New-York tribune., 1913-07-13
To Them He Turned
InstinctiveIy for His
R e GIN e mt OF
Rough Riders.
Nv Theodore Roosevelt.

OWE more than ! can ever express
1.-THE West. which OF course means
otbe rsen and women ] met In the
=, There were few people Of bad
,, my nelIhborhoOd-that would be
~ every group OF men, even IN
,o,icaf seminary-but ! could not
- with too great affection and respect
!, the great majority Of my friends. the
a working men and women who dweit
.pare OF perhaps a hundred and
ery miles along the Little Missouri
-, sfVays as welcome al their houses
~. ,,ev yer, at mine Everybody worked.
-..r,body WAS willing to help everybody
- and vet nobody asked any favors.
the same thing was true Of the people
..,o, got 90 know dfty miles east and
etv miles west Of my own range. and
=, the men I met on the rouud-ups They
On accepted me as "a friend and fellow
,,orker who stood on an equal footing
NTH them. and ! believe that most OF
,,em have kept their feeling for me
o,sr since 40 guests were ever more
.elcoue at the White House than these
od friends of the cattle ranches and the
ON UafUII~-IIlf lIlfII " lAAi " llfiN AitA'
r,sden the long circle and eaten at the
,,utoard of chuck wagon-whenever
they turned Up al Washington during my
presidercy ] remember one OF them VINO
sppeared 40 Washington one day just be-
fore lunch. a huge powerful man who.
when I knew him. had been distinctly a
6ehtng character. II happened that on
that dav another old friend. the British
Ambassador. Mr. Bryce was among those
oomipg TO lunch. Just before We went IN
I turned 10 my -puncher friend and
said 10 him with great sOlemnity: Re
member. Jim. that II YOU shot al the
feet OF the British Ambassador TO make
him dance IL would be likely 70 cause
International complications 10 which
Jim responded with unaffected horror
"Why colonel ! shouldn't think Of II, l
shouldn't think Of it,
Not only did the men and women whom
I met boz tine COW country quite uucou-
s-iousIv help me by the insight which
working and living with them enabled me
10 get into the mind and soul Of the aver
age American of the right type, but they
helped me Iu another way. 4 made up
ny mind that they were men OF just the
kind whom II would be well 10 have with
me II ever IL became necessary 10 90 10
war. When the Spanish War came i
gave this thought practical realization.
Fortunately. Wister and Remington,
with pen and pencil have made these men
live as long as our literature lives.
have sometimes been asked II Wister s
"virginlan" is not Oyerdrawu; why. one
Of the men ] have mentioned Iu this chap
Ter was in all essentials the NiIginian IN
real life, not only in his force. but IN MS
charm Half Of the men 1 worked with
or played with and half OF the men who
sold.ered with me afterward IN my regi-
ment might have walked out Of Wister's
stories or RemingtOn's pictures.
There were bad characters in the West
en country at that time, Of course. and
under the conditions Of life they were
probably more dangerous than they would
have Deen elsewhere. ] hardly ever had
any difficulty. however. never went into
q saloon. and in the little hotels ] kept
out OF the barrOOm. unless do sometimes
happened. the barrOom was the only room
on the lower floor, except the dlAlhs IDOi"
! always endeayOred 10 keep out OF
quarrel until self-respect forbade my
making any further effort TO avoid. and l
very rarely had even the scmbiance ot
trouble
OF course. amusing incidents occurred
now and then Usually these took place
when ] Was hunting lost horses. for In
huntins lost horses ! was ordinarily alone
ard occasionally had 10 travel 100 or lJO
miles away from my O"n country On
one such occasion ] reached little COW
town long after dark. stabbed my horse
In an empty outbu.lding. and when /
reached the hotel was Informed in re-
sponse 70 my request for bed that !
could have the last one left as there was
only one other man In IT. The room 10