Part 19 (1/2)
I said I had
”The Governor's friend?”
”Yes; what of it?”
”Well, ain't he at Headquarters for the _Sun_?”
I said that was so
”Well?”
I took out my card and handed it to him ”I am that man,” I said
For a fraction of a second the policehbred His heels caether before, as it seehtened up The half-peeled orange fell froutter, covertly speeded by a dextrous little kick The unhappy Italian, believing it a est and juiciest fruit on his stand, and held it out with a propitiatory bow, but he spurned hioes,” he said, elaborately placing ot no ood man down here It's tiot de 'pull'”
When Roosevelt had gone to Washi+ngton to help fit out the navy for the ith Spain, I spent a part of the winter there with hiranted that I had at last been ”placed” as I should have been long before There was great amazement when I caone partly to observe ent on at the capital for my paper, and partly to speed on the war, in which I was a hearty believer fro the s I had to do with as a reporter was the _Virginius_It was tirip of Spain froot over the contempt I conceived for Spain and Spanish hen I read as a boy, in Hans Christian Andersen's account of his travels in the country of the Dons, that the shepherds brought butter from the ths de knots upon them What was to be expected from a country that sold butter by the yard? As the event showed, it ran its navies after the same fashi+on and was justly punished I made friends that winter with Dr Leonard Wood, e all came to know and admire afterwards as General and Governor Wood; and a fine felloas He was Roosevelt's friend and physician, and we spentin that mood
For the third tio to the hen they went, and oh! so badly Not to fight,--I had had all I needed of that at ho on in Cuba The _Outlook_ offered reed heartily; but once ainst one to Washi+ngton trying to enlist with the Rough Riders, and the one next in line was engineering to get into the navy on his own hook
My wife raised no objection to , if it was duty; but her tears fell silently--and I stayed It was ”three tio to the war now unless in defence of my own hoone then, I should most likely not have returned I had received notice that toin that way there was an end Thankful that I had been spared, I yet took leave of theht of hu and of brutal passions aroused But deep down inin bed, unable to strike back, as it were I know it is wicked and foolish, but all et on a horse with a sword, and slam in just once, like another Sheridan I, who cannot sit on a horse! Even the one Roosevelt got me at Montauk that arranted ”not to bite or scratch” ran aith ht have found out which way I would really have run when the call caht way, but I never have felt quite sure
The casualties of war are not all on the battlefield The Cuban can correspondent which I had been building up for some ten or fifteen years with toilsome effort It was for a Danish newspaper I wrote with much approval, but when the war cas that I did, and fell to suppressing ormy letters, whereupon our connection ceased abruptly My letters were, explained the editor to en, so--er--r--ultra-patriotic, so--er-r--youthful in their enthusiaslad ere young enough yet in ht, and left hied suddenly over there, for they were not that hen I was a boy
The real fact was that soet it into their heads that a European bully could be whipped in one round by ”the States” They insisted on printing ridiculous despatches about Spanish victories I think there was so co Spain on a fish diet in Lent, in return for which she corked the Danish beer--I have forgotten the particulars The bottom fact was a distrust of the United States that was based upon a curiously stubborn ignorance, entirely without excuse in a people of high intelligence like the Danes I tried hard as a correspondent to draw a reasonable, human picture of American affairs, but it seemed to make no impression They would jump at the Munchausen stories that are always afloat, as if Aerie and not a Christian country I think nothing ever aggravated me as did an instance of that kind the year Ben Butler ran for the Presidency I had been trying in my letters to present the political situation and issues fairly, and was beginning to feel that they _must_ understand, when I received a copy of en and read there a ”life” of General Butler, which condensed, ran so lawyer, shrewd and full of bold sche himself When the ith the South broke out, he raised all the money he could and fitted out a fleet of privateers With this he sailed for New Orleans, captured the city, and, collecting all the silver spoons it contained, freighted his vessels with them, and returned to the North Thus he laid the foundation for his great fortune, but achieved lasting unpopularity in the South, which will prevent his election to the Presidency”
I a That was how the story of the silver spoons looked in Danish a quarter of a century after the war Really, noould you have done? I laughed and--well! made remarks by turns, and in the end concluded that there was nothing else that could be done except buckle to and try again; which I did
If I could not go to the war, I could at least go electioneering with Roosevelt when he came back and try to help him out the best I kne in matters that touched the poor and their life, once he sat in Cleveland's chair in Albany I do not think he felt that as an added dignity, but I did and I told hi to laugh at They are men of the same stamp, not saints any more than the rest of us, but men withthings I wish soive me another chance to vote the ticket which Tammany obstructs with its impudent claim that it is the Democratic party As for Roosevelt, feere nearer to him, I fancy, than I, even at Albany
No doubt he made his mistakes like the rest of us, and when he did there were not wanting critics to make the most of it I wish they had been half as ready to lend hiht have been farther on the road then I sa faithfully he labored I was his u clerks, in the enforceainst sweaters, and I know that early and late he had no other thought than how best to serve the people who trusted hiuess we shall want hiood
I found out upon our electioneering tours that I was not a good stu with five-minute stops of the train It used to pull out with s I meant to say unsaid The politicians knew that trick better, and I left the field to the just for company Only two or three times did I rise to the occasion Once when I spoke in the square at Ja lad and trappedThe old days ca, and the cheers that arose fro whether by any chance the old shi+p captain who finished me as a lecturer once was in it, but he was not; he was dead Another ti Island There was not room in the hall, and they sent ht of it, with the flickering torchlight upon the sea of upturned faces, tookever had, and the speech I made from the steps, propped up by two policemen, took the crowd, too; it cheered so that Roosevelt within stopped and thought soone, with the spirit still uponin the hall till it rose and shouted My political pet enemy from Richmond Hill was on the platform and came over to embracelingers yet in Flushi+ng, I a Island will ever abide on my mind The train was about to pull out from the station in Greenport, when the public school children ca down to see ”Teddy” He leaned out fro as many of the little hands as he could, while the train hands did their best to keep the track clear Way back in the jostling, cheering crowd I irl in a worn garet near hier children pushed her farther back, and her mournful face was nearly the last of the down the steps even as the train started, hetide to the little girl, and taking her hand, gave it the heartiest shake of all, then sprinted for the departing car and caught it The last I saw of Greenport was the poor little girl holding tight the hand her hero had shaken, with her face all one sunbeam of joy
I know just how she felt, for I have had the sas I remember with a pleasure which the years have no power to dio
They had asked me to coreat delight I found that the Cardinal was to preside I had always ad the fifteen minutes' talk we had before the lecture he won o away before I finishedservice the day before, ”and I am an old y
”On the shady side, you yman as on the co
”No, doctor! The sunny side--nearer heaven”
Thewas of a kind to inspire even the dullest speaker
When I finished my plea for the children and turned around, there sat the Cardinal yet behind h it was an hour past his bedti then and there