The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-04
RooHeyeIt md the storers

1 Roosevelt nnd the storers
 1 Few politico-social narratives in re.
 cent years have been of such lively
 interest as Mrs. Bellamy Storer's article
 in the last Harper's Weekly on How Theodore Roosevelt was appointed Sec retary of the Navy" said an old cit
 izen who once lived in Washington, and
 was more or less active in politics "I | had read about the Dear Maria let ters, but I had not read MT. Roose- l velt's letter of December 5, 1896, to Mrs Storer until within the past few days. The question occurs to me, apart from politics, how can intimacies such as existed between the Storer family and the Roosevelt family be rudely broken off except through the ingratitude, or unkindness, or unselflshness of one of the parties to the friendship.
 When Mckinley was elected Pres ident, Mir. Roosevelt didn't cut much figure in the public view He had been a United States civil service commits sioner and afterward a police commits sioner in New York. He wanted to be assistant Secretary of the Navy and Mrs. Storer. who was a close friend of Mckinley, and who had strong claims on him. secured the appointment. I had met Roosevelt frequently while he was civil service commissioner and once while assistant Secretary of the Navy It was In the latter position that he began to attract some attention in high official circles. This assistant secretary 1,i la. ufa ofa ish- American war was inevitable and Roosevelt, from the navy department. went into the volunteer service and organized the Rough Riders.
 Roosevelt was a charming letter writer. In the now famous letter of thanks to Mrs. Storer he seems warm hearted and true. It will be hard to tell how deeply touched Edith and l were at your letter. And l never can say how much I appreciate your in- terest. and your more than kindness but it was just like you. We have read and re-read your letter repeatedly together; and it told us exactly what we wished to know. I cannot thank you enough
 Tt was a delightful letter through out, but after all their intimacy the Roosevelts and Storers do not speak as they pass by these days. Of course this correspondence Is of timely inter est now, but have often wondered how some people preserve all the letters they receive. If Roosevelt had been distinguished man at the time it | would have been natural for Mrs Storer to have kept his letter, but those who recall Roosevelt in 1896 know that he gave no promise of rising to great eminence.
 Most of us who receive letters from personal friends or from celebrities de- stroy them after we have read them otherwise we would have vast and bothersome accumulation. But 1t seems that Mrs. Storer held on to the let | ters that she received and that being so We have some important sidelights on modern political history In the course of her narrative Mrs Storer gives this pleasant sketch of visit to Sagamore Hill:
 "'We had gone to Sagamore Hill for a few days to see our very dear friends I the Roosevelts. Theodore Roosevelt seemed to us at that time like a young CT brother, and Archie was Mir. Storer's godson, so that 1t was great pleasure to see them all. Their life was ideal ir its simplicity and no one could be more amusing than the host-one never knew what he would say next. He was cer- tainly very witty himself and he caused wit in others. He used during this pe-
 riod to get on the war path over Sien. klwiez's novels-The Deluge and Fire and Sword-and when he was quite
 sated with slaughter his face would be
 radiant and he would shout aloud with delight. He seemed as innocent as Tod dy in Helen's Babies who wanted ev. erything to be "bluggy