The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1919-01-06
From State Legislator to
President He Went in
Rapid Succession
REPRESENTED HIGH
TYPE OF AMERICANISM
Served in Spanish-American
War and Tried to Serve
in Present War

welt, who died at Oyster Bay to-day, has
left such vivid impression on the people
of his time that it is necessary to touch
but briefly upon some of the more strk-
ing phases of his varied interesting and
strenuous" life to recall to the public
mind full details of his many exploits
and experiences.
Called to the White House in 1901 aft
er President Mckinley had been assas-
sinated, Colonel Roosevelt, AZ years Of
age, became the youngest president the
United States has ever had. Three years
later he was elected as president by the
largest popular vote president has re-
ceived
Thus Roosevelt, sometimes called
man OF destiny, served for seven years
as the nations chief magistrate In a
subsequent decade the fortunes of pol.
itics did not favor him, for, again can
didate for president this time leading
the Progressive party which he himself
had organized when he differed radically
with some of the policies Of the Republi-
can party in l9l2--he went down to de-
feat, together with the Republican candi-
AaNt5 FNAAlihut IlONhiu IhIb4 w OOuTON
Wilson, Democrat, was elected
Colonel Rooseyelt's enemies agreed
with his friends that his life, his charac-
ter and his writings represented high
type of Amerieanism,
OF Dutch ancestry, born in New York
City on Oct. n, 1858, in house in East
goth street, the baby Theodore was
weakling He was one Of four children
who came to Theodore and Martha Bull
loch Roosevelt The mother was Of
southern stock and the father Of north
ern, a situation which during the early
years of Theodore, juniors boyhood was
not allowed TO interfere with the family
life Of these children during the Civil war
days
$50 frail that he was not privileged to
associate with the other BOYS in his
neighborhood, Roosevelt was tutored pri-
vately in New York and during travels
on which his parents took the children
abroad A porch gymnasium al his home
provided him with physical exercises
with which he combatted a troublesome
asthma His father glass importer and
a man of means, was his constant com
lpanion; he kept diary; he read 80 much
history and fictional books Of adventure
that he was known as a bookworm; he
took boxing lessons; he was an amateur
naturalist; and at the age Of IL he en-.
tered Harvard university. There he was
not as prominent as some others In an
athletic way, as IL is not recorded that
he made" the baseball and football
teams, but his puny body had undergone
a metamorphosis and before graduation
he became one Of the champion boxers of
the college. This remarkable physical
development was emphasized by some.
thing which took place shortly after he
left Harvard in 1880, He went to Eu.
rope, climbed the Matterhorn, and as a
result was elected a member of the Al
pine Club Of London--an organization of
men who had performed notable feats Of
adventure
A few months after his graduation,
Roosevelt married Miss Alice Lee Of Bos-
ton. She died in 1884, leaving one child,
Alice, now the wife Of Representative
Nicholas Longworth Of Ohio In 1886
Roosevelt married Miss Edith Kermit
Carow of New York. and to them FIVE
children were born--Ethel, now the wife
of DIR. Richard Derby, and four sons,
Theodore, jr., Kermit, Archibald and
Quentin,
Roosevelt's Public Career.
The public career of the man who was
to become president began not long after
he left college. His profession was law
but the activities that were to come left
him no time in which to practice it. In
1882, 1883 and 1884 he was elected to the
] New York state assembly, where his eff.
forts on behalf of good government and
evils service reform attracted attention.
|, When the Republican national convention
of 1884 was held, in Chicago, he was
J chairman Of the New York state delega-
ton.
After this experience he dropped out of
, politics for two years. Going west, he
purchased ranches along the Little Mis-
; souri, river, in North Dakota, and divided
, his time between outdoor sports, particu-
J larly hunting, and literary work. Here
he laid the foundation for his series Of
J books, ''The Winning Of the West, which
was published from 1889 to 1895, and Of
other volumes of kindred character.
Returning to New York he became the
Republican candidate for mayor, in 1885.
He was defeated. President Harrison
in 1889 appointed him member of the
United States civil service commission
and President Cleveland continued him in
this Office which he resigned in 1895 to
become New York City's police commits
sioner
"A thing that attracted me to this Of
fee" Roosevelt said at the time he ae-
cepted this appointment, was that it
was to be done in the hurry -burly, for I
don't like cloister life Honesty was
the watchword of this administration,
and the two years Of his occupancy be-
came memorable through the reforms he
inaugurated, attracting the nations at
tention while holding a position which
was obscure in comparison with the
events to come Illicit liquor traffic,
gambling, vice in general-of these evils
he purged the city in the face of corrupt
political opposition, and the reputation
he established as reformer won him the
personal selection by President Mckinley
as assistant secretary of the navy, in
1897. A year later the Spanish American
war broke out.
Enlisted in Spanish-American War.
The Roosevelt temperament did not
allow the man to retain deputy cab