Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-10-25


ter of his protagonist. Hardly a page
in the book is without some such pointed
sentence. There are flashes of humor,
touches of satire and innumerable we'll
told stories about American persons and
events during the last forty years. There
are a multitude of actors in this drama |
of strenuous life. but the action never
Iags nor does the interest slacken.
Mr.. Thayer quotes frequently from
Roosevelt's Autobiography, and all
the published books on Roosevelt. but
the authority for his conclusions Is
made selfevident by the logic of his !
thought. Unquestionably, while there
will be disagreement with some parts of
the book. especially where they touch
upon partisan ground, this one volume
life is sure to live and take its place
among the classics of American biog
raphy.
Lawrence T. hbbott's Impressions
of Theodore Roosevelt is a book which
is likely to have permanent value. for
it is the work of a man who was inti-
mately associated with the former Pres
ident for many years and had personal
knowledge of matters which have not
hitherto been explained in print Mr..
Abbott, as is well known, is one of the
editors of the Outlook, with which
years after his retirement from the
White House.
Probably the most important part of
the volume. in the view of the political
historian, is that in which the author
tells the story of the preliminaries to
/ the campaign of 1912 and the Colonels
| efforts to get candidate to run for
the nomination against Mr.. Taft. There
has been gossip about his support of
! Hughes until Hughes declined to CON
slider the nomination, but Mr.. Abbott
| gives no countenance to this rumor.
! Instead he says that Roosevelt leaned
/ toward LaFollette until that gentleman
disqualified himself by his Philadelphia
speech before the Publishers Associa-
! ton. Then it became apparent that he
must be candidate. When he got to
Chicago he was convinced that ma
jority of the delegates were for him.
This was demonstrated when group
of men from the South sent Il represen-
tative to him telling him that they
would vote for his nomination il they
might be permitted to vote with the OPP
position on the organization and the
platform. There were enough of them
to give him the nomination. He re-
fused to accept their support on those
terms. The rest is history.
and suggestive anecdotes which illum
mate the character of the man and his
methods of work. For example. Mr..
Abbott tells how during his presidency
Roosevelt wrote a campaign document.
He summoned several members of his
cabinet to the White House and in
their presence dictated what he intended
to say. Suggestions were made by one
man or another as the dictation pro-
ceeded. The suggestions We're rejected.
When the paper was finished the Presi-
dent asked the men to come TO the
White House that evening to go over it
with him. Each man read it and made
suggestions for changes. The Presi-
dent accepted many of the notifications
interlining them in his copy. Then he
had it rewritten by his typewriters and
the result was the expression of the
combined wisdom of group of capable
advisers.
Many poems have been written about
Roosevelt, but it has remained for
Father Russell j. Wilbur, of st. Louis
to- write verse sequence to the great
American. The poetic quality of the
verse varies, but the admiration for the
man is uniform. Here is typical son
net, called "Antithesis"
Slk-stockinged mugwump, thou didst
vote for Blaine
When Harvard's famed Porcelain Club
had sent
Thee boistrous forth to exercise thy
bent
For giving academic pan.
High-souled reformer, thou didst pact
with Plat!
After "alone in Cuba" thou a war
Hadst reckless won. But Plat was
passing sore
Thou didst enchain the corporations fat
To the states car. Course antithet!cal
Thou didst pursue-the Union League
Clubs pride
And it's despair. Career antipodal,
Now brash, now Machiavell!an. Nought
can hide
That still, in this grim hour. there is
unfurled
} Thy banner, play-boy of the Western
William Wingate Sewall, of Maine,
who went to North Dakota with Theo
dore Roosevelt when he experimental
with ranching in that part of the coun
try, has put into print the story oil
his relations with his employer. Sewah
makes no literary pretensions. He has
told his story in the simple, straight
forward language of an intelligent
American citizen. There is nothing new
in his book, for the Colonel's ranching
experiences nave been pretty Thoroughly
described by him and by others. Such
value as it has lies in the fact that
it is a frst-han narrative by man
who went through the ranching expert
ence with the young man who was seek
ing to pull himself together in com
parative solitude after the sudden death
; of his wife and mother
THEODORE ROOSEVELT. An intimate
biography BY William Roscoe Thayer.
Bostonl Hopghton Mifflin COMPANY So.
William Wingate Sewali Illustrated New
G York: Harper 4 Bros. sl,25,
4 IMPRESsIoNS OF THEODORE RoosE,
WELT BY Lawrence + Abbott Garden
city: poubleday, PAGE & Co SO,
THEopoRE ROOSEVELT A verse sequence
i \ IN sonnets and quator&alns BY Russel
Wilbur, Boston Houghton Mffiin Com