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THEODORE ROOSEVELT
1919

CHAPTER 20

 FRIENDS AT OYSTER BAY

OUT at Oyster Bay I spent a day with some of Theodore Roosevelt's old friends and talked with them about him. They told a number of incidents that illustrate Colonel Roosevelt's characteristics. Rev. J. J. Blythe went out to Sagamore Hill one day to see Mr. Roosevelt about the son of one of his members who was in the aviation corps and whose father desired that he should have training in flying in this country instead of in Europe. Mr. Roosevelt answered promptly, "I have not asked a single favor for my own boys and shall not do so. And hence I shall not interfere with reference to the sons of any one else. What the nation wants is men on the other side, and men on the other side at once." Mr. E. F. Cheshire, the cashier of the Oyster Bay bank, was a warm friend of Mr. Roosevelt. He said the Colonel often came into their bank, where he had his account, and that he invariably removed his hat on entering the door; the reason he did so was that two of the bookkeepers were women and he removed his hat out of deference for them. Though often apparently rough he was one of the politest of gentlemen. Pointing up to the wall of the director's office the cashier said, "Do you see that?" It was a large portrait of Mr. Roosevelt, with the dedication to the bank written and signed in his own handwriting. Mr. Cheshire said, "I often went out to Sagamore Hill as a notary public to acknowledge some paper or transact some business in connection with the bank, and one of the last times I went out there he said to me, 'Cheshire, how old are you?' I told him my age and he said, 'Have you a family?' I replied, 'A wife and children.' He said, 'You ought to be in the war, you splendid, able-bodied man. You ought to be on the other side fighting with my boys at the front.' His whole soul was wrapped up in the war, and he could not think of anything else or talk about anything else."

Mr. "W. L. Marsh, the station agent of the Long Island Railroad at Oyster Bay, for many years handled Colonel Roosevelt's private and official telegrams and business of every kind connected with the local station. He told a number of incidents illustrating the admirable traits of the Colonel's character. This was one of them: "Once in the presence of quite a large delegation of big men in national and State affairs I saw him place his hand on the shoulder of a poor, good, honest fellow-citizen and say, 'By George, this man is my friend! Gentlemen, I love to lean on just such men.' ' "Was there ever a truer illustration of one of the greatest elements of Theodore Roosevelt's success, his absolute faith in the common people and his firm reliance upon them in his public undertakings?

Colonel Roosevelt knew nearly every person in Oyster Bay by name and called very many of them by their first names, but this power of memory he possessed in so remarkable a degree that he remembered the faces and names of tens, of hundreds of thousands. Mr. Marsh recalled an. incident illustrating Colonel Roosevelt's willingness to correct a mistake when made. He gave a recommendation to a man who he thought was a person of ability and honor, but he found afterward that the man was untrustworthy. He immediately sent word to the man' that he had been mistaken in his estimate of him, that he had evidence that made it impossible for him to commend him and demanded the destruction of the recommendation which he had given him. The incident also illustrates Mr. Roosevelt's absolute integrity. Rev. Geo. W. Roesch, a former minister of Oyster Bay and a warm personal friend of Mr. Roosevelt, said that the Colonel told him that during the previous year, with the help of secretaries, he had answered twenty-five thousand letters, twenty-five hundred of which were invitations to speak in public. This story illustrates Mr. Roosevelt's prodigious capacity for work. History does not furnish his superior. As a tireless worker he wrought more years with more correct methods, with deeper intensity and with larger meaning than any other man of our time. The incident also shows how immensely popular he was and how the people craved his personal presence and service. Rev. Roesch told also this anecdote which, he says Mr. H. M. V. Summers is responsible for. It is this: About seventeen years before the famous Af-« rican hunting trip the Colonel was having some repairs made at Sagamore Hill. The work done by one of the mechanics was not progressing in the manner he intended and he drew attention to the work. The response was short and sharp, "I take my orders from the boss." Roosevelt, therefore, saw the contractor and the work was soon changed. On his return from Africa, seventeen years later, citizens of Long Island and New York City attended the mighty hunter's reception at Sagamore Hill. On the long reception line among others, was the before-mentioned mechanic. He shook hands with the Colonel, received a few appropriate words, and passed on. He had gone, however, but a few steps, when Roosevelt reached after him, pulled him back and demanded with his hearty chuckle, "Say, do you still take your orders from the boss."

This anecdote reveals that never-failing memory, and also that kindly forgiving spirit, that were cardinal Roosevelt traits.

Rev. Warren I. Bowman, of Brooklyn, the former pastor of the Methodist Church at Oyster Bay, remembered many incidents which open new windows On some of the beautiful phases of Mr. Roosevelt's character. Some of them I give here in his own language. Reverend Bowman said:
Colonel Roosevelt was very, very fond of the people of Oyster Bay. He showed his regard for them by giving to them an annual reception at Sagamore Hill. The receptions were democratic in the highest degree. He let it be understood that everybody was invited; he also sent special notices of invitation to be read from the various pulpits and' asked the pastors to emphasize the notice and urge the people to come out to his house. It was the gala day of all the year to the village. The reception began at four o'clock in the afternoon. After a season of most delightful social entertainment, President Roosevelt made his neighbors an address of some kind—social, moral, economic or sometimes political, but always non-partisan. Then Mrs. Roosevelt would serve refreshments, and the people were happy and grateful beyond all description.

During his term as President the citizens of Oyster Bay gave him a reception as he went to Washington and when he came back. These were usually held at the depot. I shall never forget the one we gave him as he went to Washington for the last time during his term. He was very fond of music and our male chorus led the singing. He addressed us in tender words and then we sang, "God Be with You till We Meet Again." Tears filled his eyes. I have been with him often, but I never saw him cry before. The tears that filled his eyes, fell down in big drops on his cheeks, and the whole audience was melted with emotion. It certainly seemed that God was there and would be with him till we met him again.

He had an inner circle, a closer brotherhood; he was a loyal member of the Masonic fraternity and the greatest occasions of the year were when he attended the lodge. He always spoke to us on some morally healthful theme. I remember well what he said on one of those occasions: "Brothers, I feel it my greatest privilege and duty, and it gives me supremest joy, to help one who is striving to advance and to live the life that he should live. But," he continued, "where, however, I find one who ia given to wrong-doings and professes to be good I strike him with all the power that is in me." After the address I commended what he said? and he replied: "Dr. Bowman, I absolutely have no use for a man who is a. counterfeit."

I witnessed a piece of heroism which will match his bear and lion hunts. It was on a hot Fourth of July, when five thousand people had gathered in an open lot to hear him make a speech. He had just started in to make his address and a fearful thunderstorm, with pelting rain, broke upon the company. The water came down in buckets-ful. Some had brought umbrellas and raised them; some of the friends undertook to hold an umbrella over the speaker's head, but he waved them away and kept on as though nothing were happening. He continued speaking for about half an hour until he had said what he intended to say. He' was drenched to the skin and so were many others, for almost nobody in that five thousand was coward enough to leave with such an example set by the leader of the nation. He did not act as though he had played the hero in any degree, nor did he apologize for giving so many thousands a ducking; he had only done what he thought was his duty, had only delivered a message which he had felt called upon to bring them.

Mr. Roosevelt was very fond of fishing, swimming and boating. One summer I took some boys camping down on Long Island Sound on the shore near that of Sagamore Hill. Colonel Roosevelt was a diligent, enthusiastic, successful fisherman, and his children took to the water as ducks do. I remember well one fishing trip I had with Quentin, then eight or nine years old, and Archie, who was older. The brightness and the wit of the boys delighted and entertained me.

Colonel Roosevelt was a fine swimmer. His daughter, Ethel, often came down with him to the sound for a swim. One afternoon I saw Mr. Roosevelt and Miss Ethel plunging into the water and making a race for the float some distance out on the sound. It was a close race, each reaching the goal about the same time. Miss Ethel dived from the float and swam about it for fifteen or twenty minutes. Meanwhile the Colonel walked back and forth on the float apparently in a brown study. I suspected he was preparing some great message or speech. When his daughter had finished her swim, he banished his serious thoughts and resumed the sporting spirit, and the two dived together and made a race back to the shore.

He was a fine oarsman; he had powerful arms; they were well skilled, and he made his boat fairly skip through the water. I am pretty strong myself and apt in handling the oars. One day I was out with my boat and, as was his custom, Mrs. Roosevelt and he were out in his boat, and I said to myself, "I will pass him," and so I hurried and got pretty nearly up with him and he looked back and noticed that I was racing him. He stuck his oars into the water, multiplied the stroke at a wonderful rate and the gap between was widened. He looked back at me laughingly, as much as to say, "Young man, you must grow a little older before you can pass me."

He was very deeply interested in the temporal as well as spiritual interest of the churches of Oyster Bay. All the churches of whatever denomination were aided by him financially when any project was at hand.
Rev. George Farrar, a former Methodist pastor of Oyster Bay, told me that, when certain improvements were made, Colonel Roosevelt gave him a check for $50.00, and also gave him a lecture of his hunting trip in Africa which netted the church something like $100.00. I went out from New York to hear that lecture. I listened to the thrilling incidents of a man killed this way and that, of the stealing of one of his negro helpers one night by a crocodile which slipped up into the camp and went off with him down into the water, and as he was about closing his address I said to him, '' Colonel, you did not tell about that close shave you had with that lion?" He answered, "Which one? We had several." I said, "That big man-eating lion that charged you and which you stopped just in time to keep him from getting you." "Oh!" he said, "Yes, a large fierce male lion came toward me. I could not see the beast, but his long tail reached up above the high grass, and at every leap I could see the tail coming closer to me, till at last I found he certainly was wanting to have some business with me, and I was just as anxious to have it with him. And when he got close enough I let him have the bullet, and he fell.'' Then he paused and his eye twinkled with the humor which was always running over in him. He said, "My old friend here has come out to hear me to-night and you perceive that he knows more about my hunting trip in Africa than I do myself."

Rev. George E. Talmage, rector of the Episcopal church in Oyster Bay and a close personal friend of Colonel Roosevelt, contributed to The Churchman an article which contained material he thought I might desire. This is the story:
While Colonel Roosevelt occupied a modest pew near the door, the people of the parish always knew when he was there, which was generally every Sunday morning. If he were not there, they knew it was a case of sickness or absence from Oyster Bay. No guests kept him home from church; if they did not wish to accompany him, they amused themselves alone while he attended church. He might have got more profit from a book or from his own meditations in the woods, but he felt it his duty to attend church to worship God. Said a man to him one day: "I can worship God just as well in the woods." His reply was to the point: "Doubtless you can; but no one will suspect you of it." During the "gasless" Sundays last fall, when many made the requirements an excuse for staying home, he set the example of loyalty by walking three miles from Sagamore Hill to the village church and back home again. And this, by the way, was shortly after his return from a serious" operation which affected his walking not a little.

There were friends who said in warning, "You will find him a hard man to preach to; he is so positive in his convictions." Would that preachers had always so kindly a critic as he—one who could follow what they say, commend utterances that were worth while, and suggest books to read if the views were divergent. This criticism, always in private, might take the form, "I liked that expression; may I use it?" or, "While I did not agree with you, I enjoyed your presentation. But, have you read such-and-such a book? It is very illuminating." When the House of Bishops issued its pastoral on support of the government and refraining from criticism, and a copy of the pastoral was handed him by the rector, how characteristic was the reply: '"That is all very well. But how can I keep still when I know?"

There are other parts of church work besides attendance at services and listening to sermons. The great work of the church is missions. One anecdote will suffice. One hot Sunday morning a missionary bishop was preaching. So hot it was that his collar was not visible at the end of the service. An offering was announced for the following Sunday morning. As we were dismissing the choir the door again opened, the bishop was greeted most cordially and a bill was placed in the hand of the rector with the brief words: "I will not be here next Sunday, but I want to do my part."

We have a little missionary group known as St. Hilda's, which meets each week for sewing, to which Mrs. Roosevelt belongs and in which Mr. Roosevelt took a great interest. It was their custom to invite the members to a reception every year. During the Presidential term one of these receptions was on the Mayflower, then anchored in the harbor. It was a highly honored group to be permitted this friendship, for it was a sincere and personal relationship. Never a sorrow entered their homes but sympathy came from Sagamore Hill, and not infrequently a personal visit as well.

Of course the parish has a Sunday school. Looking over the old registers one finds the family represented on the roll. Once each year, on Christmas Eve, the Colonel Himself spoke to the school, receiving his orange and oox of candy with the other members of the school and joining heartily in the singing of our historic carol, doubly dear to us henceforth, because he loved it. The children and their parents little realized their privilege in listening to those familiar talks. For example, after the South American trip they had the opportunity of hearing informally what many traveled miles to meetings of great geographical societies to hear. They felt he was one of themselves, but they did not know how great he was.

Space fails to tell of his relationship to various guilds. There would be anecdotes connected with them all, and this article might resemble the Analects of Confucius. But a reference may be made to the Boy Scouts. When General Baden-Powell was in this country in the interest of the new movement, there was an informal luncheon at Sagamore Hill, at which the general and some men prominent in the movement were present. The rector, although of little importance to the conference, was invited to meet them. He was introduced as "my pastor," and while the men tried their best to commit the Colonel to their cause they got no further than this—that he pointed out the importance of the individual scout master, and turned the discussion to a consideration of the merits of men in the village who might be fitted for such leadership. Without doubt the invitation to the local pastor was for the very purpose of so turning the discussion. Later on he took a prominent place in the movement, and when the Roosevelt Troop of Boy Scouts was organized in the parish, consented to serve and did serve on the troop committee.

The picture of the Colonel which will be most prized is not that of the Rough Rider, nor the President, nor the orator, but the grandfather, hugging his little grandchild. How he loved the children! What interest he took in their baptism, standing sponsor near the font! How he rejoiced in their confirmation! Pride they may well have in later years, but reverence and love will be the dominant note of their esteem. The Colonel was a man of family, a man of peace, but how anxious he was to serve his country that his grandchildren might live in peace! He gave his sons when he could not give himself.

One recalls that Sunday morning before Quentin sailed, how he came to church for his last communion. We felt it would be the last. We talked otherwise. Then came the letter from abroad in which was written, "I have just been to service in Notre Dame Cathedral. It was fine. But I would rather have been in Christ Church." And then came the cable message, and early next morning, when so many would have stayed away, the parents drew near to the same altar rail. There were no dry eyes, and the words could scarcely be spoken, but their force was there: "Preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life." This time also it was a last communion, but we did not know it.