New-York tribune., 1919-03-24
Voodsman From Maine,
Friend of Ex-President
for 40 Years, Goes to
Grave i'll Oyster Bay
Stands There Silently
Man Who Taught T. r.
Love for Out of Doors
Relates Some Incidents

"Bill" Sewall. woodsman, ranchman
hunter and fortyodd year friend ot
Theodore Roosevelt, went yesterday te
the resting place of the man whom lone
ago he instructed in the ways of the
outdoors. Silently he paid his tribute
And having paid it, he turned abruptly
and stalked down the hillside.
"Ah, WE'LL" he muttered, "ah, we'll
It's what we all come to sooner O,
later"
At the bottom of the hill he paused
again. "It's just the kind of a place
Theodore would like to be buried" he
murmured, gazing back up the slope
Of Young's Memorial Cemetery.
Expected Such a Death
no." he added. when he was bundled
again into the taxi that was takinp
him on the first journey he has made
to Sycamore Hill since Roosevelt re-
turned from South Africa. mo, Theo-
dore's death did not surprise ME.
expected he would go like that. Peo-
pie thought he was strong, robust. He
wasn't. 1t was his boundless energy
his determination and his nerves that
kept Theodore Roosevelt turning ont
the enormous quantities of work he
did. Really he suffered from heart
disease all his life.
Il remember when he first came tn
my place. That was when he was
eighteen years DID," said the old wood
man BE very careful with him.
Arthur Cutler. his tutor, warned me.
Don't take him on such tramps as
you take yourself. He couldn't stand
It. But ne wouldn't let you know that
for minute. He'd go till he dropped
rather than admit it. He isn't strong.
though. You must watch him care,
fully
Took Lot of Watching
a did watch him carefully" said
Bill Sewali He took q lot of watch
ing, ne added, with smile as sweet
and mellow and fresh as one of the
apples that drop from the trees of
ms native state of Maine when the
autumn time comes. "Yes, a lot of
watching. He'd never quit. l remem
Der the time we set out from NV
place up at Island Falls to climb
Mount Katadin. That's the tallast
mountain we have in Maine. We were
crossing Wissacataquoik Creek. The
current is very swift there, and we
were wading with our shoes in orr
hands. ''i oui
!, Somehow Theodore" ("Bill' sewall
throughout his long friendship with
the Colonel always called him Tbeo-
dore; Teddy, he explains. from the
very hrst seemed to him too diminiutive
name for man of Roosevelt's calibre1
somehow Theodore lost one of his
ssnoes- Away it went downstream All
ne nad with him to take the place of
snoes was pair of thin skinned mocca-
SINS. me stones and crags on the wav
up cut his feet into tatters. But he
~ OIL win never murmur of
That's little thing, per
.hsps' y OUT ne was that way in all
things always
- There was the time, for instance.
oa % 1he cattle ranch in North Dakota
raai nnen, during roundup, his horse
reared threw him and then fell on
'op OF him. The spill broke Theodore's
shoulder blade. But he was afraid the
cowpunchers might think he was
gutter ssn II he gave in after just one
.sh. so ne stayed out on the round
up Tor three days, suffering the in
1ensest pain all the while, but never
saying word about it to any one.
ne was always like that"
Here for Memorial Meeting
y "Bill' Sewal's present trip to New
iork Is made in order that he NAV at
,eno neno to-day's meeting Of the Roosevelt
rermanent Memorial National Com
smistee, at which it is hoped that the
.olIn ,n winch the memorial is to take
vii vii. De definitely decided upon. In
.sAlhg OF this yesterday the old
Nooosman announced that his vote will
s. s. 1or some sort Of national institu-
'.on which will train up youths to tha
,aeals Of Americanism for which Thee
'ore Roosevelt himself stood.
e PM Sewall figures in half a dozen
q q nooseVelts books. At his camp on
Ia Lake, Roosevelt. at
rsd1: ,,sn1seen: received his first lessons in
3 1looocra1t When, on the same dav
~. ne young I. r. was bereft of his frat
~ ana MS mother, it was TO Sewall
aa' ne was ultimately sent to be takon
81; VI nursed out of the "daze' into
LIN IN inc Maine guide declares he
49, az mat period. And when. little
a:ef' Roosevelt decided to trv to ra~
'an ,s'. interest in life through, the cattlo
'sssness 'sst It was bill" Sewall and his
sphew' Wilmot Dow, whom he astaJ
"a Ass'hpany MN to Medora, N. D.
sy " q, tnet tlme," said Sewall yester-
us;r "e really intended to take to the
th;ni, loI permanent livelihood |
o.ai .sink- OF course, he really bneu
here mucn about it. but he'd heard