The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1905-08-21

way to and from the station In the
plain. almost bare, executive offices To-
Gated over grocery store In the main
street, Secretary Loeb wards off unwel-
come visitors and attends to the Pres
dents correspondence and the mass of
other details Two or three times a day
he drives over the two miles or SO which
separate Oyster Bay from Sycamore Hill,
takes up with the President any impor-
tant matters which may come up and
then returns to his offices For this
purpose the Secretary has three horses
reserved for his own use. Immediate
communication can also be secured
through the telephone, although Mr..
Roosevelt declined the offer of the tel
ephone company to erect private line
connecting his house with the executive
offices. The ordinary citizen, however,
is not at liberty to call the President
to the telephone whenever he sees fit
and the operators In the Oyster Bay ex-
change have preemptory orders never to
ring up the Sycamore Hi house unless
Secretary Loeb has given permission.
Still Enjoys Outdoor Life.
These precautions-whch takes the
place of uniformed sentries and all the
ceremonial so distasteful to Mr.. Roose-
velt's temperament-are sufficient to
leave him time enough to enjoy the out
door life he is so fond Of Horseback
riding is the chief pastime of the whole
family, and it is only under extraordi-
nary circumstances that n day passes
without the Presidents taking a long
ride over the wooded hills, the back
bono of Long Island" from which one
looks down upon the sound dotted with
cleaning white yachts and the less or
namental coasting schooners./ Every
member of the family has his own mount,
from the heavy charger Of Mr.. Roose-
welt, well able to carry his 200 pounds,
to the little Shetland pony on which
Quentin trots around the grounds. All
told there are about twelve horses in
the Sycamore Hill stables, most of which
are remarkably good specimens of the
various classes.
| A lover of horses. as all men who have
! lived much in the west almost invariably
become, Mr. Roosevelt takes care that
those he is responsible for have the best
of treatment, but for elaborate rigs and
all the paraphernalia of city style he has
little taste in the country. His stables
and carriages alike are transformations
and the place itself Is left much as
nature made it. The ground Immediately
around the house has been cleared away,
but no effort has been made to transform
the clearing into smooth, level lawns.
Most of the rest of the property of ninety
acres is given over to thick woods which
but the President grows a little rye and
is particularly proud of his home-raised
potatoes. There is also a large kitchen
garden at the back of the house. Close
to the road, just where the belt of woods
ends, is the tennis court, which this
year is being changed from tuft to dirt.
Next to riding tennis hold the place of
honor with the Roosevelt family. Just
above the tennis court the road is carried
up the hill by two winding embankments.
Several bad runaways due to automo-
hiles occurred here last year and 1t Is
on account of the danger to his visitors
that Mr.. Roosevelt has forbidden any
motor cars to come up the road In flu
ture
Roosevelts All Sail.
Behind the house, in sheltered cove.
Is an arm of the bay are the bathing
houses and the anchorage/6f the Roose-
welt hotilla--two or three small sail boats
and a row boat or So The Roosevelts all
sail of course-all good Long Islanders
do--and the harbor of oyster Bay is as
good a place for the amateur yachtsman
as one could pick out. Unfortunately,
even Mr.. Roosevelt. with all his indie
pendence of guards, cannot reconcile the
dignity and safety of the President with
the delight of a weeks cruise on the
sound in a small boat where a man Is
his own skipper, crew and cook. He has
substituted for this days camping out
in some secluded spot on one of the bold
wooded headlands that run out into the
sound and make SO much of the beauty
of the north shore of the island. The
spot selected for this annual excursion,
the delight of the Roosevelt boys and
their cousins, whose home adjoins Sag
amore HILL is a carefully guarded secret
into which even the secret service men
are not admitted Some time in the
afternoon the rowboats are loaued with
provisions and the party rows quietly off
across the Bay the President himself at
the oars. They return the next morning
happy, but not communicative as to
where they have been.
! After all, the strenuous life of which
President Roosevelt is the foremost ex-
ponent is combined at Sycamore Hill with
the simple life" Anyone who knows the
President does not need to be told that
! he is always busy, but he goes about his
| pleasure in the same direct unostenta-
tious manner in which he transacts the
business of being President His return
| from some one of the many trips which
he is continually called upon to make
| is much like that of the ordinary COM
muter returning to Oyster Bay after his
days business. A few people gather at
| the station to watch the special train of
two cars as 1t swings around the curve
and draws up at the station. The Pres
ident jumps OFF the rear platform of Gar
No 20O0" followed by the other members
of his party, group of newspaper men
tumble out of the forward car, perhaps
diplomat or two, whose visit to Oyster
Bay is of course entirely without sig
nficance," steps forward from the watch
ing crowd, shakes hands with the Pres
ident, and the whole party climbs into
the waiting carriages. The President
raises his hat to the spectators and dis