The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1905-04-14
HAVING A STRENUOUS TIME

E1F1NlfNo - y
President Roosevelt, having killed
some wolves. a cougar and a rattle
snake having overcome his Compel
itors in a foot race and having been in
at the death of wolf who went over
a course of ten miles of broken country
in an attempt to ge away from his pur
suer, and having done all these things
without turning a hair, has left the
confines of civilization and betaken
himself to the wilds where he expects
to meet with game worthy of the
sportsman. He is having the time of
his life-and we are glad of it.
1t is a good thing for this country
to have a man at the head of the gov
eminent who likes to live in the open
and who leads the right sort of life
when he is at play. 1t is not given to
all of us to be able to leave the cares
of business and rush off somewhere
and do things on horseback or afoot
which require sound wind and limbs,
and some of us might not want to kill
wolves and cougars and snakes if we
could. But the outdoor life is a good
ident is the sort of man to popularize
by example these things that should be
popular. The president may be bit
spectacular, but that is probably be-
cause he is Indifferent to the attention
he attracts, and so long as his bent for
killing things is directed against beasts
of prey there is little likelihood that
anybody will want to quarrel with him
because he develops at times the white
mans disposition to go out and kill
something.
The example of the president should
not be lost. 1t would be an excellent
thing for this country If the people
paid less attention to. physical culture
as prescribed by the Sunday papers
and the ladies and gentlemen who are
healthy for a mere trifie, and more to
the possibilities of becoming both by
living out of doors. 1t is not necessary
that one should demand that the privi-
lege of having a hand-to-hand fight
with a bear reward him at the end of
day spent in the country. The aver
age man or woman would probably feel
better If he or she just loafed through
a day in the open occasionally. If
ones. muscles are developed as are
those of President Roosevelt, the
strenuous time is needful to be effective.
That is a matter of condition. The
principle that stands behind the presi-
dents strenuous longing for hard
knocks in high attitudes is the thing
that commends his practice to the or
binary man and woman. He teaches
that it is well to play little in the
open air. If you must have a gun in
hand when you play, all right; take. 1T
along. But you will get just as much
good out of the recreation if a fishing
rod better suits your mood. And the
man who is just disposed to spend a
lazy holiday or Sunday loafing about
and letting the sun shine on him will
get results proportional to the bene-
fits President Roosevelt gets out of
climbing mountains to Stay grizzlies.
We may indulge in some reservation
in commencing the craftsmanship of
President Roosevelt. but we do not
doubt that when he plays he plays with
all his might. He gives the country a
sort of exultant sense of satisfaction
in his strenuosity-just as Grover
Cleveland used to give us a sense of
easygoing enjoyment when he fished at
Buzzard's Bay and collected the flow
ers of language wherewith to garnish
the meat of his philosophy.