The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1919-10-08

first on one leg and then on the other,
torn between the fear of missing the
Colonel and the benevolent deter.
mination to thwart the suicidal ex.
plot of our errand girl.
/ remember / eter, the very best OF
office boys until he was chosen major
domo to Colonel Roosevelt. | par
t~icularly remember how heavily / had
tipped him at Christmas, and thus en-
couraged l rang for him. He answer
ed only from force of habit.
Peter" l said, 81 am freezing.
Close the windows"
He did not move. Instead, he de-
livered himself in %oratorical fashion
in somewhat the following manner
II am very busy, don't bother me.
am making a prince wait outside, and
a Mexican bandit; l bet you he is
here for hours-anXiously waiting,
you know. If the Colonel is u next
President, l bet you"
Peter, this is not a Chatauqua
circuit"
But Peter had vanished and the
windows were still open. There
should have been great resentment in
my heart against the ex-President
that cold morning. All my chairs had
been taken for his guests; others
talked loudly outside my door;
several of the visitors were brought
into my room to be entertained Il
find it difficult to be gracious when
cold and standing), but the only feel
inn that altprC 70 n ~ hoa ~ ic tho ana
of wormth, loyalty, and energy that
p%ermeated the group. My feeling
was of the same character that / used
to notice in the faces of the men and
women after an interview with Col
onel Roosevelt. 1t always thrilled
me. They looked so exalted and ex-
cited, as men and women ready for a
new life. l used to watch them as he
crowded them into the waiting elevat-
or with a last handshake; their faces
had that trace-like expression, as if
living over again within themselves
some dramatic moment just passed;
some, smiling at nothing in particu-
lar; others, excited and muttering to
themselves, all showing some sign of
having passed through a tidal moment
in their lives.
| remember seeing one dignifed
gentleman, with the most e~cstatic ex-
preston, breaking into song as the
elevator sped down, and then flushing
and becoming utterly embarrassed at
that unconscious show of emotion.
And all because Colonel Roosevelt
had just babe them Godspeed with a
warm handshake, a smile, charmed
thn1O1 with cnTon cxyjft orI E++i-~ ,O
cognition, or given them some needed
encouragement and inspiration. l
have seen men enter his room with
stony faces and criticism in their
hearts, prepared to hold out against
that witchery of his, only to return
more abject slaves than the others.
The miracle of Colonel R~oosevelt's
mastery was that capacity to make a
devotee of any human being he came
into personal contact with.
And yet, there was none of that
hushed atmosphere of having an
audience with ga Presence" Col
onel Roosevelt was too robust a
character for that. He was utterly
American, and one of the people in
his absolute lack of snobbishneSs even
toward the most ordinary s ward
politicians. With ar engSXwS
genial voice, an energetic gGS5ure, a
hahdshake, with a swift flash of
humor and friendliness, genuinely
felt, he had a way of making a pal
of you then and there.
And the way he handled bores and
cranks that are always found poster
ing a national character! In the
twinkling of an eye he would recog-
niZe them, and before they or any
body else was conscious of it he was
backing them into the waiting ele-
vator with a h%andshake and an apt
word which left them with that beati
fic look of having been in contact
with some great power, apparently
the only thing they wanted.
That gift to charm and sway souls
at will was the magic of Colonel
Roosevelt's personality. l should not
say, at will should say, in spite of
himself, for his magnetism was ut
terly unselfonscious and implanted.
Such a God given gift almost always
goes hand in hand with a suppressed
conceit: but the genuineness of the
COlonels attraction was his utter
personal unawareness of it. He
could no more control it than he
could control his sudden aggressive
opposition, bluntly expressed, to a
point of view he was not in sympathy
His charm stood out alone, I'M
There was nothing circum-
spect or calculatedly tactful about the
Colonel. He spoke to those who OPP
posed him with personal passion and
He was equally stern
with those who were Internationally
in the wrong, and faced them and up
braided them with equal vehemence.
During the first year of the war,
when Germany was personally con-
Quoting de luxe tours to the front for
the benefit of American correspond
ents, two adventurous youths, green
to the feel of a gun, fired some shots
from the German trenches toward
the French line for experiences
sake. Not satisfied with that, one of
them boosted of the feat in print, so
it became known to those in
authority, with the result that both
forbidden Allied terriory as a
further hunting field for copy, and
told that they would be shot as
traitors or spies were they to set foot
IN Allied country.
Eventually both these correspond
ents became anxious to go to France.
They were friends of Colonel Roose-
The Colonel admired their
and koom tboro por,on,l,, !. H.