The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-04-03

| literary studies blocked household business,
for baby Theodore held it up mercilessly
until his thirst for information was
slaked.''
From a baby prodigy we see him grow
to frail frame, but under the iron will
| Of Roosevelt that frame broadens out and
grows tough. 1t is rather marvellous
transformation, but he hasn't been long
in the West before he is knocking the
senses out of burly cowboys armed with
big six-shooters. His conquering of the
West is detailed in chapter, "The Horse
and the Cum
This chapter tells us of a drunken rowdy
| who took Mr.. Roosevelt for tenderfoot
| and with a curse babe him. treat at the
point of his two revolvers. enforcing the
invitation with little exhibition OF gun
play.
| Roosevelt was stranger in the town
and had no friends there. He got UP APP
parently to yield to the inevitable, prac-
ticing over mentally the while famous
left -hander that had done execution IN the
old Harvard days The next instant the
bully crashed against the wall and meas
ured his length on the floor. His pistols
went off harmlessly in the air. He open
ed his eyes to find the 'foureyed tender
| foot standing over him, bristing with
! fight, while the crowd nodded calmly,
| Served him right He surrendered then
and there and gave up his guns, while
Mr. Roosevelt went to bed unmolested'
After that Mr.. Roosevelt's fame on the
plains was assured. He caught cattle
thieves after daring deeds that astonish-
ed even the wild men of the West. He
denounced criminal sheriff, although he
was unarmed and he knew the sheriff was
a desperate character, with six-shooters
sticking out of his pockets. These tales OF
| the plains are not all new. but the story
of Roosevclts "duel' is still unfamiliar
. in print.
1t was an inchoatc duel with real
marquis-te Marquis de Mores.
| "The two were neighbors.' as Mr.. Riis
| tells it, 'their ranches being some ten or
fifteen miles apart. The Marquis was a
gallant but exaggerated Frenchman, with
odd feudal notions still cGnging in his
brain He took it into his head to be
offended by something Roosevelt was re-
ported to have said. before he had yet
met him. and wrote him a curt note,
telling him what he had heard and that
there was way for gentlemen to settle
their differences to which he invited his
attention. Mr.. Roosevelt promptly replied
that he had heard lie: that he, the
Marquis, had no business to believe it true
upon such evidence. and that he would
| follow his note in person within the hour.
| He dispatched the letter to Medora, where
| the Marquis was, by one OF his men, and,
| true TO his word. started himself imme-
diately after. Before he came in sight of
| the little COW town he was met by
courier travelling in haste from the Mar
Quis with gcntleman's apology and cor
dial invitation to dine with him in town.
| And that was all there was of the sensa-
tional duel with the French nobleman."
! Other chapters are full Of incidents and
exploits in Mr.. Roosevelt's career that
| have been in print many times.
! There is a chapter on his Early Les
sons in Politics." His service in the Civil
Service Commission is detailed under the
/ heading ''The Fair Play Department" The
chapter is like its title
| AS soldier and fighter Present Roose-
f! welt looms large in this book Precon-
| ceived ideas of his courage in civil life and
politics and his bravery on the battlefield
have to undergo change to be able to
quite grasp Mr.. Riis' measure of the real
scope and intensity OF Mr.. Rocsevelt's
fearlcssness; his utter disregard for his
own interests where duty is at stake. He
is shown in the camp, the idol of his
;mcn; on the battlefield fighting with
reckless bravery.
Let it be enough to say that it did save
the day says Mr.. Riis of the Rough
Riders charge.
| Again Roosevelt is shown after the bat
tie is over fighting now to get his men
out of Cuba, saying:
| eve will fight for the flag to the last
man if need be, but now our fighting is
done. we will not be left mere to die"
I Mr. Riis says of this: "The Colonel OF
the Rough Riders at the head of his men
/; on San Juan Hill, much as l like the pic
ture is not half so heroic figure to me
as Roosevelt in this hour of danger and
doubt, shouldering the blame for the step
he knew to be right Perhaps it is because
know him better and love him So
! The dramatic story of Mr.. Roosevelt's
call to the Presidency is strongly told
| in 1.-The Summons on Mount Marcy"
The one chapter that stands out above
] all the rest in the book is the one treat
| ing of what Roosevelt is like, himself.
| This chapter is remarkable for its extol-
| lnent of the Roosevelt virtues, private
| and public Purporting to be an init
lrate study of Roosevelt, it avoids all
attempts at analysis.
But resolves a sunbeam or tear, into
| its original elements, and what do you
get?" Mr.. Ris asks, in explaining why
! h, doesn't try to anayze the Presidents
character. He talk of the Presidents
ambition.
His ambition? Yes, he has that Is
| it to be President? He would like to sit
! in the White House, elected by the peo-
pie, for no man l ever met has so real
and deep a belief in the ultimate right
cousness of the people, in their wish TO
do the thing that is right, if it can be
shown them. But it is not that. 1t |
Knew anything of the man, l know this;
that he would fight in the ranks to the
end of life for the things worth fight
ing for, rather than reach out, a hand to
Siesp the presidency, if it were to be
had as the price of one of the principles
luron which his life has been shaped in
the sight of US all.
But about himself. You know how
he looks. To my mind, he is as hand
seine man as I ever saw; and | know
an right, for my wife says So too, and