The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1910-06-30

His Feet and Throws Across
His Shoulders Her Mantle |
of Cloth of Gold.
On the occasion OF Col Rooseyelt's |
home coming the Richmond Virgin |
ian contained this editorial under the
simple heading He" There are |
those who will think that the writer |
has correctly sized up the Ex-Presi-
dent while Others still will not agree
with this estimate, and the reader is
left to form his own conclusion.
"As this is written the second
greatest city in the world il as hys-
terical as q girls boarding school
over the appearance OF likely lad
in the campus, and the country
which we are so fond OF declaring is
the grandest that the sun ever shone
upon is thrilling responsively in every
hamlet because a private citizen who
has elected to become peripatetic
preacher and school master to the
world at large is nearing home once
more.
at were redundant to recount the
manifold adventures, the signal tri-
umphs, and the unprecedented honors
which have fallen to the lot of this
extraordinary parsonage. As Ameri-
can press agent, as his own best ad-
vertisement, as liver tonic to man.
kind, the individual whose name, for
the sake of novelty, will not here be
| I,,nnntionn1 hno rnnunl
qualified success. He has in a sense
justified the appeal which he has
made to his own cOuntrymen by dem
onstratiDg that they are universal
and not racial heartstrings which he
knows so we'll how to touch. In a
time of profound peace and world
sluggishness he has banished dry rot
wherever he has appeared. In coun-
tries where the tradition is OF class he
has won applause by the exhibition
OF a democracy little too much
emphasized, perhaps, but for all that
effective and entrancing. In courts
where it is almost high treason to
question the sovereign's act or to
criticise governmental policy, he has
committed the breach of etiquette of
speaking his opinion as frankly as
though he were telling it to a bar
keeper. And through it all he has
rolled up enthusiasm before him as a
ship carries a "bone in her teeth, "
until now it is breaking with resound-
ing volume upon home shores.
"'To say why these things are true
is as impossible as it is to prophesy
with any hope of accurate statement
what this man of carefully calculated
impulses will do or say tomorrow,
next week, or next fall. Like the big
fish in the pool, he will probably now
be still while and let the current of
public opinion bring to his quick eye
a morsel worth the taking, just as in
the African jungles he lost himself to
the world, while himself never losing
sight of it. Which way he will dart
next, or when, or why, no man can
say. No more can the people in the
mass anticipate their own movement
than his. 1t is exactly because, with
the eyesight in the muddy stream of
politics that an eagle evidence in the
clear light of open space, this master
diagnostician OF events knows the di-
rection of the people before they
know it themselves, that he attains q
real leadership through following the
crowd so adroitly as to seem to head
it. 1t is this discovery OF things with
in the heart OF the average man that
the man himself does not suspect and
would repudiate, that constitutes the
wonder and the charm OF a truly
wonderful man.
"If the people of-America-no, in
Justice let us say, if the people OF the
world-were accustomed to use the
logic OF which they are capable; il it
were true that all this rot and en-
thusiasm and servile bending OF the
knee to notoriety followed upon
thoughtful analysis then this great
hunters resounding receptions would
spell.a humiliating condition ofworld
morals or world intelligence. 1t is
forever the truth that this man who
has been in control of the govern
ment OF a great people, who is again
to set himself at the head of the law
making system OF the nation, is him.
self the spirit of oflawlessness incarnate
1t is true that his ambition is as
ruthless as that ofany OF the Caesars.
1t is true that bis chicane can be on
occasion as cynical as that Of Ma
chiavelli. 1t is true that he is not
only not above dirtying his hands in
dubious bargains, but capable after
wards Of brazen denial Of the estab-
lished fact. 1t is true that he will
desert a friend for an enemy 1t is
true that no such braggart ever trod
the earth. 1t is true that no man
ever did as little TO claim so much,
knew so little to pretend 80 greatly,
advanced with greater hubbub or re-
tired with equal stealth. He has
won a peace prize and never forgot
ten to glorify war with himself as
it's chiefest product and exponent.
He denounced malefactors OF great
wealth in public only to truckle to
them in secret. He has talked of the
square deaP ad dnauseam-and gone
about distributing lemons. He poses
as a statesman, who never put a
policy into practice. He makes a fad
OF Conservation, whose one achieve
ment was panic!
"This is the man we honor today,
as everyone will agree who will put
back upon his head the hat be has
been throwing in the air and honestly
think upon what the man has been,
what he mas said and what be has
done. But the world, like woman,
does not bring reason to bear upon
its loyes-and this man who has fat
, tered and caioled it, who has violated
Its ethics ard shaken its opinions,
who has time after time struck it, so