The applause -when he had finished shook the building but as he sat down -he heard a loud mutter from his oldest son, “Father, we -thought you’d never stop talking.”</p> -<p>Now came the most exciting moment. From the gay -tree, decorated with wreaths of colored paper, with tinsel -and strings of popcorn, the presents were distributed. -Roosevelt was asked to step forward and as the gifts were -handed to him by the teacher he called out each child’s -name.</p> -<p>There were dolls and skates and sleds and sleighs, picture -books and toy guns and swords, each one carefully -selected by Edith over a period of weeks and each the gift -of Theodore Roosevelt. As he handed down the presents -into eager little hands he was no longer the governor-elect -and a military hero, he was merely Neighbor Roosevelt -giving a happy holiday to a group of small friends of his -own children.</p> -<div class="pb" id="Page_6">6</div> -<p>Edith had chosen all the gifts and Theodore had paid -for them with the last army paycheck he had received for -serving in Cuba. And no child hugging his present beamed -more brightly than did Theodore Roosevelt as he patted -every small head and spoke a pleasant word to the -recipient.</p> -<p>His own children were not forgotten and Edith had -wisely seen that the gifts were suitable even though there -would be a bounteous Christmas for the five young Roosevelts -later. If she had a few moments of trepidation as -to how all this accumulation of holiday largess would be -transported to Albany before the month was ended, she kept -her anxiety to herself. Certainly Kermit could not be separated -from the little mechanical ship he clutched so tightly -in his arms.</p> -<p>They drove back to Sagamore Hill in the bitter cold of -the early winter dark. The light snow that had fallen, just -enough to allow Theodore Roosevelt to experiment with -an old pair of skis, was now frozen hard and glittered in the -chilly light from the western sky. Out toward the horizon -the Bay lay flat and gray and restless, reflecting now and -then a glint of dying winter light.</p> -<p>The children were quiet, huddling under the blankets, -all but Ted who said wistfully, “I should have liked those -skates you gave to Pete Murray, Father.”</p> -<p>“You already have skates,” said his father. “Don’t be -greedy.”</p> -<p>“But those skates were better,” insisted Ted. “They have -those sharpened edges and two straps.”</p> -<p>“I still say you are being greedy, Ted. It’s an ugly trait. -Get rid of it. Pete Murray is not as fortunate as you. He -never gets many presents.”</p> -<div class="pb" id="Page_7">7</div> -<p>“Anyway,” Kermit chimed in, “maybe in Albany there -won’t be any ice.”</p> -<p>“I don’t want to go to Albany,” piped up little Archie. -“I like here.”</p> -<p>“So do we,” said Ted, “but Father has to be governor of -New York because he beat the Spaniards in the war.”</p> -<p>“Not alone, Ted,” corrected his father. “There were -quite a few stout fellows helping me. Thousands of them, -in fact, from generals and admirals down to plain soldiers -and sailors.”</p> -<p>“But the Rough Riders were the bravest,” his son persisted.</p> -<p>“We’ll hope history will affirm that rash assertion.” His -father was dry. “However, I thank you for your commendation. -All right, here we are. Pile out, you fellows. -Mother and the girls are just behind us in the other carriage. -Everybody carry his own loot. Supper will be ready, we’ll -hope, though I doubt if Archie can stay awake long enough -to eat it.”</p> -<p>The fires would be warm and pleasant after the chill -outside, but later icy drafts would creep out of the corners -making the family shiver. It was fortunate the young -Roosevelts were a hardy breed, all but Ted who was still -inclined to be frail and subject to sudden illnesses. Theodore -Roosevelt remembered his own sickly childhood and -hoped for the best for his sons. Certainly he himself was -tough enough now. There had been times in his youth -when he had been forced to go to the high, dry western -country to recover his health and strength. He still went -back occasionally in summer to look after his cattle interests -there into which he had sunk so much of his inheritance -from his father.</p> -<div class="pb" id="Page_8">8</div> -<p>The ranch had been a losing venture for several years and -there had been times when he and Edith had worried about -being able to provide for their large, expensive family, but -now the future seemed secure for at least a few years and -Theodore Roosevelt had never been one to let anxiety -harass him for long.</p> -<p>He paused to look up at Sagamore Hill on his way back -from the carriage house. The bulky building with its -wings and high roof line stood out clearly against the sky -of early night. The house had somehow the wrong colors, -as Alice was apt to observe a trifle acidly, remarking that -the mustard yellow of the shingles on the gables certainly -did not harmonize with the rose-pink brick.</p> -<p>Edith, his wise, firm, gentle wife, was waiting at the -door.</p> -<p>“Hurry off with your wraps,” she said. “Supper is ready -and we have good hot soup.”</p> -<p>“What, no wassail bowl?” bantered Theodore. “No -boar’s head with a wreath of holly and an apple in his -mouth? This is Christmas Eve, remember. Just plain old -soup?”</p> -<p>“Don’t make the children dissatisfied with their food, -Theodore,” Edith chided. “Ted, let me feel your cheeks. -They look very flushed to me.”</p> -<p>“Frosty outside,” her husband reminded her.</p> -<p>“I don’t want any more pills or brown stuff out of a -bottle,” whined Ted, “and I don’t specially care for soup.”</p> -<p>“Listen, son,” said his father. “You are always talking -about being a soldier and a soldier learns first of all to eat -what is put before him. I’m sure Mother has very excellent -soup and it will be warming and welcome on this chilly -night. I put wrong ideas in their heads,” he admitted, as -<span class="pb" id="Page_9">9</span> -they shepherded the children into the dining room. “A very -foolish thing to do.”</p> -<p>“Now you set an example of hungrily eating your soup,” -said Edith. “At least there is a pudding later.”</p> -<p>“Does it have burning brandy on it?” inquired Kermit -who had been devouring pictures of the old-fashioned English -Christmas lately.</p> -<p>“No burning brandy, just hard sauce, but I suspect the -cook put a drop or two of wine in it.”</p> -<p>“Well,” approved Alice, “that will be a little exciting.”</p> -<p>“You need to go to school, young lady,” commented her -father.</p> -<p>“A stuffy old place like that?” She sighed. “And Bamie’s -house is just as bad. Now I know how it will be: ‘Remember -your father is governor. Do him credit.’ Sometimes I -wish you were a plain man, Father, like other girls’ fathers.”</p> -<p>“You wish no such thing! You bask in all the publicity! -Anyway I am a plain man. You don’t see me wearing a top -hat, do you? Or putting on airs?”</p> -<p>“Sometimes,” she admitted, “I wish you would dress up -a little more and wear all your medals.”</p> -<p>“Let’s all be just nice plain people,” suggested her stepmother.</p> -<p>Albany, Edith decided, was not going to be an easy place -to hold the children to democratic standards. The governor’s -children might be expected not to turn somersaults -on the lawn of the executive mansion, or sail kites off the -roof. Here at Sagamore Hill the younger ones had had the -freedom of the place, nothing was closed to them. Even in -Roosevelt’s workshop under the roof, the door was always -open and she had seen her husband often writing or dictating -an important speech with Archie or Kermit crawling -<span class="pb" id="Page_10">10</span> -about his feet or pushing a toy train and shouting “choo -choo choo!”</p> -<p>Important visitors were often left cooling their heels in -the parlor while Roosevelt was out having a rough and -tumble in the hay with the children or down at the dock -teaching one of them how to dive. When he was with his -children he was as young as they were, and though this -made him more lovable it could be exasperating, too, and at -times embarrassing. Like the time a maid had misinterpreted -the mission of two delegations of visitors, leaving a group -of important men to cool their heels on the front porch -while she waited on some startled and bewildered clergy in -the parlor.</p> -<p>But if there were times when Edith Roosevelt yearned -for a little privacy, she kept the thought to herself. To be -ignored and eventually forgotten would be a living death -to a man like Theodore Roosevelt, with a nature so ebullient -and outgiving.</p> -<p>He had to express himself either vocally or by action just -as he had had to risk his life and health fighting with his -Rough Riders in Cuba. There had been a job to be done, -a wrong to be righted, and his fierce sense of justice and -obligation would not let him ignore it. Of course the excitement -had appealed to him, too, just as the thrill of riding -and roping cattle on the Dakota ranch had done, the place -where already he had sunk too much of the money left -him by his father. The only recreation or relaxation that he -knew was in doing something vigorous and different. There -was, Edith sighed to herself, nothing restful about him.</p> -<p>“Now,” she put in a maternal admonition, “there will be -no pillow fights tonight. Everyone must go quietly to sleep, -there will be enough excitement in the morning.”</p> -<div class="pb" id="Page_11">11</div> -<p>“At least,” said her husband, “may I be allowed to help -them hang up their stockings?”</p> -<p>“If you’ll promise to come down immediately and not -mar the mantelpiece. And Ted must have some ointment -on his chest and a dose of cough medicine. I’ll come up -with you, Ted, and see that you are well rubbed. You don’t -want to spend Christmas in bed.”</p> -<p>“Mother, do I have to? I hate that slimy stuff.”</p> -<p>“You have to and you have to hold still and not squirm -and yell,” insisted his mother. “Come along now, all of -you. I want you all in bed and warmly covered before the -fires go out.”</p> -<p>“You mean Father isn’t going to tell us even one story?” -wailed Kermit, stumbling up the stairs.</p> -<p>“No stories tonight, Kermit.” His father gave him a gentle -slap on the rear as he followed him. “Orders from the queen. -We must all rest tonight for tomorrow is a big day.”</p> -<p>The doorbell pealed then and over the upper railing they -saw the maid admitting some visitors.</p> -<p>“Three gentlemen to see Colonel Roosevelt,” she announced, -hurrying halfway up the flight. “They’re in the -parlor.”</p> -<p>“Let them wait,” said Roosevelt impatiently. “Some delegation -of office seekers, no doubt, or somebody wanting a -favor of the governor.”</p> -<p>“But you aren’t the governor yet,” Ethel argued. “You’re -only Father.”</p> -<p>“My favorite appointment and nothing would please me -more than to work full time at it. Get along, boys, I can’t -keep those people waiting too long.”</p> -<p>“You do,” reminded Ted. “That time when we were all -playing circus in the barn you kept some men waiting a -<span class="pb" id="Page_12">12</span> -long time while you were trying to teach Kermit’s pony -to kneel.”</p> -<p>“Then Father was not governor of New York,” his -mother told him. “Now he has a responsibility to the people -of this state.”</p> -<p>“Thank you, my dear,” said her husband. “Kiss me good -night, all you youngsters. I’d better see what those people -want. After all, this is Christmas Eve and a cold night. -Likely they want to get home to their families.”</p> -<p>The three men waiting below had a mission they considered -important and praiseworthy. They wanted Colonel -Roosevelt when he took office as governor to do something -about getting better roads for the county.</p> -<p>“They’re a bog in winter and a fog of dust in summer. -They’re a hardship to the folks who live here and they discourage -summer people. Every time some people pay their -taxes they harangue us about the bad roads.”</p> -<p>“But, gentlemen,” Roosevelt protested, “the county roads -are the county’s affair, except for a few miles of state and -post roads. Your county officials are the people for you to -see about this matter.”</p> -<p>“The county officials, Colonel, are us three and there’s -nobody for us to appeal to. We’re the ones who are getting -all the knocks and got no answer unless we raise taxes, and -Lord, what a howl there would be about that! Trouble is, -people want a lot of things till it comes time to pay for -them and then they want somebody else to take on the -load.”</p> -<p>“That’s the trouble with the whole country,” said Roosevelt. -“In Albany there are probably people already waiting, -wanting something but wanting no part of the financial responsibility -of paying for it. The President and Congress -<span class="pb" id="Page_13">13</span> -are bombarded constantly with requests to give benefits to -certain areas and groups of people but all those things cost -money and the money has to come from the people, the -ordinary people like you and me, gentlemen.”</p> -<p>How many times, he wondered, as the delegation left -reluctantly, grumbling among themselves, would he hear -the same arguments in the next two years? All at once, -standing in his own doorway looking out at the dark -night sky which was already beginning to lower and spit -a few more flakes of snow, he felt a dread of the new -task that till this moment had stimulated and exhilarated -him.</p> -<p>The peace and quiet of Sagamore Hill suddenly was -doubly dear. The fields and hills over which he had roamed -with his children, the fringe of wood where he had chopped -down trees, exulting in every blow of the ax, at seeing white -chips fly wide. Here, he was thinking, he could have lived, -writing his books, watching over the growth and education -of his children, getting fatter with the years perhaps, -less able to swim and dive and wield an ax, or flash down -a snowy slope on new skis.</p> -<p>He knew, however, a life like that was not for him. -Action was essential to him, positive and vigorous, and he -could no more keep out of public affairs than he could -resign himself to sitting by a fireside all the rest of his days. -He could never sit still there. He was always jumping up -to discipline the blazing logs with firm jabs of the poker, -or hurl on more wood with a heave and a grunt.</p> -<p>He went to the fire now and found Edith sitting there -with her usual piece of sewing in her lap.</p> -<p>“It seems to be getting colder,” she remarked. “Those -upstairs rooms are really chilly. I do hope the governor’s -<span class="pb" id="Page_14">14</span> -house has an adequate heating system; I dread the colds we -get in winter and Ted’s chest is not really strong.”</p> -<p>“There we’ll have steam no doubt, and boilers to burn -coal. I’ve never been inside the place but once and that -was quite long ago. It’s a gloomy old pile but we have to -live in it.”</p> -<p>“It can’t be any harder to heat than this house,” said -Edith, trying not to let any of the odd feeling creep into her -voice, the slight reservation she had never voiced even to -herself but that had always been present deep in her mind—her -own feeling about Sagamore Hill.</p> -<p>After all, it had been built for another women, the girl -whom her husband had deeply loved, Alice Lee. And it had -been originally named Leeholm. That Alice Lee had died -before the first stone of the foundation had been laid could -not but remind Theodore now and then of what he had -lost, especially when he looked at Alice Lee’s daughter, -brisk, vigorous little Alice born with an assertive nature, -blunt and forthright, like his own.</p> -<p>All her married life Edith Carow Roosevelt had kept a -firm hand on her emotions, not letting any useless jealousy -creep in to raise a cloud between her and her husband. He -was hers and had been for many years and their children -were proof of the constancy of his love. He adored them -all, though now and then his was the firm hand that supplied -the occasionally needed discipline and punishment. -The children’s worship of their father was only too evident -in the way they followed him about, having scant enthusiasm -for any game in which he did not join.</p> -<p>They sat quietly together for an hour, then Theodore -asked, “Do you think it’s safe to get the Christmas presents -out now? It’s getting late.”</p> -<div class="pb" id="Page_15">15</div> -<p>“Let’s wait a little longer. Ted never goes to sleep -promptly, and Ethel and Kermit were both very excited -when Mame put them to bed.”</p> -<p>“Good old Mame! I bought her a locket. Probably a -frivolous gift for Mame, but everyone needs something -foolish and gay to liven up life now and then.”</p> -<p>“She has been faithful for years. I couldn’t have raised -the children without Mame. She doesn’t get along too well -with the other servants at times, but they’re used to her -blunt way now and ignore her difficult days,” Edith -said.</p> -<p>“We all have difficult days,” he remarked. “I know there -have been times, when I was harassed and frustrated by -outside events, that I have been difficult to live with.”</p> -<p>“You have learned to control your emotions very well -lately,” she said, “though sometimes I have thought you a -bit too impulsive.”</p> -<p>“You mean going off at half cock, lacking in sober judgment. -I know that. No one knows it better than I. All my -life I’ve battled against going at things headlong, the way I -fought in Cuba, and struggled to put down graft and corruption -when I was with the New York Police Commission.”</p> -<p>“I still hate thinking of that winter when times were so -hard and we were so short of money. I still can’t bear to -see a slice of bread wasted. Theodore, listen!” She rose suddenly. -“It’s a wagon coming up the drive.”</p> -<p>They both hurried to the front door. A wagon drawn -by two horses was slowly coming up the hill, lanterns hung -upon it and sleigh bells jingling merrily from about the -necks of the horses. It was filled with young people who -were singing at the tops of their voices.</p> -<div class="pb" id="Page_16">16</div> -<div class="verse"> -<p class="t0"><i>God rest ye merry, gentlemen! let nothing you dismay,</i></p> -<p class="t0"><i>For Jesus Christ, our Saviour, was born on Christmas day.</i></p> -</div> -<p>“How sweet!” exclaimed Edith. “We ought to invite -them in.”</p> -<p>The noise would rouse the children, she knew unhappily, -as the youngsters went on into another carol. Theodore -walked out to the wagon to deliver the invitation, -while Edith racked her brain to think what she had in the -house to offer a crowd of young fry, who would certainly -have huge appetites. There might be cookies in the pantry -or apples. The cook always kept a supply of cookies on -hand as Theodore often put a few in his pockets when he -went on his almost daily rambles over the countryside.</p> -<p>It was a relief to her when he returned to the porch saying -that the carolers would not alight, as they had many -other places to go and it was getting late. After a dozen -more songs, coming sweetly clear on the frosty air, the -singers launched into a popular song that had been sung -when crowds greeted the hero of San Juan Hill.</p> -<div class="verse"> -<p class="t0"><i>We’ll send you to the White House for the gallant deeds you’ve done.</i></p> -</div> -<p>Edith knew a sudden trepidation as the wagon jolted -away, the voices still floating back on the still, cold air. -She had heard whispers of the White House before from -the politicians and public men who were constantly thronging -the house, but never a word from Theodore. If he had -any ambitions beyond the governorship he was keeping -<span class="pb" id="Page_17">17</span> -them from her and that was unlike her husband who was -often too vocal and positive in his plans and opinions. Certainly -he had always confided in his wife, even if at times -she had secretly thought he was not too wise to be so frank -about important and confidential matters.</p> -<p>What he may have been thinking she had no way of -knowing, though as a rule his line of thought was seldom -concealed from her. The presidency would be an honor -of course, and if Theodore had a dream of sometime occupying -that distinguished position she could say nothing to -discourage or frustrate such an ambition, but her quiet soul -shrank a little from being thrust into the responsibilities of -such a life and always she thought of her children. The -publicity and adulation to which they would be exposed in -Albany would be bad enough.</p> -<p>Like their father they were all fiercely democratic—at -least the boys were—but every honor that had come to -their father had excited them, Alice especially. Alice loved -importance and took every plaudit and cheer as partially -her own.</p> -<p>Edith argued determinedly with herself that she was -worrying about nothing, that no doubt after his term as -governor was ended, Theodore would be content to return -to Sagamore Hill to write and live the life of a country -squire. But all the while she was tormented by her hidden -awareness that quiet and peace were never made for Theodore -Roosevelt.</p> -<p>They went back into the house and discovered three -small figures crouched above, peering through the railings -of the stairs.</p> -<p>“We couldn’t sleep, the singing kept us awake,” said -Alice when Theodore began to scold.</p> -<div class="pb" id="Page_18">18</div> -<p>“Scurry back to bed, all of you,” he ordered. “You’ll -catch your death of cold.”</p> -<p>“Just some young people singing Christmas carols,” explained -their mother. “When you are older perhaps you -can go out caroling too on Christmas Eve. Kermit, come -here, your night clothes aren’t properly buttoned.”</p> -<p>“Mame did it,” declared Kermit.</p> -<p>“He kept wriggling and diving under the bed,” Ted reported. -“Mame couldn’t even hold him.”</p> -<p>“She tickles,” Kermit defended. “Will you tell us a story -about the Wild West, Father?”</p> -<p>“Certainly not!” Edith was firm, detecting a faint sign -of weakening on her husband’s face. “It’s far too late. -Jump into bed quickly. Did Mame give you your tonic, -Ted?”</p> -<p>“Yes.” He made a wry face. “I hate that gooey stuff.”</p> -<p>“You hate being sick, too, and the idea of not growing -up as strong as the other boys,” their father reminded him.</p> -<p>“I hated that stuff I had to take to make my bones -strong,” declared Kermit.</p> -<p>“You hated having to wear braces on your legs, too.” -His father followed the boys into the nursery, gave each -a friendly smack and tumbled them into bed. “But the -braces made your legs strong enough so you can swim like -the rest of us.”</p> -<p>“I still hate getting water in my ears,” stated Ted, pulling -the covers up to his chin. “Will there be warmer bedrooms -in that palace up in Albany, Father?”</p> -<p>“We’ll hope so—and it isn’t a palace. It’s officially called -a mansion.”</p> -<p>“In storybooks governors always live in palaces. Does -the president live in a palace in Washington?”</p> -<div class="pb" id="Page_19">19</div> -<p>“No, just a big white house. You’ve seen it. You should -remember.”</p> -<p>“I’ve seen so many places,” sighed Ted, “but I like this -house best.”</p> -<p>“We all do. We’ll come back to it every summer,” promised -Roosevelt.</p> -<p>The house was quiet at last but Edith Roosevelt, when -they had completed the task of filling all the dangling stockings, -lay awake a long time, her thoughts trying to search -the future, what lay ahead for all those children. More of -war and danger, more heart-racking anxiety for their -mother? Perhaps it was best not to know, otherwise life -would be one long torment of apprehension.</p> -<p>Morning showed a thin cover of snow on the ground, -but before day came to reveal it plainly, there was pandemonium -in the parents’ quiet bedroom as the children came -rushing in lugging their stockings. Only small toys bulged -in the stockings, but Alice proudly displayed a little gold -bracelet and Archie, round-faced and beaming, bounced up -and down on his father’s stomach excitedly cranking a small -tin toy that made musical sounds as the handle turned.</p> -<p>“Get up, Father,” begged Ethel. “Get up and light the -Christmas tree!”</p> -<p>“That room will be cold,” objected their mother. “Here, -crawl under this blanket, all of you. Theodore, do poke up -the fire.”</p> -<p>There were some embers left in the fireplace and he -strode over, barefoot, in his night garb and jabbed and -stirred at them, vigorously, piling on the wood till a roaring -blaze was kindled. He liked fires to roar, horses to gallop, -he had to put gusto into everything he did, his wife lay -thinking.</p> -<div class="pb" id="Page_20">20</div> -<p>“We’ll have breakfast first,” she said firmly. “No one will -be downstairs this early, so all of you take your stockings -and crawl back into your beds till Mame comes in. Then -after breakfast we’ll light the Christmas trees in the gun -room.”</p> -<p>“It’s cold in there too,” complained Ted, “cold as anything.”</p> -<p>“It’s cold everywhere. This is a winter’s day,” said Theodore. -“Scamper now! No one is to stir out of bed again till -Mame comes in.”</p> -<p>“She’s an awful sleepyhead,” complained Ethel. “She -won’t stir for hours and hours.”</p> -<p>The gun room was not yet warm when at nine o’clock -Theodore lighted the candles on the two Christmas trees, -Mame standing by worriedly with a bucket of water and a -dipper to head off any flickering blaze. She had wrapped -each child in a heavy coat, but even that did not keep small -fingers from cramping with cold as they fumbled with -strings and wrappings, squealing happily over their treasures.</p> -<p>Ted gloated over a new sled while his mother wondered -how it would be transported to Albany, for assuredly he -would refuse to leave it behind. Ethel hugged a new doll -and put it to bed repeatedly in its cradle her Aunt Bamie -had sent, adjuring it to lie still now and Father would come -and tell a story, maybe about cowboys.</p> -<p>At ten o’clock Roosevelt impulsively decided to go to -church, and Alice and Ethel insisted on going with him. -Wrapped in heavy coats they set out in the carriage, the -girls with their chins buried in fur, their small noses pink -with frost.</p> -<p>At the little Episcopal church Roosevelt got down and -<span class="pb" id="Page_21">21</span> -shook the door. It was locked fast. Presently a woman stuck -her head out of the house next door.</p> -<p>“No services today,” she said. “The minister is sick with -the grippe.” She came closer. “It’s Mister Roosevelt, isn’t -it? Governor now, ain’t you? My man voted for you. He -was at San Juan Hill.”</p> -<p>Instantly Theodore had his notebook out. “What was his -name? I’ll remember him. I remember all my Rough Riders, -they were a gallant lot of fellows.”</p> -<p>She told him the name. “He got wounded in a skirmish. -But he got over it. Now he travels around selling housewares -for some folks in Jersey City. He’s away down in -Pennsylvania today. It was too far to come home for -Christmas but it makes it a dreary time when the man’s -away, the young ones miss him.”</p> -<p>As the carriage started up the hill Ethel announced, “I -never got to put my five cents in the collection, Father.”</p> -<p>“You mean you’ve lost it already?”</p> -<p>“It’s in my mitten. Where Mother put it. Do I have to -give it back to Mother?”</p> -<p>“No, you may keep it. When we get to Albany you can -take a ride on the streetcar with it, but unless you can -promote a little more cash you’ll have to walk back,” he -teased.</p> -<p>“I’d have to take Mame with me,” she demurred, “and -she always grumbles that her feet hurt.”</p> -<p>The good smell of dinner met them at the door as they -entered, and some warmth from the glowing fires that had -been piled high with logs. The furnaces too gave up a -grudging wave of heat and, warming his hands at the wood -fire, Theodore was glad they would not have to struggle -with inadequate heating much longer. This house had been -<span class="pb" id="Page_22">22</span> -built for summer and was delightful at that season, catching -the breezes from the Bay. The trouble was that the wind -was just as enthusiastic in winter, and the curtains at the -windows now waved gently as it frolicked around the high -gables.</p> -<p>Ted was sitting on the stairs, capped and mittened, his -new sled at his feet.</p> -<p>“I thought you’d never come, Father,” he fretted. -“Mother says I can’t go out alone.”</p> -<p>“I don’t think he should go out at all,” declared Edith, -“but I agreed to leave the decision to you.”</p> -<p>“There’s not enough snow, Ted,” his father told him. -“It wouldn’t carry your sled. You’ll have to wait for a -heavier snowfall. From the look of those clouds we should -get it tonight.”</p> -<p>Ted stared ruefully out the window. “Why is God so -stingy? In Albany there won’t be any place to use a sled. -Mame said so.”</p> -<p>“There are parks in Albany, Ted,” Edith assured him, -“and likely grounds around the capitol building and there -is sure to be a hill there somewhere.”</p> -<p>“But it won’t be here! I want to slide here where we -live.”</p> -<p>“I saw two flakes of snow falling,” comforted Alice. “I -saw them on my muff.”</p> -<p>“Church must have been very short today,” Edith said. -“You were only gone an hour.”</p> -<p>Theodore told her about the rector’s being housed with -the grippe.</p> -<p>“I’m always afraid of that in winter,” she said. “That -siege Ted had once weakened him so. That’s why I try to -keep him from exposing himself.”</p> -<div class="pb" id="Page_23">23</div> -<p>“Dinner is served,” was announced at the door.</p> -<p>“Let’s all march in,” Theodore suggested.</p> -<p>“But first we must all wash our hands,” said the mother. -“Run along upstairs. Ted, leave your hat and coat up there. -I’m not sure I want you outside today.”</p> -<p>“The outside air can’t hurt him,” demurred Roosevelt, -when the troop had pelted off up the stairs.</p> -<p>“You aren’t sure of that. You can be too insistent about -toughening up Ted, as the doctor reminded you. After all, -you were a frail child yourself.”</p> -<p>“But my life in Dakota toughened me. Now I never have -a pain and rarely a cold,” he insisted.</p> -<p>“You were grown then. Give your sons a chance to grow, -Theodore.”</p> -<p>“I suppose you are right. You usually are. Anyway, this -is going to be a dour day, although those clouds show a -few signs of thinning and letting the sun shine through.” -He studied the sky from the window.</p> -<p>They went in to dinner then and there was the usual -argument about who should say grace. Ethel won and hurried -through the little verse, conscious of impatient looks -from her brothers, moving their eyes though their heads -were bowed.</p> -<p>There was a bounteous spread on the table and for the -first time in days there were no guests. Obviously everyone -was respecting a family’s desire for privacy on this -holiday and Edith was grateful.</p> -<p>The big turkey that old Davis, the gardener, had fattened -in a little pen, feeding it corn and all the scraps from -the kitchen, stood brown and beautiful at the head -of the table and Theodore sharpened the carving knife on -the steel with a ringing noise.</p> -<div class="pb" id="Page_24">24</div> -<p>“Only two drumsticks,” he remarked, slicing away, “so -somebody has to be content with the second joint.”</p> -<p>The expected shrill protests arose, Kermit insisting that -he had never had a drumstick since he could remember.</p> -<p>“You can’t remember long then,” declared Ted, “for you -had one at Thanksgiving.”</p> -<p>“We’ll settle this.” Roosevelt took an envelope from his -pocket and tore it into strips, two longer than the others. -“The long pieces get the drumsticks and no more said -about it.” He folded them carefully in his hands with the -ends visible and passed them around the table.</p> -<p>Ethel and Archie won and squealed with delight, while -Alice remarked philosophically, “I’d rather have breast, -anyway. Drumsticks are dry and tough.”</p> -<p>Before the dessert was served, the maid approached the -head of the table.</p> -<p>“Three gentlemen to see Mr. Roosevelt,” she announced.</p> -<p>“Ask them in to the fire and invite them to sit down and -wait,” said Theodore. “Are they elderly gentlemen?”</p> -<p>“No, sir. They’re young and sort of brown and tough -looking.”</p> -<p>He jumped, upsetting his glass of water. “My boys!” he -exclaimed, hurrying out while Kermit and Archie scurried -after.</p> -<p>“Soldiers, Mother,” Kermit ran back to report, “and -Father’s hugging them.”</p> -<p>“How do you know they’re soldiers?” demanded Ted.</p> -<p>“They saluted!” Kermit was triumphant. “Just like -Father taught us.”</p> -<p>Oh, me! wailed Edith Roosevelt silently to herself, not -even Christmas dinner alone! She rang the bell quickly.</p> -<p>“Set three more places,” she directed the girl who answered. -<span class="pb" id="Page_25">25</span> -“Mr. Roosevelt will have guests. But you are all -to sit still,” she ordered the children.</p> -<p>“Don’t I stand up and bow like you told me?” asked -Ted.</p> -<p>“No, you only bow a little when you are introduced.”</p> -<p>“You only stand up for ladies,” explained Alice.</p> -<p>Edith rose herself to greet the three young men who -followed Theodore into the dining room. They were plainly -dressed and obviously slightly embarrassed. Roosevelt introduced -them by name or rather by nicknames.</p> -<p>“This is Lew, and Ike, and Cricket. They shared their -shelter with me one rainy night in Cuba.”</p> -<p>“We hate to bust in this way, ma’am,” said Cricket, who -was older than the other two. “We asked the Colonel to -let us go and wait and come back.”</p> -<p>“Nonsense! You’ve come a long way and it’s cold outside,” -the Colonel said. “Sit here, and here, and you, Ike, -over there.” He introduced the children who forgot to -eat in their excitement.</p> -<p>“Mighty pretty daughters you’ve got, Colonel. Smart-looking -boys, too,” said Ike.</p> -<p>“Thank you,” Edith replied graciously, not looking at -Alice, who had murmured thanks and straightened her -shoulders, posing a little as she was inclined to do.</p> -<p>Roosevelt ordered the turkey brought back and began -carving and filling the three extra plates put before him.</p> -<p>“These boys came up here all the way from South Carolina,” -he explained to Edith, “and stopped to call on me.”</p> -<p>“We’re on our way to Pennsylvania. Got jobs in the -mills there, ma’am, but when we got near this place we just -had to see the Colonel, so we hired a rig and come out here. -Never thought about its being Christmas.”</p> -<div class="pb" id="Page_26">26</div> -<p>“You’re very welcome,” Edith assured them.</p> -<p>“Did you kill any Spaniards in Cuba?” asked Ted, while -the visitors helped themselves gratefully to the food being -served by the maid.</p> -<p>“Well, we shot at a lot of them, so we must have hit a -few,” replied Cricket.</p> -<p>“Anyway, they were shooting at us from up in trees and -under bushes, and there were too many trees and bushes -for a man to take any chances.”</p> -<p>“Anyway, we licked ’em,” said Lew. “When a Spaniard -runs he runs. And yells.”</p> -<p>“Have you got your guns?” Ethel asked.</p> -<p>“No, miss, we were discharged from service so we turned -in our rifles.”</p> -<p>“Father has a lot of guns,” observed Kermit. “Ted can -shoot, but I can’t.”</p> -<p>“You will be old enough before long,” said his father. -“Ted shoots very well for an eleven-year-old.”</p> -<p>“I hit the bull’s eye twice,” Ted bragged, while Edith -controlled the little jerk of panic she always felt when she -thought of her eldest son with that gun. “Teach him early -enough and he’ll know how to handle a weapon wisely,” -had been Theodore’s argument when the new light rifle -had been brought home.</p> -<p>Edith excused herself when the meal was over and went -upstairs but the children refused to follow as she suggested. -They followed the men instead, even Alice taking a chair -in a corner, tucking her feet up under her, a habit Mame -much deplored. Ted sprawled on his stomach on the floor -at his father’s feet, chin on palms, while Archie crawled -under Roosevelt’s chair and curled up there, half asleep.</p> -<p>The talk was fascinating to the children, even to Ethel, -<span class="pb" id="Page_27">27</span> -who had never showed any female dismay at violence; indeed -she was a real little warrior herself, holding her own -with two older brothers. All the Roosevelt children had -been taught to stand for the right and fight for it if necessary, -and there had been times when their mother secretly -regretted this branch of her husband’s education, when -Ted came home with a split lip and spectacles bent, or all -of them engaged in battles in the nursery.</p> -<p>Alice had her own room now and was inclined to stay -aloof when violence threatened, but earlier she had been -one of the stoutest fighters.</p> -<p>Kermit leaned on his father’s shoulder drinking in the -stories of Spanish ambushes and night attacks, of the renegade -Cubans who begged food from the Rough Riders and -then carried information to the Spanish headquarters.</p> -<p>“I shot one buzzard,” said Cricket. “He begged for some -beans and I only had a spoonful and then he drew out a -rusty old pistol. I got him before he could cock it.”</p> -<p>“Bang between the eyes?” questioned Kermit.</p> -<p>“Well, no. Elsewhere in the body,” replied Cricket delicately. -“But the worst thing in Cuba wasn’t the Spaniards -or being shot at, it was the goldurn mosquitoes—begging -your pardon, Colonel.”</p> -<p>“They were so thick we had to cover up our heads with -blankets to get any sleep.” Lew took up the story while -Roosevelt smiled ruefully. “We couldn’t light a fire to -smoke ’em out most of the times. That was what their -sharpshooters were waiting for. Man show himself in the -light and down he went!”</p> -<p>“The fever was bad too,” Roosevelt said. “It has already -made very doubtful any hope of building a canal across -Panama.”</p> -<div class="pb" id="Page_28">28</div> -<p>“We had more sick with fever than we had wounded, -even when we charged the Hill,” Ike recalled. “Well, we -must be heading back, you fellows. It’s been fine seeing -you again, Colonel, and we’re sure proud New York elected -you governor.”</p> -<p>“We sure are,” agreed his lanky companions, rising to -their feet.</p> -<p>“Our thanks for a good dinner, sir, and give our thanks -to your good wife. We better push on, our man we hired -to drive us is waiting and our train leaves at six o’clock and -it’s a long way to the station.”</p> -<p>“I’m honored by your visit, boys,” Roosevelt followed -them into the hall, the children trotting after.</p> -<p>When the Rough Riders had gone, Roosevelt picked up -the sleeping Archie and carried him up the stairs, Ted -climbing after, asking with every breath, “Can I go out -now, Father? Is there enough snow for my sled?”</p> -<p>“There’s almost no more snow, Ted, but we’ll hope for -some to fall overnight. Those fellows,” he said to Edith -when he had put Archie on his bed and covered him well, -“came out of their way to see me and I was very much -honored by their visit. They hired that driver too and I -don’t doubt they needed the money. Men who work in -mills and have families have little money to spare. At least -I know Cricket has a family. He showed me pictures of -two boys when we were waiting for transportation in -Tampa. He attached himself to me as a sort of unofficial -aide. There was not much emphasis on rank in my command.”</p> -<p>“And what there was I’m sure you ignored,” said Edith -indulgently. “It was undoubtedly a very democratic organization.”</p> -<div class="pb" id="Page_29">29</div> -<p>“When you’re depending on a man to fire in time to -save your life you have no use for protocol. That boy Lew, -who had so little to say, twice saved my horse from being -shot under me. Rank loses its importance when a lot of -savage men are attacking you, and you see your men fall -and know the next bullet may be for you. They were all -gallant, all of them. I owe them more than I can ever -repay.”</p> -<p>“Shall we go down now to the fires?” Edith asked. “By -the way, Davis won’t be back today. I gave him Christmas -afternoon off to be with his family. Some of his children -have come home bringing their children with them. Can -you attend to the furnaces?”</p> -<p>“I’d better put on some overalls. That’s a dirty job. Then -I’m going to take the youngsters out awhile. We can have -a romp in the barn. They get too restless in the house all -day. I’ll keep Ted’s feet dry,” he promised.</p> -<p>“And don’t let them get overheated,” she warned. “That -thermometer downstairs hasn’t risen above freezing all day. -It seems awfully cold for so early in the winter. I hear -Quentin now. I’ll take him down by the fire so Mame can -get some rest.”</p> -<p>He shrugged into a rough army coat and cotton overalls -and went below to poke and rattle vociferously at the two -furnaces, shoveling out ashes, wondering whimsically what -the important politicians of New York would think if they -saw their governor-elect carrying a hod? Certainly they -would respect him the more if they saw him in working -garb at such a menial task, at least the working classes -would and there were a lot more of them who had voted -for him.</p> -<p>When the furnaces were filled and burning well he carried -<span class="pb" id="Page_30">30</span> -up several armloads of wood, panting a little from the -steepness of the stairs. Edith sat beside the fire holding -small Quentin, while Kermit crawled about her feet, pushing -a toy cannon about and yelling “Bang!”</p> -<p>Edith looked him over, aghast. “Theodore, those are -your church clothes!”</p> -<p>“I had overalls over them and a jacket, but I’m going up -to change now to take the children out.”</p> -<p>Kermit jumped up and rushed after him, shouting, -“Father’s going out to play. Father’s going out to play.”</p> -<p>Alice emerged from her room where she had been stowing -away her Christmas presents, and in the nursery Ethel -hastily put her doll to bed and flew out.</p> -<p>“May we climb trees, Father?” she asked.</p> -<p>“Not today. It’s too damp and cold. Today we’ll play -in the barn.”</p> -<p>Archie woke up then and came trudging after his father. -“Are you going to shave, Father? May we watch you -shave?”</p> -<p>“No, I’m not going to shave. Find your coat and cap. -Mame’s asleep and Mother’s busy with the baby. Ted! -Where are you? This expedition is about to start. Overshoes -for everybody. Bring yours in here, Archie, and I’ll -buckle them for you.”</p> -<p>It was Theodore Roosevelt’s favorite march, over the -yard and out through the fences to the old barn that he -had sentimentally left standing when he built Sagamore -Hill because, he told himself, it had such a nice big haymow. -When he had pushed forward with his men at San -Juan Hill, struggling through thorny brush where poisonous -snakes lurked, slipping and sliding over the matted vegetation, -he had had the same feeling of leading a troop of -<span class="pb" id="Page_31">31</span> -trusting souls as he had now, propping the heavy barn door -open till the last straggler panted through.</p> -<p>“I speak to play cowboy,” shouted Ted.</p> -<p>“You need outdoors for cowboys,” Alice objected, “and -horses!”</p> -<p>“Can’t we have the pony out, Father?” Ted begged. -“Grant hasn’t had any exercise today.”</p> -<p>“No, I promised Mother we’d play inside. It’s fairly warm -in here. Who’ll be first up the ladder?”</p> -<p>“Me!” shrilled adventurous Ethel. “But we can’t climb -with these overshoes on. They’re too slippery.”</p> -<p>“Stack them all here neatly. And nobody is to turn and -jump back down that ladder,” their father ordered.</p> -<p>“She did one day,” declared Kermit, “she landed right -on my stomach.”</p> -<p>“You had your stomach in the way of my feet.” Ethel -flashed quickly up the ladder. The others came after, Theodore -taking the rear to help Archie, who had to be lifted -up the last steps. The mow above was high and lighted by -a dusty window. The roof had chinks here and there between -the aged shingles, letting in pale beams of light that -showed the ragged mounds of hay with a pitchfork sticking -up out of one stack.</p> -<p>Ted promptly seized this and began waving it, shouting, -“I’m a Rough Rider. I choose Father with me. The rest of -you can be Spaniards.”</p> -<p>Theodore recovered the menacing weapon firmly and -stood it in a far corner. “No Rough Rider fought with a -pitchfork. I’ll be the Spaniards. The rest of you can attack -from those stacks over there. Remember we beat the Spaniards!”</p> -<p>There was a great deal of yelling “Bang! Bang!” and -<span class="pb" id="Page_32">32</span> -when the hay was pretty well flattened and the children -swarming over him Roosevelt obligingly lay flat pretending -to gasp and moan from a lethal wound. His acting was -so realistic that Ethel began to cry.</p> -<p>“I don’t like being Spaniards,” she wailed. “I don’t want -to hurt Father.”</p> -<p>He sat up, reaching for her. “I’m not hurt,” he comforted, -“just slightly out of breath. That hay is dusty. Now -everybody help. We’ll pile it up again.” He retrieved the -pitchfork and set to work, flinging forkfuls of hay in the -air while the children gathered up as much as they could -hold.</p> -<p>They achieved a beautifully rounded stack that almost -reached the rafters and instantly Kermit and Ethel flung -themselves at it, squealing happily.</p> -<p>“Stop! You’ll tear it down,” yelled Ted, blinking as the -last ray of sun through the shingles glinted off his spectacles. -“I want it all round and pretty.”</p> -<p>“We’ll play Indians and this is the Bad Lands of Dakota,” -said his father. “Ted and Kermit will be Indians and the -girls and Archie and I will be the settlers hiding from -them.”</p> -<p>“I want to be an Indian,” Archie protested. “I can yell -loud.” He emitted a piercing whoop to prove it.</p> -<p>“Indians don’t yell,” said Ted, scornfully. “They creep -out of ambush very stealthily.” He quoted triumphantly -from the stories their father had read to them. “They like -to surprise their victims.”</p> -<p>“When they’re on horseback they yell,” Roosevelt said. -“But you’ll be prowling Indians. They know how to be -still as mice. And twice as deadly.” He twined a spray of -hay through Archie’s hair for a feather. Instantly Ted and -<span class="pb" id="Page_33">33</span> -Kermit had to have feathers too and tying knots in their -short hair to hold a dry wisp of hay erect was a slow business.</p> -<p>“I wish we had some war paint,” said Ted, studying his -brothers with grudging approval. “I could have used some -of my water colors if I’d known we were going to play -Indians.”</p> -<p>“You’d get it on your shirt and Mame would scold,” -Kermit reminded him.</p> -<p>“She scolds anyway,” remarked Ted. “Mame is a very -scoldy person.”</p> -<p>“Your faces are dirty enough to pass for Indians,” stated -their father. “And remember that Mame is good and faithful -and devoted to you children. You must always be kind -to Mame and respectful and never talk back to her.”</p> -<p>“Ethel kicked her once,” Ted tattled.</p> -<p>“She swept up my paper doll hats. Anyway, I didn’t -kick her hard and I got punished for it.”</p> -<p>Theodore Roosevelt knew that his children, indulged -as they were in many ways, were sure that retribution for -any misbehavior was certain and swift, relentlessly applied -after any wrongdoing. His was always the correcting hand -when he was at home, Edith always resigning that job to -her husband, and he comforted himself with the idea that -when they were bad they were still pretty good children. -At least they were truthful, only Kermit now and then letting -his facile imagination run ahead of him too fast but he -was always sternly corrected for it, and as a rule his brothers -and sisters dealt scornfully with his fancies.</p> -<p>“Now, the settlers will hide, and the Indians have to find -them, and any redskin who is recognized gets shot,” Roosevelt -outlined the rules.</p> -<div class="pb" id="Page_34">34</div> -<p>“I wish I had a sunbonnet,” said Alice, as she made a -little nest for herself far down in the warm hay. “Settlers’ -wives always wore sunbonnets.”</p> -<p>“You’re wearing an imaginary sunbonnet,” said her -father. “Tie it tightly under your chin and I’ll get my -imaginary gun ready. Keep quiet, boys, and hide far down -there behind the hay.”</p> -<p>He helped the girls to crouch deep in the dry stack, -Alice disliking the tickle of the hay on her neck and impatiently -slapping at it while Ethel burrowed happily as a -mole.</p> -<p>“Holler when you’re ready,” called Ted from the opposite -side of the stack.</p> -<p>“Settlers never let Indians know where they are hiding,” -objected their father, who had dug himself deep into a pile; -more excited and intrigued by the game than the young -ones.</p> -<p>The Indians finally advanced, stealth being somewhat -diminished by giggles from Archie and muttered orders to -be quiet from Ted. Kermit gave a war whoop as he sprang -at his father but landed in a heap where Roosevelt promptly -dispatched him with an imaginary pistol and a very realistic -“Bang.” Farther around the pile there were screams and -snarls as Ted crept down on Ethel and grabbed her pig-tailed -hair.</p> -<p>“You’re scalped!” he shouted. “You’re dead and scalped!”</p> -<p>Ethel promptly rolled on her back, walled up her eyes -and made a melancholy face so realistic that Ted began to -whimper.</p> -<p>“Make her stop, Father! She’s scaring me!”</p> -<p>“The game is over,” announced Roosevelt, lifting Kermit -<span class="pb" id="Page_35">35</span> -to his feet. Close by Alice and Archie had been tussling, -Alice subduing the attack by tickling the Indian till he -squirmed and giggled. “Brush the hay off your clothes. -Now we’ll mend the stack again and see who can jump the -farthest.”</p> -<p>“Oh, that’s easy!” bragged Ethel, reviving from the -dead. “I can. I always do beat the boys.”</p> -<p>“You can’t beat me if Father will hold my glasses,” Ted -objected.</p> -<p>“Stack hay and don’t argue. Archie, take off your jacket, -you’ve got the back of your shirt full of hay.”</p> -<p>“It’s inside mine too,” said Kermit. “It scratches.”</p> -<p>“If we had been real Indians we wouldn’t have on shirts, -we’d just have some stripes of war paint.” Ted began busily -piling up the hay. “That game wasn’t fair anyway because -Archie giggled and Alice forgot to shoot quick.”</p> -<p>“He fell on me.” She stood up. “Oh me! There’s Mame, -scared to death to climb the ladder. Father, don’t make us -go in yet.”</p> -<p>Mame’s head, wrapped in a crocheted wool scarf, showed -halfway up the ladder. “Gentlemen to see the Colonel,” -she announced, “Mrs. Roosevelt says it’s important.”</p> -<p>“Don’t go, Father,” pleaded Ted. “Tell Mother to send -them away.”</p> -<p>“I can’t do that, Ted, because from now on I’m the servant -of the people of New York. Ask them to wait by the -fire, Mame, tell them I’ll be in presently.” Roosevelt shook -the hay from his shirt and jacket and studied the disappointed -faces of his children. All the faces were definitely -grimy but each one reflected woe.</p> -<p>“Go ahead,” Roosevelt directed when Mame had backed -<span class="pb" id="Page_36">36</span> -gingerly down the ladder. “Oldest jump first. See how high -you can land on the hay. We can jump for ten minutes.” -He took out his watch.</p> -<p>Fifteen minutes later he led his bedraggled, breathless -crew back to the house, entering through the rear door -though usually he was most unconcerned about his own -appearance, especially when the children were with him. -But now, with his new responsibilities, he was beginning -to be aware that he owed a certain distinction of attire to -these people who had elected him to the most important -office in the most important state. Also he was thinking -uneasily of Edith’s carefully disciplined but inwardly disapproving -attitude.</p> -<p>Mame met them in the hall, her own disapproval not -masked at all. “I declare, you always seem to bring them -back looking like ragamuffins, Colonel Roosevelt! Hurry -up, all of you! Colonel, you’ve got a dirty face yourself. -Your guests are in the library. Mrs. Roosevelt had me serve -them some wine.”</p> -<p>As he hurried up the stairs Roosevelt was hoping that -this waiting group would not be church dignitaries or any -others who would resent being served wine. Edith was in -their room changing for dinner after tending Quentin all -afternoon. She looked at him and shook her head.</p> -<p>“Well, at least you did come up to change.” She sounded -relieved. “I don’t know who they are. Mame let them in. -After tending the baby all afternoon I wasn’t presentable -myself. The nurse will be back at nine o’clock, thank goodness. -I let her go home for Christmas. Hurry and change. -They’ve already been there half an hour, with a horse waiting -out there in the cold.”</p> -<p>Through the window they could see a handsome bay -<span class="pb" id="Page_37">37</span> -horse and smart carriage waiting outside, the horse well -blanketed and secured by an iron weight.</p> -<p>“Looks really important,” said Theodore, as he washed -the dust of the loft off his face. “But they could have waited -till Christmas was over and given a man a chance for a day -in peace with his family.”</p> -<p>“Tomorrow it will be worse,” she reminded him. “You’ll -have to be excused to sort your papers and I shall have to -oversee the packing. We have just four days to get to -Albany and I’d hate you to miss your own inauguration -ceremony.”</p> -<p>“Is this jacket all right? After all, I’m supposed to be informal -at home.”</p> -<p>“It will do. Straighten your tie. You always seem to get -the knot slightly crooked.”</p> -<p>“So you will have some reason to notice me, my dear.”</p> -<p>He kissed her, grinning like a boy, and hurried down the -stairs thinking that his Edith was still the loveliest thing -alive and the best thing that had ever happened to one -Theodore Roosevelt.</p> -<p>The three men rose as he entered the library and introduced -themselves, though he already knew their identity -having had some dealings with them when he was Police -Commissioner of New York City. They were all members -of the Board of Authority, a department of the city government, -and immediately Roosevelt sensed that their mission -was to gain some advantage in advance from the governor-elect.</p> -<p>The idea angered him and he made an excuse to mend -the fire, poking and banging till he had worked off his momentary -attack of spleen. Then he was ready for their -proposal which came promptly, voiced in turn by each of -<span class="pb" id="Page_38">38</span> -the three. Roosevelt said nothing, sitting rubbing the back -of his neck as he often did absently when he was trying to -keep a cool head, a thing that with his impetuous nature -and itch for action was not easy for him to do.</p> -<p>Finally, when their bland recital of their purpose in coming -here—intruding on a father’s holiday at home—was all -stated, the last part in concert, he jumped to his feet, paced -across the room and back and braced himself facing them.</p> -<p>“Gentlemen, you have asked me to intervene in this matter -which primarily affects only the City of New York, and -your office, authority and functions in that city. Let me remind -you in the first instance that I am not yet governor -of New York nor will I be for several days. Secondly, I -remind you that interference of this type is no function of -the governor, and that your appeal (if it is an appeal) -should be lodged with the proper authority to consider it. -After that, gentlemen, I bid you good day.”</p> -<p>The three men went out grumbling and Theodore -stamped up the stairs angrily, to where Edith sat by the -fire, rocking Quentin, who had the sniffles, to sleep.</p> -<p>“Low, unprincipled scoundrels,” he stormed, “coming -out here on Christmas Day to ask a favor of me knowing -all the time it would be utterly outside all order and sense -for me even to consider it.”</p> -<p>“There will be a great deal of that in a state like New -York,” Edith reminded him. “You might as well make up -your mind to accept it and be able to combat it calmly. -Your experience as Police Commissioner certainly taught -you that.” Edith was not too certain in her mind that anything -she said would do any good. Theodore’s first impulse -was always to fight any imposition or injustice toward himself -or any other innocent party, whether the war was -<span class="pb" id="Page_39">39</span> -waged against the oppressed Cubans or against civic or -national righteousness.</p> -<p>That he was usually effective only increased his crusader’s -urge and his wife had her own moments of trepidation -about facing his career as governor. She had a clear and -analytic mind that was always able to face truth even in its -ugliest mien and she had a quiet dread of all those stone -walls of intrenched selfishness and evil against which Theodore -Roosevelt’s militant nature might hurl itself in vain. -He had had so many high periods of satisfaction and -achievement these past years he had become an idol to -many but she knew that from the dawn of the history of -the world the lands of it had been paved with the scattered -dust of fallen idols.</p> -<p>She said then, “Mame is bathing the boys and Ethel, and -they’ll go to bed early. Then you and I and Alice will have -a quiet supper downstairs. The cook came in just a few -minutes ago. Poor soul, she spent nearly the whole of -Christmas afternoon just going over to see her sister and -carry her a white fascinator she had crocheted. She was too -conscientious about her duty here to take time even for a -Christmas visit.”</p> -<p>But Theodore was still not soothed or mollified. “Those -fellows who came here had the presumption to ask me to -intervene in a civic matter that concerns only their own -interests in the City of New York.” He resumed his angry -self-justification, “I practically showed them the door. -They were important men and politically powerful and -now I have undoubtedly made three powerful and influential -enemies.”</p> -<p>“You’ll make more, Theodore. You always have when -you were in a position of power just as every man does.”</p> -<div class="pb" id="Page_40">40</div> -<p>“Those fellows infuriated me by implying that at this -stage of my public life I would risk being devious. All right, -my dear, I won’t let them spoil our Christmas, what’s left -of it. You are an angel to listen so understandingly to my -tantrums. And before I forget it let me tell you you are -just as pretty and sweet and cute as you were when you -were sixteen years old.” He bent and kissed her.</p> -<p>“When I was sixteen I was an awful prig,” she said. “I remember. -I wasn’t much better when you married me.”</p> -<p>“You were perfect when you married me. I was the humblest, -most grateful man on earth that you were willing to -risk a life with a rough, tactless fellow like me. But it has -all been pretty good, hasn’t it, Edie? Now,” he promised, -“it will be even better.”</p> -<p>Alice came in then looking a trifle wan. “Aren’t we going -to have supper soon? I’m starving. The boys and Ethel -are eating already in the nursery. I tried to beg a piece of -cold turkey but Mame made me go out and leave them -alone. Mame,” she remarked, with a little flare of self-importance, -“ought to realize that I’m almost a young lady.”</p> -<p>“Mame will realize it when you act like a young lady,” -said her father, “and not like a spoiled child. Let’s go now. -Mother has to put the baby to bed, then she’ll be -down.”</p> -<p>He took his daughter’s hand, though he sensed that irritated -her, but squeezed it gently with a comradely pressure -and they ran down the last few steps laughing as they entered -the dining room, where a cold supper was spread.</p> -<p>“We’re both out of breath,” he remarked. “We’ve got -to run more. We’ll start tomorrow. In Albany—”</p> -<p>“I don’t want to go,” she wailed abruptly. “I want to -stay here.”</p> -<div class="pb" id="Page_41">41</div> -<p>“We’d all like to stay here,” he said, “even if there are -times when this house is as hard to heat as it has been -lately.”</p> -<p>“Davis tends the furnace better,” said Alice with the -bluntness that was beginning to be a characteristic of hers. -It was like his own forthrightness, he admitted. Fortunately -as the years went on an acquired tact and his innate kindness -saved him from too many blunders, and Edith’s influence -helped tame his impetuous instinct to speak out before he -thoughtfully considered a subject.</p> -<p>Edith came in then and Roosevelt gallantly seated his -wife and daughter, making both gestures equally formal to -Alice’s evident approval. Then he picked up the carving -knife but laid it down at an admonishing look from Edith.</p> -<p>“Alice, will you say grace?” he asked politely.</p> -<p>When she had finished he surveyed the remains of what -had been a huge turkey.</p> -<p>“Our bird seems to have suffered from the ravages of a -hungry tribe of Roosevelts,” he turned it over. “I do find -a little dark meat left and some dressing. And oh yes, here -is the intact remainder of the liver. Alice, you may have -that. It makes red blood and you’ll need it when you tackle -the beginnings of algebra and French. My dear,” he bowed -across the table, “how will you have your bones?”</p> -<p>“Anything edible,” said Edith. “I’m not at all particular.”</p> -<p>She sat at the foot of the table looking every inch the -poised, self-contained and gracious mistress of his house. -He knew that she was good for him, taming his occasional -warlike impulses as perhaps no other woman could have -done. One quieting word from her was usually enough to -steady him and calm his rages as she had just done without -in the least appearing to do, upstairs.</p> -<div class="pb" id="Page_42">42</div> -<p>Alice began her argument again. “Mother, why can’t I -go to Albany with the rest of the family?”</p> -<p>“Because your mother’s family want you to have every -advantage, Alice.” Edith spoke quietly, waving off an interruption -from Theodore with a flick of her hand, “You -must be grateful for them and for the education they are -able to give you. A girl like you is born with an obligation -to make the most of herself and I am sure you will, as I -hope my own children will too.”</p> -<p>“That sounds like a lecture,” fretted Alice. “I’ll get -enough lectures from my aunts and grandmother. They -are always lecturing me to be a lady and I think ladies are -stupid. I’d like to go to Dakota with Father and be a cowgirl. -I ride better then the boys do now.”</p> -<p>“Your aunt will probably see to it that you have riding -lessons in New York,” Edith said.</p> -<p>“I know about those. Side saddle and a derby hat and -horses so slow and stodgy they won’t gallop. I had some -the last time I was there at grandmother’s, with a silly groom -leading the horse around by the bridle.”</p> -<p>Edith sighed. She had devotedly tried to do her best for -Theodore’s daughter but Alice, like her father, had been -born a rebel with an individuality that would always resent -any set pattern of behavior. At least, Edith comforted herself, -the responsibility was not hers alone nor could she -reproach herself if inherited traits were too strong. Thank -goodness there was no rampant individuality in her own -small daughter! Ethel was usually as placid as a Dutch -housewife, though she could not be imposed upon and always -stood stubbornly for her own rights.</p> -<p>Dinner was not quite over when two small figures appeared -at the dining room door. In their nightclothes Kermit -<span class="pb" id="Page_43">43</span> -and Ethel stood there, their small feet blue with cold.</p> -<p>“Go back to bed quickly, you’ll catch your death of -cold!” their mother scolded, herding them back toward -the stairway.</p> -<p>“I’ll come along,” said Theodore. “I’ll just go back and -find the chivalry book, as Ted calls it.”</p> -<p>“You spoil them,” protested his wife. “They were up -before dawn this morning.”</p> -<p>“Early yet,” he made excuse, “only a little after eight.”</p> -<p>“It’s almost nine,” she corrected. “Supper was late because -Christmas upset the household routine. Jump in bed, -both of you. Kermit, wait—we’ll have to wipe off the bottoms -of your feet. You forgot your slippers again.”</p> -<p>“They fall off. Anyway, they’re not so very dirty.”</p> -<p>“Too black for the sheets.” Mame came in then as Edith -was tucking the covers around Ethel.</p> -<p>“They slipped out when I was back in my room,” she -explained. “Kermit is always slipping out of his bed. He’d -sleep under it half the time if I didn’t watch him, makes me -feel like tying him into it.”</p> -<p>“I can untie knots,” he said defiantly, “or I could chew -the rope in two.”</p> -<p>“Don’t be saucy,” his mother said, sponging the thin -grimy toes. “Run along, Mame, Colonel Roosevelt is coming -up to read to them.”</p> -<p>“It’ll be battles or Injun fighting and get them all stirred -up and excited,” grumbled Mame as she went out.</p> -<p>Alice followed her father into the nursery. “I’m surely -glad I have my own room,” she said. “There’s just no peace -or privacy in this nursery any more.”</p> -<p>“It’s time you were in bed too, Alice,” said her stepmother. -“You were up before dawn this morning.”</p> -<div class="pb" id="Page_44">44</div> -<p>“I want to hear the story,” Alice was plaintive. “I promise -to go to bed right after. After all I won’t be with -Father very much longer.”</p> -<p>“Let her stay, I’ll hustle her to bed right after,” said -Roosevelt.</p> -<p>Ted sat up, regarded the book his father was opening. -“I vote for Sir Lancelot,” he announced firmly.</p> -<p>“I vote for dragons,” said Kermit. “I like stories with -dragons with fire coming out their noses.”</p> -<p>“Are there any dragons in Dakota, Father?” Ethel wanted -to know. “Where you shot all the animals? Those up on -the wall?”</p> -<p>“Of course not!” Alice was scornful. “Dragons are a -fairy tale like gnomes and giants.”</p> -<p>“Goliath wasn’t a fairy tale,” declared Ted. “He is in -the Bible and the Bible is the Word of God.”</p> -<p>“Goliath was a tall, strong man,” said his father. “We -still see and hear of very tall, strong men who in that day -when most men were short would have been called giants. -I knew a cowhand in the West who was seven feet tall -without his boots. When he rode an average size cow pony -his feet almost touched the ground, he could step over a -yearling calf or a fence as easily as you can step over a -threshold.”</p> -<p>“I can jump over a fence,” bragged Kermit, “if I can -climb up a little way.”</p> -<p>“Ponies can jump over without climbing,” said Ted, “but -they have very strong muscles in their back legs. They can -kick hard too. Grant kicked a pig once and made him roll -over and squeal loud. He tried to eat my straw hat once -too.”</p> -<p>“You were crawling around under his front legs. He saw -<span class="pb" id="Page_45">45</span> -the hat and thought it was good to eat,” Alice defended -her pet pony.</p> -<p>“That was the summer Father found the big hollow tree -and he let us down inside it on a rope. You wouldn’t remember -that, Ethel, you were just a baby.”</p> -<p>“She was three. Father let her down too,” Alice recalled, -“and she was scared to death and screamed.”</p> -<p>“It was dark down there,” said their father. “We will -now end all reminiscing and read the book. But first, Alice, -toss a little light wood on that fire.”</p> -<p>“I like open fires better than radiators,” Alice said. “On -radiators you can’t toast marshmallows. And if you put -your feet on one with rubbers on they smell awful.”</p> -<p>The old tale of Sir Lancelot and the wicked Sir Modred, -the wizard and the dragon, held them enthralled for fifteen -minutes. Theodore was a slow and dramatic reader and -though the book was a simplified version for children it was -not too simplified and he skipped none of the long words, -but enunciated each clearly, sometimes pausing to make the -older ones say what the word meant and speak it several -times. Ted already had a mature vocabulary for his age -and the children had heard very little baby talk from their -parents, though an occasional visitor was apt to gush and -coo, to the boys’ thinly veiled disgust.</p> -<p>Archie was already asleep when the story was finished -and Kermit’s eyes were glazing though he fought to keep -them open. When Alice followed her father out she observed -in a suave tone of superiority that reminded Theodore -vaguely of his own mother. “After all, Father, we -have to remember that they are only children. Archie is -practically an infant yet.”</p> -<p>“We’ll remember that, Alice, and be very charitable in -<span class="pb" id="Page_46">46</span> -our judgments,” he answered with the same gravity. “Now -you scamper before Mother scolds both of us.”</p> -<p>Suddenly she flung her arms around him. “Oh, Father, -I don’t want to go back to New York. I hate it! Why can’t -I go to Albany with you?”</p> -<p>“That has been all decided and explained to you. Your -mother’s family are very fond of you and do a great deal -for you, and you must be grateful. Not many young girls -are so lucky.”</p> -<p>“There are so many rules,” she sighed. “Life is too bewildering -and mixed up for a young girl.”</p> -<p>“What a young girl needs at this stage of her growth is -sleep.” He gave her a fatherly smack. “Get along with you -now, and be content for a few years to leave the problems -to older people who love you and want the best for you.”</p> -<p>She was halfway down the stairs and she left him very -reluctantly and backed up the rest of the flight, calling -“Good night, Father.”</p> -<p>When she was safely in her room he went back to the -library fire where Edith was sitting, on her knee a piece -of embroidery stretched on a hoop.</p> -<p>“All should now be silent.” He dropped gratefully into -a deep chair. “From the way my own eyelids feel I’ll be -ready to join them in unconsciousness very soon. This has -been a long day.”</p> -<p>“And tomorrow will be another,” she said, “but this has -been a good day. For me at least. When none of the children -are ailing with anything,” spoke the mother, “I am -content. I hope and pray we don’t have too many visitors -to usurp your time tomorrow, as no one else can sort and -pack most of your personal papers.”</p> -<p>“Undoubtedly the locusts will descend as they usually -<span class="pb" id="Page_47">47</span> -do on a new man in office. Favors, always favors, and if -they can get in a word before the other fellow they have -the urge to speak it. And only one answer I can give them -now, no matter how righteous their plea. When that is no -longer timely I’ll have to depend on the grace of God to -give me wisdom but fortunately there will be other people -between me and so much importunity.” He got to his feet -looking aghast. “Don’t tell me that’s somebody else! I hear -a horse and wheels.”</p> -<p>“It may be Davis. Sometimes he borrows a horse to go -to his preaching service. You assured him it was all right.” -She folded her work and stood too, listening. “No, they are -stopping outside, whoever it may be. I’ll go up now, Theodore. -No one wants to see me at this time of night.”</p> -<p>The wheels outside were silent and though it was too -dark and lowering to see anything, Theodore heard two -persons mounting the front steps, moving very lightly. He -went to the front door carrying a lamp with him, and held -it high to study the faces of his visitors. One was a gaunt, -middle-aged woman in a thin coat, her head tied up in a -wool scarf, the other a lank boy about fifteen who clawed -off his hat and ducked his head in embarrassment.</p> -<p>“Evening, sir,” said the woman, bobbing stiffly. Her -ungloved hands were blue with cold, and her lips were blue -and bitten. “I’m Dorsie Witten come from away up in -Oneida. I’ve come a long way to see you, sir. Part of the -ways by train and the rest with this hired rig. I sold two -good cows to fetch the money to come to see you when -you got elected governor and I hope you’ll listen patient -to a heart-broke mother’s story.”</p> -<p>“Come in! Come in out of the cold.” Theodore held the -door wide, the raw wind flaring the lamp. When they were -<span class="pb" id="Page_48">48</span> -inside he said, “Any woman who has come so far deserves -to be heard though I can’t promise I can do anything for -you. I’m not even governor of New York yet, you know.”</p> -<p>“Well, you will be, sir. Clint here said I should wait till -you come to Albany that wasn’t so fur for us to travel, but -I said there’d be so many bigwigs crowding in to see you -then I’d never even get let in much less get a chance to -talk to you.”</p> -<p>“I hope no one will be turned away who really needs to -see me, madam, but the governor of a big state like New -York is a mighty busy man as you can understand,” he -said. “Please sit down here by the fire and tell me your -business and make it brief if you don’t mind, for with five -children and the Christmas holiday I’ve had a long day.”</p> -<p>“Is this Christmas?” she looked bewildered. “You know -since Ollie got in trouble I’ve been so worried and upset I -don’t know Sunday from Monday. You see, Governor, -Ollie—Oliver he was named for his grandfather—is my oldest -boy and my dependence. I tried to raise both of my boys -good and honorable and Ollie wasn’t bad, Governor, he -wasn’t a bad boy, he was just quick-tempered like his daddy. -Eph, my husband, was fire and tow, he had a terrible temper -and was easy to get mad, that’s how come Eph to get -into trouble.”</p> -<p>“You’re here to see me about your husband?” he asked.</p> -<p>“No, sir, can’t nothing be done for Eph. I been to the -other governor a’ready. He’s in Sing Sing for the rest of -his life. He got mad years ago and cut a man terrible so he -died and they sent him up the river for it but it’s Ollie that’s -worrying me. Ollie’s only nineteen years old. Ollie killed a -man, Governor, and I ain’t defending him but it was in a -fair fight. Ollie shot to save his own life.”</p> -<div class="pb" id="Page_49">49</div> -<p>“He did not claim he shot in self-defense? A man has a -right to defend himself, in law, Mrs. Witten,” Roosevelt -said.</p> -<p>“Well, they brought out in the trial that the other feller -was shot in the back and didn’t have a gun with him. But -he was heading for where it stood, Governor, Ollie said -so and I believe him. Ollie was just smart and shot quick, -knowing the other feller was a crack shot and would get -him from a long ways off. Now they’re sending Ollie up -where his father is, and I got nobody to depend on but -Clint, and he ain’t just right in his head, and I got three -little ones, all girls. Clint forgets everything. Come in from -the field and wander off to town and leave the mules out -there hitched to the plow all night if the children and I -didn’t go out and fetch ’em in. I’ve finished many a field -myself, leaving my children playing in a furrow.” She -twisted her thin hands together, casting reproachful glances -at Clint, whose stolid face showed no emotion whatever.</p> -<p>Roosevelt looked with some compassion at the woman’s -ravaged face and thin body. How many such would he see -in the next two years, harassed, frightened women, all desperately -pleading mercy for violent-tempered husbands or -sons? For an instant the prospect appalled him and briefly -he dreaded the heavy responsibility of a great human population.</p> -<p>Then sober judgment came, steadying his nerves, and he -spoke in a calm, fatherly voice. “Mrs. Witten, I know -nothing of the facts in this case of your son. A man who -shoots another in the back condemns himself from the first -in the minds of all sober men.”</p> -<p>“I been tellin’ Ma that,” stated Clint, speaking for the -first time in a voice surprisingly masculine and deep coming -<span class="pb" id="Page_50">50</span> -from such an undersized, emaciated body. “All the way -down here I told her it was a waste of money comin’ way -down here just to see you. Them was good cows we sold -to pay for it too.”</p> -<p>“You know I’m not yet governor of New York,” Roosevelt -reminded her. “I have no legal right to do anything -about any case, especially one that has been already settled -in the courts and the defendant convicted. What possible -defense could your son have for shooting an unarmed man -in the back? Didn’t he testify in his own defense?”</p> -<p>“He swore he thought that feller—Morgan Tuttle was -his name—was going after his gun and Ollie knowed Morgan -was a dead shot. He could have killed Ollie from a -hundred yards off and Ollie knowed it. They was huntin’ -together up in the mountains.”</p> -<p>“That was what the fight was about,” put in Clint. “Deer -they shot up in them hills. Morgan wasn’t going to divide -fair.”</p> -<p>“Was that the legal season to kill a deer?” Roosevelt -asked. “I thought they were protected by law.”</p> -<p>“No, it wasn’t, but it come out in the trial anyway because -Morgan’s wife blabbed to the law,” Clint supplied. -“We ain’t paid Ollie’s lawyer yet but he didn’t do nothin’ -nohow.”</p> -<p>“There was little he could do in the face of the evidence,” -said Roosevelt.</p> -<p>“He said that,” she admitted, “and he said he aimed to -charge us a hundred dollars when he didn’t do nothing.”</p> -<p>“Did he make you any promises?”</p> -<p>“No, sir, he wouldn’t do that. He just said he’d do his -best but he didn’t do nothin’,” insisted Clint.</p> -<p>“It’s hard to justify any man who shoots another in the -<span class="pb" id="Page_51">51</span> -back, even if he has a weapon handy,” argued Roosevelt. -“After all Ollie could have run. He didn’t have to stand -still and let the other man shoot at him.”</p> -<p>“That’s what the judge said,” Clint added.</p> -<p>“My men wasn’t never no hand to run away from trouble,” -remarked Mrs. Witten. “They always faced up to -trouble mighty bold.”</p> -<p>“It’s not being bold to shoot a man in the back,” commented -the hero of San Juan Hill, letting a little twinge of -guilty memory come over him briefly. How many men of -the Spanish troops had he shot in the back in Cuba? But -that was war. The enemy had had the same chance to get him -from the rear and he had known it. As Ollie had had the -chance to run, so had the soldiers of Spain the chance to -surrender but no man liked the thought of killing a human -being and soldiers had to be hardened before they could do -it, except in desperation to save their own lives. Only the -toughest ones had no qualms, and it was ironic that usually -they made the best infantry troops.</p> -<p>He had had a few timorous and squeamish fellows in his -Rough Riders but when the fighting got hot they forgot -their scruples and came through gallantly.</p> -<p>He sent the two Wittens away finally, promising to look -into the case of Ollie Witten further when he came into -office:</p> -<p>“I assume you want an official pardon for your son? -There is nothing else that can be done when a man is already -serving his sentence except a parole. And with Ollie’s record -of violence I doubt that could be attained. A pardon -on a hardship plea would be your only hope.”</p> -<p>“He got life like Pa,” Clint said, “and they told us he -was mighty lucky.”</p> -<div class="pb" id="Page_52">52</div> -<p>“He was lucky to escape the death penalty. How long -has he been in prison?”</p> -<p>“Since October it was,” said the mother. “We a’ready -been to the governor—him that was governor before you -got elected, sir, but he said he couldn’t do nothin’. So I told -Clint we’d wait till a new governor got elected and soon -as the corn was in we got somebody to tend the place and -we come here.”</p> -<p>“I fear you had a long, expensive and fruitless trip,” said -Roosevelt dubiously, escorting them to the door. “Do you -plan to go home tonight?”</p> -<p>“Train leaves at midnight and it’s a fur piece from here,” -Clint answered. “Come on, Ma, we got to hurry. I told you -he wasn’t going to do nothin’, that we was just wastin’ time -and money. And a cow home fixing to come fresh any -day.”</p> -<p>Theodore Roosevelt went back up the stairs feeling -heavy and depressed. Edith looked up from the bed as he -came into the room with a lighted candle.</p> -<p>“You look unhappy,” she said. “More office seekers? But -I thought I heard a woman’s voice.”</p> -<p>“You did. A poor woman whose husband is in Sing Sing -and her son has just been sent there, both for murder. The -son killed another man, shot him in the back, but she -thought I could do something about it, because she has -other children and needs him on the farm. She had a boy -with her about fifteen years old, she said he was not right -in the head but he seemed shrewd enough, talked as intelligently -as his mother and had a clearer idea of the -difficulties of doing anything in a case like this than she -did.”</p> -<p>“Mothers have too tender hearts always to have good -<span class="pb" id="Page_53">53</span> -sober judgment,” said Edith quietly. “They have a way of -letting their emotions obscure their common sense, especially -where their children are concerned. Aren’t you coming -to bed? You have a hard day tomorrow with Heaven -knows how many interruptions to frustrate you in getting -things done.”</p> -<p>“I think I’ll walk outside a little. I don’t feel like sleeping -yet. A bit of exercise will steady my nerves.”</p> -<p>“I didn’t know you had that sort of nerves, Theodore.”</p> -<p>“Now and then they take possession of me. Do you -know, Edie,” he sat on the edge of the bed, “there are times -when I shrink a little from this job I have set myself? After -all New York is a big state, the most important state in -the Union.”</p> -<p>“And you are a big man,” she consoled him. “And since -San Juan Hill you have been about the biggest man in the -Union.”</p> -<p>“Hero worship. Public hysteria. It can die as quickly as -it flames and it leaves some mighty cold and bitter ashes. -There are vast numbers of forgotten heroes in this country, -men who rode the crest of a popular wave and deluded -themselves into thinking it would last forever. You can be -an old story overnight, and forgotten in a month if another -object of exciting interest appears. And there’s nothing so -forlorn and pitiable as an out-of-date and out-of-fashion -hero. Well, I’ll try the open air for a little. Usually it helps -my thinking to use my legs and from now on through the -rest of the winter I’ll have little time or opportunity to -do it.”</p> -<p>He went downstairs and let himself quietly out the front -door, first remembering his wife’s admonition to put on a -heavy jacket. Buttoning an old army coat up to his chin, he -<span class="pb" id="Page_54">54</span> -pulled on a battered old campaign hat, rain- and sun-stained -and faded, with the insigne of the Rough Riders still pinned -upon it, but now slightly tarnished.</p> -<p>A thin spit of snow was still drifting and the air was -damp with the feel of the sea in it, but not bitterly freezing. -He strode down the hill from the house and took a path -that led through the wooded land where he had so often -worked off his surplus energies by chopping down trees -and carefully cutting them into firewood. There was a pile -of cordwood on the edge of the timber and he stopped -there and hefted a log, lifting it off the top of the pile, balancing -it on his shoulder as woodsmen learn to do.</p> -<p>The rough bark, held close to his face, smelled sharply -of acid, so he knew it was a branch from the wild cherry -tree that had rotted at the heart. It had been hard and tough -to cut, requiring all his muscles to shape it for sawing into -logs for the fireplaces, but he had exulted in the job of conquering -this old tree just as he had gloried in every strenuous -task he had ever set himself.</p> -<p>He laid the log back on the stack, sending down a shower -of dry bark, wondering when he would be free to chop -wood again or wander these hills followed by his adoring -children, or swim in the Bay or teach Quentin to dive off -the diving board. He had instructed all the youngsters there, -tossing them into deep water relentlessly, ready to fish them -out if they foundered, but confident that they would conquer -their fears and learn to paddle about, being his own -children.</p> -<p>At any rate, he told himself, he was a lucky man, and if -there were times when public life irked him a little, bringing -a faint regret that outside affairs kept him from the -quiet life he loved, he had to balance all the rewards against -<span class="pb" id="Page_55">55</span> -the slight feeling of frustration, count the honors as recompense.</p> -<p>Destiny had somehow set his feet upon a road and he felt -at times a deep secret apprehension of where the road -might lead. So far he had found himself adequate to any -task that confronted him, and standing still in the quiet -night air he felt the muscles of his spirit tense and a glow -pervade his body.</p> -<p>He was not blind or deaf to certain portents in the air -and, though he never spoke of them or let his mind dwell -upon them, they still lingered, buried deep in his consciousness. -There was always the echo of casual words spoken, of -gay songs being sung.</p> -<div class="verse"> -<p class="t0"><i>We’ll send you to the White House for the gallant deeds you’ve done.</i></p> -</div> -<p>All doggerel, all wishful thinking, he told himself, yet the -idea lingered, and now he let it float uppermost in his mind -till there came over him a sense of exhilaration, a promise -of yet greater things ahead. Impatiently he put the thought -down, but it kept creeping up again till his nerves tightened -and he itched to do something tangible, attack something -conquerable. On an impulse he strode back to the -house and in a tool room found his ax, by the light of a -single match.</p> -<p>Back at the log pile he laid a huge branch across two -others and hacked away at it with the ax in the faint snow -light, planting vigorous strokes and telling blows, though it -was difficult to aim a tool in the thin light from the winter -sky and more chips flew through the air than bespoke an -expert woodsman.</p> -<div class="pb" id="Page_56">56</div> -<p>When the branch was all reduced to proper lengths for -burning he piled the sticks carefully, wiping the sticky sap -from his hands on the sleeves of the old jacket. Then, shouldering -the ax, he tramped back to the house, feeling suddenly -relaxed and weary in nerve and bone. The sky, he -noted, was slowly clearing and now and then a pale wisp of -a moon shone fleetingly against the scud of the wind-driven -clouds. Over the water a pale whiteness lighted the -clouds as the moonlight increased.</p> -<p>Theodore Roosevelt was no mystic or fatuous dreamer, -indeed the factual and actual had always been paramount -in his mind. He had never had the weakness of nursing -hopeful visions trying to bring them to reality. Instead he -had always gone out to fight for what he believed in and let -dreamers have their dreams.</p> -<p>But why now was that faint glow in the eastern sky -slowly taking on the semblance of a great white dome towering -against the horizon? In only one place in the land was -reared a majestic dome like that.</p> -<p>Very humbly Theodore Roosevelt went back to his bed.</p> -<h2 id="trnotes">Transcriber’s Notes</h2> -<ul> -<li>Silently corrected a few typos.</li> -<li>Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook is public-domain in the country of publication.</li> -<li>In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by _underscores_.</li> -</ul> -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHRISTMAS AT SAGAMORE HILL WITH THEODORE ROOSEVELT ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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