New-York tribune., 1910-10-23
TEDDY."WOOER OF PERIL
Danger, Whether in Oceans Depths
or .Air,s Heights, Tempts Hsm.

~
rses are ter,porarily obscured in the public
mind whenever Colonel Teddy" and his I'M
pulses are spoken cf for whether people are
with him or against him a national leader
they are moved TO delight and admiration IN
spite OF themselves by bis reckless moods OK
daring and his remarkable physical courage
few days ago. when he threw off his over
coat IN St Louis sudden decision to 60
skyward for new sensation, be showed that
same old uncorquerable love Of danger that
won the hearts of the 1lainsrnen in his young
manhood and that made him Our Teddy" to
TIE whole nation when the Spanish war broke
out and he went down to court bullets in
Cuba
And whether he goes in for the medieval
sports Of war and hunting or the modern ones
OF summarizing and aeroplaning the colonel
has the same unquenchable enthusiasm
BY George Fine, Fine, Fine!" he cries, al
most beside himself with delight over his swoop
through the air Hoxsey's biplane. Wish
could have stayed up hour"
Champagne spirits not artifcially produced,
are contagious and his countrynlen cannot help
feeling grateful 70 the man whose mere per
sonality banishes the blues; the whose
motto, If he had any. might easily be that
stirring couplet from The Lady Of the Lake:
Or: II a path be. be aangeTous esE know. known
And so strong q luTe it seems that in spite Of
RI almost unmeasured ambition to benefit his
fellow men he constantly rushes headlong into
situations that may mean death and an end to
all his active usefulness.
From the beginning" he writes in his
11-oirs OF the Cuban campaign, I had deter
mined that if way came somehow or other
was going TO the 'front.'
Not only 10 the front in the usual sense but
70 the very forefront Of the firing line, as he
showed during those first days Of July, 1898,
when the American forces advanced on San
iiago The American troops were gathered
around the hills Of San Juan waiting for the
order TO charge. The Spaniards were firing on
them Roosevelt brought up his Rough Riders
to the front line and there found the regulars
waiting
Why aren't you advancing up the hiIlT
asked the colonel. irnpatiently-
Some one said they had not yet got orders
to charge
Then break your line and let my men
through" he commanded.
one Of his troopers wrote to him later a
letter in which he described what he rerne1a-
bered of that famous charge up Kettle ELL
Then you waved your hat, be wrote, and
gave the command TO charge and went up
the hill"
-,2oirs which continues this scene, after they had
gained the summit cf the hill and were entirely
exposed to the Spanish shot.
suddenly he writes. above the cracking OF
the carbines arose peculiar drumming sound
and some OF the men cried: The Spanish
chine gunst' Listening, I made out that it
came from the fat ground to the left and jumped
10 my feet shifting my hand on my thigh and
shouting aloud with eXultation, It's the gat-
Lr.-s. men. our gatIings,'"
/ IS not q wholly uncommon thing to be
brave cnce, TO find ones self in dangerous stu
alton and 10 face II out with noble show Of
Courage But most people develop a remark
able cunning il never exposing themselves SO
raShly again
Tie colonel however. has never seemed to
care about keeping out Of danger. Seven years
later when as President he had the response
bIlties of TIE nation his shoulders, he slipped
OF one August day from his home in Oyster
Bay - lock at the submarine Plunger, which
was lying mysteriously on the waters Of the
karbor He put out from shore in q little
boat got aboard the submarine and announced
his intention CT going down in her.
For three hours and fifty minutes, with the
President shut il her alright COMPARTMENTS
tie PlunEer was put through her PAGES Fifty
minutes q this time were spent under water,
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