The Savannah morning news., 1901-09-29
STORIES OF ROOSEVELT.
From the Baltimore Sun.

having habit of doing and saying
things out of the ordinary, his words
and deeds are always interesting The
range OF stories is wide and varied, as
might naturally be expected of a man
who has been cowboy, traveller, a
writer, a refcrmer. a soldier and a
statesman. 1t has been said of him that
no living American to-day is so YER
satile; that there is no calling that he
could not fill, and with credit. Be that
as 1t may, he has certainly played
long list of roles, and in each he has
been a conspicuous figure. And he is
sun q young man. His complete biogra-
ply, when written, will be quite as en-
PERTAINING reading as that of any Of
our popular heroes who are dead.
In the Pulpit.
The new President has appeared on
the political stump times without num-
Der, but only once, so far as recorded,
has he appeared in the pulpit This was
in Chicago recently. Mr.. Roosevelt is
personal friend of the Rev. Mr.. Moer-
dyke, of the Trinity Reformed Church.
Come and preach to us some Sun
day., wrote the preacher several
months ago to Mr.. Roosevelt. "I will
MI your pulpit the next time 1 am in
chicago" was the reply. He arrived in
v.
accompanied by Col. J. H. Strong, he
drove 10 the Trinity to keep his prom
Use. The Rev. Mr.. Moerdyke was in the
act of announcing the hymn when the
then Vice President and Col. Strong
entered the church. They took front
seats. The reading of the hymn was
postponed and the preacher stepped
down from the pulpit to greet his
guests. A minute later the minister re-
turned to the pulpit and announced
tnat MS regular sermon on christian
statesmen" would be postponed, and
that Vice President Roosevelt would
preach. There is one thing l admire
ABOUT Col. Roosevelt more than all 9TH
ers," he continued; "he is a man Of his
word" The Vice President did not
preach doctrine, but he did deliver a
lay sermon on BE We Doors of the
Word. Not Hearers Only" that was
listened TO with the closest attention.
Inc afternoon of the same day he adj
dressed the Gideons at the First Meth
odist Church, and was elected an hon
orary member of the association.
Made No Plans When a Boy,
welt:
what did you expect to be or dream
OF being when you were a boy?"
Il do not recollect that I dreamed at
all or planned at ALL" he answered.
i simply obeyed the Injunction.
whatsoever thy hand findeth to do,
do that with all thy might so / took
up what came along as it came. Since
then | have gone on Lincoln's motto:
10 the best; If not, then the best pos
sible.'"
Appreciates Zeal.
When Col. Roosevelt set out to raise
regiment of Rough Riders he decided
that he would make sure that every
man enlisted possessed not only nerve.
put staying qualities as we'll. His ex-
perience with one young Westerner is
a type of several. The young man
was strong and husky enough, but
there was look in his face that the
Colonel took to be one lacking a con-
tlnuity OF purpose. He told the would
be recruit that the ranks were practi-
cally full and that he could not en-
list him. The next day the young man
returned to repeat his request to be
enlisted. Again he was turned down.
This proceeding was repeated for a
week, the Western youth never miss
ing day at the recruiting headquar-
tiers. The pertinacity of the boy finally
interested the Colonel.
What did you say your name was p"
asked Roosevelt on the eighth visit.
Henry Johnson"
Where do you come from"
Iowa"
You want to enlist as a Rough
Rider?"
II do"
How did you get here?"
IT walked some of the distance
stole part of the way. and paid my
fare as far as possible"
Can you ride horse?"
Yes" -
And shoot?"
Eyes"
well, you are the kind of man we
are looking for. / did not like your
appearance at first, but any man who
will show as much zeal trying to get
into the army deserves to be enlisted. :"
Definition of Americanism.
Mr.. Roosevelt was once asked for an
opinion on what he termed true Amer
icanism. The reply, which he incor-
porated in one of the books, is as fol-
lows: II have no wish to excuse or
hide our faults, for I hold that he is
often the best American who strives
hardest to correct American shortcom-
ings. Nevertheless, l am just as little
disposed to give way to undue pessi-
mism as to undue and arrogant OPP
timism. In speaking to my own coun-
trymen, there is one point upon which
wish to lay special stress; that is,
the necessity for a feeling of broad,
radical, intense Americanism, If good
work is to be done in any direction.
Above all, the one essential for sue
cess in every political movement which
is to do lasting good is that our citi-
Gems should act as Americans; not as
Americans with a prefix and quali1-
cation-not as Irish Americans, Ger
man-Americans, native Americans
but as Americans pure and simple
Frank Bookseller.
President Roosevelt was once trav-
cling in India, and passed a book store,
in the window of which was a copy of
his Winning of the West" Going into
the book store, he inquired: who is
this author, Roosevelt" "Oh!" said
the bookseller, "hes a ranch driver"
"And what do you think of his book p"
asked the President We'll" said the
dealer, slowly and deliberately. 1--WE
always thought I'd like to meet the
author and tell him that II he had
stuck to running a ranch and given
up writing books, he'd have made a
powerful more of success at his
trade"
His Religion.
Mr.. Roosevelt attends the Dutch Re-
formed Church, but his real religion is
perhaps most clearly revealed through
an incident of his visit to a big ranch
In Wyoming one Sunday during his
late national political canvass. The
owner of the ranch and a number of
l. a. -. a.