Evening star., 1901-03-02

happened-except one thing Several days
before the formal Inauguration he had
taken the oath of office. The function in
the big room there in New York states ele-
phantine capitol was purely formal, but up
over the band in the gallery and half be
hind a pillar there was small boy who
was not. The background OF the ladies'
gowns and the officers uniforms In that
great chamber In Albany was more varied
but less Impressive than had been the SOM
ber green OF the Cuban jungle. Roosevelts
black frock coat stood out as vividly as his
brown uniform had on the other occasion.
L was too badly crippled to get through the
crowd and close to him. But II would have
been difficult not to notice that youngster
up in the gallery. The small boy was al
most reproduction of the man who was
peing inaugurated governor of the richest
state In the Union. He had the same big
eyes covered with enormous glasses like
tnose the new official wore-and always will
MS teeth were like those of the distin-
gulshed man below, and when he cried out
three cheers" and gave them, he bit the
words on, exactly as his father does. with
snaps. 1t was Theodore Roosevelt ir His
father waved his hand at him and grinned.
He was thinking more of the small boy Just
then than he was of being governor, there
Is no doubt of that.
Receiving the News.
When the governor received the news that
he had been elected Vice President of the
United States there was one detail OF the
episode which reminded me Of that other
D'4S Al <AipdIiy- again q minor matter took
his mind off the great things that were hap
penlng. He was not the kind of candidate
who has special wires put into his house SO
tnat ne may get the election news earlier
than 1t goes to the people. Instead Of do
Tag mat he had his telephone disconnected
tne nlght before the election. When cleo
ton day came he had no means of receiving
any news whatever unless he went to get
II, or some one took 1t to him He did not
go to get 1t, and 1 was lucky enough to be
m tllra IL
other was a New York newspaper man in
whom the governor had confidence
me governors house was three miles
from the village of Oyster Bay where the
newspaper men had gathered Our news
came to us by telephone from our offices in
New York We had hoped great things az
the telegraph but they did not materialize
An operator looked too long upon something
or other when 1t was red-or brown-and the
result was telegraphic chaos and / think.
the caiaboose-for him. At any rate we
graph.
When we were told, at ten minutes after
10, that the result was assured that thare
was was no doubt of the election of the repub-
mean lcket and that the democratic man
ayers had given up the fight. we drove out
10 the governors house. It was long
drive in the dark, and I remember that II
was much colder than | had expected n to
be. l had taken no overcoat with me
borrowed coachlnan's coat from the livery
stable.
"reatty helleNed.
Every window in the house was brilliantly
iighted when we arrived. A dinner party
had just arisen from the table. and all vera
In evening dress. The governor met us at
the door, and we told him the glad news in
the hallway. A newspaper correspondent
must be non-partisan, but [ think that he
as we'll as the other republican managers
had been much nearer to worry over tho
result or the election than they had been
willing to acknowledge
ne was greatly delighted. Under the alb
breviated tail Of his dinner coat his hands
worked convulsively as he marched around
the room and said:
Il am glad! l am very gladr'
Each word was chopped off as all his
words are, and the smile on his face was
pleasant to our sight. He thanked us for
our news. He then took us all into the
parlor, and asked us for fewer details than
we had expected. We had really made an
eHort 10 get all the news that we could
but he did not seem to care about knowing
other than the result in general
A Surprising Query.
Then came the occurrence which made
me think of that Inauguration day occa-
sion when his small sons cheer had seemed
to mean more to him than the fact that
he was about to be inaugurated governor
of New York. He suddenly turned to the
other man. while we were both trying to
SCI oui eItCllon HSureS ready Tor him. and
demanded:
What was the score in the foot ball
game?"
The matter of his election to the vice
presidency was over. He knew that he had
been elected and that settled it. He was no
longer interested in that. He wanted to
know how the foot ball game had turned
out.
A curious thing happened earlier in the
day when he went to vote. He was dis
tinctly worried and nervous as he had
been before the battle in Cuba began He
forgot that it necessary to take
blank ballot into the booth with him after
he had reached the polling place, and so
when he got inside he could not vote. The
reason for this did not come to his excited
mind. He simply knew that there was
something wrong and asked for help A
klnd-hearted citizen of Oyster Bay came
along and showed him how to prepare and
cast his ballot-a thing which he certainly
knew as we'll as any one could, but he was
ratified.
And that is the man. He is nervous and
excitable. The little things of life he
thinks not very much about The big
things are the things which he con-
centrates his mind. And he does them.