The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1934-03-09

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"a lieves that it believes firmly in that
IA phrase from the Declaration of In
1TN&EH dependence which says 'all men are
lEScWN created free and equal and has
elected more than one President be-
! cause he was 'born in a log cabin"
~ or some such humble dwelling place,
there have been times when it has
not been averse to intimations of royalty in af-
fairs of government 1t has accepted dictator
ships and despotism-sometimes benevolent and
sometimes not so-in fact If not in name. and
in various other ways it has departed rather far
from the tradition of pure democracy.
1t would resist to the utmost the comforting of
any such title as king or emperor" upon it's
Chief Executive, but once upon time it con-
ferred the unofficial title of princess upon the
daughter of President and rejoiced in doing SO.
And for time Princess Alice" daughter Of
President Theodore Roosevelt, was symbol in
the minds Of the American people quite as much
as the prince of Wales is symbol in the minds
of the English The reasons which could be as
signed to that fact are various
Perhaps the best one lies In the fact that she
appeared on the scene at the turn of the CEN
fury" when, as one writer has expressed it,
America was just beginning to feel its nterna-
tional OATS" "the public that idolized her ia
ther made of Princess Alice heroine after the
pattern of its own desires and Dreams" And
they felt somehow justified in comforting royalty
upon the daughter Of their President when, a
few years later, she went on a grand tour of
the Orient and everywhere was received like
crown princess AMI presented with lavish gifts"
Another possible explanation lies in the fact
that, like her father, she was vivid personality
which naturally attracts attention to itself but
withal remains unspoed by much lime-ighting
and keeps the common touch" without conde-
scending. So the American public accepts such
a personality as zone of our own kind" and then,
paradoxically, exalts it to pedestal Of hero-wor
ship or invests it with robes of royalty.
When Alice Roosevelt was child she could
spend hours of time pretending was fiery
horse, preferably cream-colored. like Cinderea's
horses able at a bound to cover vast regions Of
the earth, and also able at will to turn into some
thing quite different, such a princess with
very long hair, or an extremely martial prince"
There's something bit prophetic about that, for
In her future career she was to cover some OF
those regions, to become a princess" by popu-
lar acclaim, to talk with cowboys and kings,
emperors and expresses and gypsies, to behold
multitude of pageants and all sorts of people
and things" So it's quite appropriate that she
should choose for the title of her "reminiscences
the two words Crowded Hours" and that book,
published recently, by Charles Scribner's Sons,
is record of the crowded hours in the life of
Alice Roosevelt Longworth, she who was-and
still is to many Observation-Disclosures Alice"
In it's pages one of the dominating figures Is
that Strenuous American" who not only lived a
strenuous life himself but initiated his children
into 1t at an early age as witness: y. Fa-
Their taught us to SWIM The younger children
think took to it naturally. remember Ted being
tossed off the pier into water way above his
head, when up to that time he had only padded
about in the shadows. He was not in the least
frightened took to it. and kept himself up and
going like little frog l could swim perfectly
well. but hated to dive. can see father tread
ing water few feet away from the float upon
the edge Of which l crouched trembling, saying,
Dive Alice; now diver in a voice of increasing
sternness. would quaver. Yes, fatherP and
plop in after minutes of hesitation-terror of him
finally overcoming my terror of the water. The
family used to say that after diving lesson my
tears made perceptible rise in the tide"
To some extent political history of the Unit
ed States during the last quarter of a century.
In that she has been participant in, as well as
an observer of that history during that length OF
time, Crowded Hours is even more interesting
as a lively memoir of the great and near great
whom she has encountered in that center OF all
political activity, Washington, d. G. Before her
father had left the White House she had mar
ried destined for future political impor-
tance-Nicholas Longworth, congressman from
Ohio, later speaker of the house of representa-
tives and man whose friendships among all po-
litical factions made him unique. So as his wife,
the reign of Princess Alice" continued long
after her father had left the White House.
Princess Alice" was initiated into politics
when she was only six. Her father was appoint
ed federal civil service commissioner and she
was taken to the White House to meet the first
President she was to know-'.the small, bearded
Harrison; and later have memory of Mrs.
Cleveland there-young, lovely and friendly"
Some of her characterizations of later Presidents
and their First Ladies not so kindly, but
they are the opinions Of a strong personality
strong In dislikes as well as likes-and interest
ing because of that as well as because they are
based upon frst-hand knowledge
The first of the vivid memories Of Princess
Ances" crowded hours are of the Spanish-Amer-
lean war. which was sort of glorifed picnic
to Alice and the other young Roosevelts. visit
to Camp Wyckoff, where her fathers regiment