The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1908-04-02
A FEW D BEAR
REFLECTIONS

n FEW Teddy BEAR
REFLECTIONS.
Lolling at ease in the balmy air
of Naples on the Gulf, Florida, where
he has bee spending the winter, Col
Henry Watterson writes as follows to
the Louisville Courier-Journal:
Theodore Roosevelt lived to be for
ty years of age with no other prepa-
ration for the t~ranscendent response
bilities of the Chief Magistracy than
could be obtained from prior service
as a commissioner respectively of the
Civil Service at Washington and the
Board of Police in New York, and an
under-secretaryship of the Navy, with
a legislative term or two at Albany.
He had been a reader and writer of
books. He was a gentleman by birth
and breeding, a Harvard graduate. 1t
is safe to say that, when he was nam
ed for and accepted a subordinate
post in one of the administrative de-
partments of the government in
19O1-an official cul-de-sac from any
, political, or aspiring point of view
no one anticipated an ambitious flu
ture for him; assuredly he was I'M
dreamed of for President.
The events which hurried him into
the g~overlorship of the Empire state
and the Vice Presidency of the Unit
ed States, and, by a flash of pistol
sudden and unexpected as a flash Of
lightning, int the White House, equal
those of any narrative of history, OF
romance.
| From that day to this his career
has been a succession of what may
be fairly called adventures; his every
day life a our de force. When the
tragic summons came it found him in
the mountains. 1t had not seemed
to cross his mind that the gravity of
the occasion bade him maintain a
serious sense of it and to keep in
easy reach. The succeeding forest
expeditions may be regarded either
as the irrepressible eff%ervescence of
the spirit of the hunter, or a shrewd,
sef-exploiting performances carefully
planned and timed; but, from every
consideration the world has been u.s.
ed to apply to great affairs, rather
suited to the laissez faire of kings
than the dignity of statesmen. Yet
they caught the mood of the time
and the hear of the multitude and
gave birth to h most diverting toy
that ever came into being, the delight
~ p0,nf1occ nprcnrinc arI horJoe ~
children from whose fancy can never
be ASSOCIATED the wonderful Theodore
Roosevelt and their beloved Teddy
bears"
The ride through the rain with the
German Prince; the pedestrian tour
lneys with certain favored gentlemen
Of the corps diplomatique; the very
gambols with the youngsters in the
White House; all of a piece with a
continuous and spectacular entertain
scene
Outside the pages
OF the Middle Ages
Nor has his public life fallen be-
hind h pase set by his personal con-
duct. Audax, audax, and again audax,
the word. from the lawless suspension
of a postofice II Mississippi to the
hazardous peace congress in New
Hampshire; ever the Giant with the
Big Stick; an indefatigable giant; an
Industrious, sober pater familias gi-
ant: like Mrs. Malaprop's Mr. Cerbe-
rus, three gentlemen in one" now
the hero OF natural history and now
the master-silger of the spelling-bee;
|Briareus, with one foot upon the o
porations and the other upon the
Whole Duty of Man; today, forcing a
negro official upon South Carolina.
tomorrow claiming kindred with Lee
and Stonewall Jackson. and having
his claim allowed; our first truly
National President, half Northern and
half Southern; a Yankee crossed on
= Rebel. compelling the Republican
party of Grant and Garfield. of Nc
Kialey and DingIey, of Bloody Shirt
Ism and High Protectionism. TO
change it, coat Of plutocracy and to
nut on the garments Of Socialism.
q MI II behind ne van at Pop
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