The Washington herald., 1919-12-19
EDITED BT '
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Novels and Games.

"hlte House. NOV. IL. lSh.
! sympathize with every word YOU
say in your letter. about Nicholas
Nickelby. aud about novels generally.
Normally l only care for a novel II
tn. ending Is good. and quite agree
with you that if the hero has to die
he ought to die worthily and nobly,
so that our sorrow at the tragedy
shall he tempered with the joy and
pride one always feels when a man
does his duty well and bravely. There
is quite enough sorrow and shame
and suffering and baseness in real
life, and there is no need for meeting
it unnecessarily In fiction. AS police
commissioner it was my duty to deal
with all kinds OF squaiid misery and
hiSeous and unspeakable infamy. and
| should have been worse than
coward if ] had shrunk from doing
what was necessary; but there would
have been no use whatever in my
reading novels detailing all this misery
and squalor and crime. or at least
in reading them as steady thing.
Now and then there is powerful
but sad story which really Is interest
ing and which really does good; but
normally the books which do good
and the books which healthy people
lind interesting are those which are
not in the least of The Sugar-candy
variety, but which. while portrayinS
foulncss and suffering when they must
be portrayed. Vet have Il joyous as
well as noble side.
We have had very mild and open
fall. have played tennis a good deal.
the French Ambassador being now
quite a steady playmate. as he and
play about alike: and I have ridden
with mother n great deal. Last Mon
day when mother had Zone to New
York ] had Selous, the great African
hunter, to spend the day and night.
lie is n perfect old dear: just as
simple and natural as can be and very
interesting. ] took him. with Bob
Bacon. Clifford Pinchot. Ambassador
Meyer and Jim Garfield. for good
scramble and climb i'm the afternoon.
and they all came to dinner after
wards. Before we came down to
dinner | got him to spend three-quar-
tiers of an hour in telling delightfully."-
exciting lion and hyena stories to
Ethel. Archie and Quentin. lie told
them most wildly and so enthralled
the little boys that the next evening
! had to tell them a large number my
self.
Today is Quentin's birthday and he
loved his gifts, perhaps most of all
the weest. cunningest live pig you
ever saw. presented him by Straus.
Phil Stewart and his wife and boy.
Wolcott tWho is Archie's aCe). spent
couple of nights here One after
noon We had hide-and- go-seek, bring
ing down Mr. Garfield and the Gar
field boys. and Archie turning I'D with
the entire football team. who took
a day of for the special purpose.
We had obstacle races, hide-and-go-
seek. bund-man's bun. and everything
else. and there were times when | felt
that there was perfect shoai OF
small boys bursting in every direction
up and down stairs. and through and
over every conceivable object.
Mother and I still walk around the
grounds every day after breakfast.
The gardens, of course, are very. very
dishcvelled now, the snap-dra Cons
holding out better than any other
flowers.
At the period in which these letters were
written. the Roosevelt children are growing up.
Ted has gone on his first successful biz game
hunt aud has killed bear and elk.
\ coal strike wAs impending At thi. tjmc
and the President was looked TO as peacenaxer
he compelled the unruly CIcrsiors to meet
the miners In conference and was severely
criticized by big business for his general atti-
tude toward industrial problems Wall street
chleftains went Tar as to openly predict
that unless the administration modified its
course in dealing with corporations, a panic
would ensue. The Editor