Evening star., 1940-01-01
Cap n Russ Recalls
Youthful Franks Of
Franklin Roosevelt
Future President Just
'One Of the Boys on
CumpobeIIo Island

cAMPoBELLO ISLAND, New
Brunswick, Jan. / (NANA).-A
boyhood friend of Franklin D.
Roosevelt thinks the Presidents
mother is responsible for his inter-
est in the forgotten man.
The boyhood chum is Russell
Gough-"Cap'n Russ" to every resi-
dent of Campobello Island-who
grew up with young Franklin at
the summer resort and whose anec-
dotes about the Chief Execu-
tive are as fresh and invigorating
as the salt air whipped in from the
North Atlantic.
"I can reminder when Franklin
and I were or years DID," he
saws after much persuasion. my
father worked for his father for
years. And when the Roosevelt fam
lily came to Campobello for the
summer, Franklin's mother, Mrs.
Sarah Roosevelt, always sent for
me and some of the other children
to come up and see them.
"She always said that she wanted
her son to be brought up among
boys of the working class there on
the island, instead of among the
children of the rich in the summer
colony"
The cap'n, a DoWn-Easter to the
core, thinks before he talks. He's
81 and shuns publicity. And as for
talking about Franklin, he smiles
shyly and remarks that there's really
nothing to say.
Opinion Hasn't Changed.
He was just another boy to the
rest of us, and he still is. The fact
that he's President hasn't changed
him in our opinion.
Even when he became young
man, he treated us just the same.
We were all good friends, and he'd
60 down to the general store, take
q seat in the corner and spend an
hour or two talking with everybody.
But one think that stands out is
that he always took the lead in
everything we did, and it was all
o. K with the boys"
And what's more it's still 20. K"
with the boys. Capn Russ wants
the President to run for third
term and his only regret is that,
being a Canadian, he can't vote
for him. II think a third term
would be fine" he says, now that
he's got so many things patched up"
Besides the influence of the Pres
tdent's mother it was only natural
for the two boys to become chumS,
since their age was the same. Born
in June, 1882, Cap'n Russ is only
six months younger than the Pres
dent.
How great was the future Presi-
dents athletic prowess? Uncom-
monty good, Cap'n Russ answered.
Il used to caddy at the Campo
bello golf links, and Franklin's
mother gave me set of golf sticks.
After that we used to play together
often. 1t was up there that he
learned the game
How good were young Roosevelt's
scores, Cap'n Russ was asked. He
shot under 100 for 18 holes" was
the answer, land I think he man
aged to get down into the 80s."
Became Sailing Enthusiast.
The two boys did good deal Of
rowing, fishing, sailing and hiking
through the woods. When they were
smaller there was the usual playing
with toy sailboats, attached to fish
ing poles. Then came the day that
''Franklin's father took us out sail
ing in his yacht, which was about
Is feet long. That turned Franklin
into sailing enthusiast"
Mention of the two boys hiking
through the woods led Oliver
Noonan, Coughs son-in-law, to re-
call Cap'n Russ story about the
ducks. The cap'n didn't want to
tell about it, but he was finally
prevailed upon and future biograph-
ers may now note this one:
"One day, when we were II or
IL, young Roosevelt's father bought
him a new 12-gauge shotgun and he
used to shoot plovers and other
birds with 1t. At about the same
time Alfred Pell, his uncle, bought
a half dozen barnyard ducks and
put them in pond near his house,
which was close by the Roosevelt
home.
You can guess what happened.
Young Frank mistook them for wild
teal, peppered all six of them and
took them home.
That night his father invited
Pell and his wife over to dinner.
1t was a lovely dinner-roast duck,
and the Pells congratulated the
Roosevelts both on their COOKING
and their sons Workmanship.
1T wasn't until the next day that
Mr.. Pell discovered his ducks were
missing. Franks father had to pay
for them"
h>J.l.: fI