The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1909-08-02
oUT-oF DOOR LIFE.
Roosevelt Gives His Views on the
Subject.

Theodore Roosevelt in Golfers
Weekly1
You ask me to speak about yigor of
body. | believe in ii for its own sake.
! believe in it still more as an aid to
yigor of mind, and above all, to yigor
Of character, But | do not believe in
it at all if it is made an end instead OF
a means, and especially II play is per-
mitted to become the serious business
of life
High proficiency in sport is not nee
essary in order to get out Of it, al
though. of course, il is in every way
bad to show slipshod Indifference TO
high proficiency, an unwilliagness or
inability TO put ones whole heart into
q struggle. Personally, as you know,
am NOT really good at any games,
Perhaps in my time | came nearer TO
being fairly good as walker, rider
and rife shot than in any other way,
bat | was never more than an average
good man even in these respects.
Whatever success | have had in
game hunting-and il has been by no
means noteworthy-ha been due, as
Well as can make il ont 10 three
causes; first. common sense and good
judgment: second, perseverance,
which is the only way of allowing one
to make good ones own blunders.
third, the fact that | shot as well n
game as at a target This does moi
make me hit difficult shots but it
prevented my missing easy shots,
which q good target shot viii often
do in the field Most of my bears for
instance. were Killed closeup. and the
shots were not difficult a. long as one
did not get ratified Now Of course,
the posse ssion and practice Of these
qualities did not make me by any
means as successful a hunter as tive
men who in addition to possessing
them were also better shots than I
was. or who had greater power Of ell
Gurauce. or who were more skilled in
plainscraff and wuodcraft Bat they
t.d enable ME to kill a reasonable
quantity of big game and do it IN
ways that have made my observations
OF value 10 the faunal or outdoor nat
uralist Besides ] knew what I want
90. and was willing to work hard to
get IT,
In short. I ana not an athlete;
am simply a good ordinary out-of-
doors man. You speak Of MY recent
hundred nile ride Now this was Ee
feat for any young man in condition
10 regard as worth speaking about;
twice out I'm the cattle country. on the
roundup, when / was young. | have
myself spent 80 hours in tile saddle
merely dismuuuting 10 eat or change
horses: the hundred mile ride repre-
ssnted what any elderly man in fair
trim can 90 II he chooses In the
summer I often take the smaller boy.
for what they cali a night picnic on
the Sound, We row OF eight or ten
miles camp out. and row back in the
morning Each Of us has a light
blanket o sleep in and the boys are
sufftiently delHded 10 believe that the
chicken or beefsteak fry IN bacon fat
on these expeditions has a favor im-
possible elsewhere 10 be obtained.
Now these expeditions represent just
about the kind Of thing | do. Instead
h D.. la "a 81
ping. or walking, or playing tennis,
on shooting at 4 target But it is al
ways = pastime which any healthy
middle-aged man fond Of outdoors
life. bur not an athelcte, can indulge
in if he chooses.
/ think my last sentence covers the
whole case that is. when ] say "if he
chooses" r has always seemed TO
me that I'm lif" there are two ways ut
achieving success, or, for the matter
of that uf achieving what b. commonly
called greatness. One is TO do that
which cau only be done b tae men
Of exceptional and extraordinary abil-
iIes OF course this means that only
this one man can do it, and it is a
very rare kind of success or Of great
ness. The other is TO do hat which
many men could do, bat which, as a
matter of fact. none of them actually
does. This is the ordinary kind Of
success or kind OF greatness. Nobody
but one of the worlds rare geniuses
could have written the Gettysburg
speech. or the second inaugural Of
met as Lincoln met the awful crisis
of the Civil War Bur most Of rs can
DO The ordinary things, which. how
eyer. most of as do not do Ny OWL
successes ha,. come within this sec
ord category Any fairly hardy and
healthy nam can do what ] have done
in hunting and ranching il he only
really wishes 10, and will take the
pains and trouble and at the same
time Use common sense.
ANY one thar chose could lead the
Kind OF lie | have led, aud any one
W hn had led that life could if he
chuse-aud by choosing ! OF course
mean choosing to exercise IN advance
,he requisite industry judgement and
foresight. none OF them 10 an extra.