The Washington herald., 1919-12-01
Theodore
Letters to
Edited b,

have had the happiest hone iife Of any
man have ssd known" wrote Theodore Roose
Welt This letter. to q member Of MrS. Roose-
vets family. describes . birthday scene and
p.ys 70 the childrens mother. the highest trib-
ute. Such letter and ofhen Of the series af-
ford not merely q r1inpse, but a revelation q
the home life Of this great American.
Loves nnd sports of the Children.
(To Miss Emily T. Carow.)
Oyster Bay,
Aug. 6. 1908.
Today is Edith's birthday, and
the children have been too cum
ming in celebrating it. Ethel had
hemstitched a little handkerchief
herself. and she had taken her
gtft and the gifts of all the other
children into her room and neatly
wrapped them up in white paper
and tied with ribbons. They were
for the most part taken DOWN
stairs and put at her plate at
breakfast time. Then at lunch in
marched Kermit and Ethel with a
cake. burning AZ candles. and each
candle with a piece OF paper tied
to II purporting to show the animal
or inanimate object from which the
candle came. All the dogs and
horses-Renown. Bleistein. va
genEa, Algonquin. Sailor Boy. Brier.
Hector. etc, as well as Tom
Quartz. the cat. the extraordinar-
ily named hens-such as Baron
Speckle and Fierce. and finally
even the boats and that pomegran-
ate which Edith gave Kermit and
which has always been known as
santiago. had each his or her or
its bag on a special candle.
Edith is very well this summer
and looks so young and pretty.
She rides with us a great deal and
loves Yagenka as much as ever.
we also go out rowing together.
taking our lunch and a book or
two with us. The children fairly
worship her. as they ought to. for
more devoted mother never was
known. The children themselves
are as cunning and good as pos
| sible. Ted is nearly as tall as 1
am and as tough and wiry as you
can imagine. He is a really good
rider and can hold his own in
walking. running. swimming.
shooting. wrestling and boxing.
Kermit is as cunning as ever and
has developed greatly. He and his
inseparable Philip started out for
nights camping in their best the
other day. A driving storm came
up and they had to put back. real
ly showing both pluck, skill and
judgment. They reached home,
after having been out twelve hours.
at nine in the evening. Archie
continues devoted to Algonquin
and to Nicholas. Ted's playmates
are George and Jack. Aleck Rus
sell, who Is in Princeton, and En-
sign Hammer of the Sylph. They
wrestle, shoot. swim. play tennis.
and go of on long expeditions in
the boats. Quenty-quee has cast
OF the trammels of the nursery
and become a moA active and
fearless though very good-temp-
cred little boy. Really the children
DO have an ideal place for them.
The three sets OF cousins are al
ways together. am rather dis
concerted by the fact that they
persist in regarding me as a play
mate. This afternoon. for in
stance. was rainy. and all Of them
from George. Ted. Lorraine and
Ethel down to Archibald. Nicholas
and Quentin. with the addition of
Aleck Russell and Ensign Ham
ner. came to get me to play with
them in the old barn. They plead
so hard that finally gave in. but
upon my word. ] hardly knew
whether it was quite right for
the president to be engaged in
such wild romping as the next
Two hours saw. The barn is filled
with hay. and of course meets
every requirement for the most
active species OF hide-and-sc"k
and the like. Quentin enjoyed the