Letters to His Children - Theodore Roosevelt
Mother stopped off at Albany while sister went on to Boston, and I came
on here alone Tuesday afternoon. St. Gaudens, the sculptor, and Dunne
(Mr. Dooley) were on the train and took lunch with us. It was great
fun meeting them and I liked them both. Kermit met me in high feather,
although I did not reach the house until ten o'clock, and he sat by
me and we exchanged anecdotes while I took my supper. Ethel had put an
alarm clock under her head so as to be sure and wake up, but although
it went off she continued to slumber profoundly, as did Quentin. Archie
waked up sufficiently to tell me that he had found another turtle just
as small as the already existing treasure of the same kind. This morning
Quentin and Black Jack have neither of them been willing to leave me for
any length of time. Black Jack simply lies curled up in a chair, but
as Quentin is most conversational, he has added an element of harassing
difficulty to my effort to answer my accumulated correspondence.
Archie announced that he had seen "the Baltimore orioles catching fish!"
This seemed to warrant investigation; but it turned out he meant barn
swallows skimming the water.
The President not only sent "picture letters" to his own children, but
an especial one to Miss Sarah Schuyler Butler, daughter of Dr. Nicholas
Murray Butler, President of Columbia University, who had written to
him a little note of congratulation on his first birthday in the White
House.
White House, Nov. 3d, 1901.
DEAR LITTLE MISS SARAH,
I liked your birthday note _very_ much; and my children say I should
draw you two pictures in return.
We have a large blue macaw--Quentin calls him a polly-parrot--who lives
in the greenhouse, and is very friendly, but makes queer noises. He eats
bread, potatoes, and coffee grains.
The children have a very cunning pony. He is a little pet, like a dog,
but he plays tricks on them when they ride him.
He bucked Ethel over his head the other day.
Your father will tell you that these are pictures of the UNPOLISHED
STONE PERIOD.
Give my love to your mother.
Your father's friend,
THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
UNCLE REMUS AND WHITE HOUSE PETS
(To Joel Chandler Harris)
White House, June 9, 1902.
MY DEAR MR. HARRIS:
Your letter was a great relief to Kermit, who always becomes personally
interested in his favorite author, and who has been much worried by your
sickness. He would be more than delighted with a copy of "Daddy Jake."
Alice has it already, but Kermit eagerly wishes it.
Last night Mrs. Roosevelt and I were sitting out on the porch at the
back of the White House, and were talking of you and wishing you could
be sitting there with us. It is delightful at all times, but I think
especially so after dark. The monument stands up distinct but not quite
earthly in the night, and at this season the air is sweet with the
jasmine and honeysuckle.
All of the younger children are at present absorbed in various pets,
perhaps the foremost of which is a puppy of the most orthodox puppy
type. Then there is Jack, the terrier, and Sailor Boy, the Chesapeake
Bay dog; and Eli, the most gorgeous macaw, with a bill that I think
could bite through boiler plate, who crawls all over Ted, and whom
I view with dark suspicion; and Jonathan, the piebald rat, of most
friendly and affectionate nature, who also crawls all over everybody;
and the flying squirrel, and two kangaroo rats; not to speak of Archie's
pony, Algonquin, who is the most absolute pet of them all.
Mrs. Roosevelt and I have, I think, read all your stories to the
children, and some of them over and over again.
THE DOG "GEM"
White House, Oct. 13, 1902.
BLESSED KERMIT:
I am delighted at all the accounts I receive of how you are doing at
Groton. You seem to be enjoying yourself and are getting on well. I need
not tell you to do your best to cultivate ability for concentrating your
thought on whatever work you are given to do--you will need it in Latin
especially. Who plays opposite you at end? Do you find you can get down
well under the ball to tackle the full-back? How are you tackling?
Mother is going to present Gem to Uncle Will. She told him she did not
think he was a good dog for the city; and therefore she gives him
to Uncle Will to keep in the city. Uncle Will's emotion at such
self-denying generosity almost overcame him. Gem is really a very nice
small bow-wow, but Mother found that in this case possession was less
attractive than pursuit. When she takes him out walking he carries her
along as if she was a Roman chariot. She thinks that Uncle Will or Eda
can anchor him. Yesterday she and Ethel held him and got burrs out of
his hair. It was a lively time for all three.
PRESIDENTIAL NURSE FOR GUINEA PIGS
(To Mrs. Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward)
White House, Oct. 20, 1902.
At this moment, my small daughter being out, I am acting as nurse to two
wee guinea pigs, which she feels would not be safe save in the room with
me--and if I can prevent it I do not intend to have wanton suffering
inflicted on any creature.
THANKSGIVING IN THE WHITE HOUSE
White House, Nov. 28, 1902.
DARLING KERMIT:
Yesterday was Thanksgiving, and we all went out riding, looking as we
started a good deal like the Cumberbach family. Archie on his beloved
pony, and Ethel on Yagenka went off with Mr. Proctor to the hunt. Mother
rode Jocko Root, Ted a first-class cavalry horse, I rode Renown, and
with us went Senator Lodge, Uncle Douglas, Cousin John Elliott, Mr. Bob
Fergie, and General Wood. We had a three hours' scamper which was really
great fun.
Yesterday I met Bozie for the first time since he came to Washington,
and he almost wiggled himself into a fit, he was so overjoyed at
renewing acquaintance. To see Jack and Tom Quartz play together is as
amusing as it can be. We have never had a more cunning kitten than Tom
Quartz. I have just had to descend with severity upon Quentin because he
put the unfortunate Tom into the bathtub and then turned on the water.
He didn't really mean harm.
Last evening, besides our own entire family party, all the Lodges, and
their connections, came to dinner. We dined in the new State Dining-room
and we drank the health of you and all the rest of both families that
were absent. After dinner we cleared away the table and danced. Mother
looked just as pretty as a picture and I had a lovely waltz with her.
Mrs. Lodge and I danced the Virginia Reel.
A WHITE HOUSE CHRISTMAS
(To Master James A. Garfield, Washington)
White House, Dec. 26, 1902.
JIMMIKINS:
Among all the presents I got I don't think there was one I appreciated
more than yours; for I was brought up to admire and respect your
grandfather, and I have a very great fondness and esteem for your
father. It always seems to me as if you children were being brought up
the way that mine are. Yesterday Archie got among his presents a small
rifle from me and a pair of riding-boots from his mother. He won't be
able to use the rifle until next summer, but he has gone off very happy
in the riding boots for a ride on the calico pony Algonquin, the one
you rode the other day. Yesterday morning at a quarter of seven all the
children were up and dressed and began to hammer at the door of their
mother's and my room, in which their six stockings, all bulging out with
queer angles and rotundities, were hanging from the fireplace. So their
mother and I got up, shut the window, lit the fire, taking down the
stockings, of course, put on our wrappers and prepared to admit the
children. But first there was a surprise for me, also for their good
mother, for Archie had a little Christmas tree of his own which he had
rigged up with the help of one of the carpenters in a big closet; and
we all had to look at the tree and each of us got a present off of it.
There was also one present each for Jack the dog, Tom Quartz the kitten,
and Algonquin the pony, whom Archie would no more think of neglecting
than I would neglect his brothers and sisters. Then all the children
came into our bed and there they opened their stockings. Afterwards
we got dressed and took breakfast, and then all went into the library,
where each child had a table set for his bigger presents. Quentin had a
perfectly delightful electric railroad, which had been rigged up for him
by one of his friends, the White House electrician, who has been very
good to all the children. Then Ted and I, with General Wood and Mr. Bob
Ferguson, who was a lieutenant in my regiment, went for a three hours'
ride; and all of us, including all the children, took lunch at the house
with the children's aunt, Mrs. Captain Cowles--Archie and Quentin having
their lunch at a little table with their cousin Sheffield. Late in the
afternoon I played at single stick with General Wood and Mr. Ferguson.
I am going to get your father to come on and try it soon. We have to
try to hit as light as possible, but sometimes we hit hard, and to-day
I have a bump over one eye and a swollen wrist. Then all our family
and kinsfolk and Senator and Mrs. Lodge's family and kinsfolk had our
Christmas dinner at the White House, and afterwards danced in the East
Room, closing up with the Virginia Reel.
TOM QUARTZ AND JACK
White House, Jan. 6, 1903.
DEAR KERMIT:
We felt very melancholy after you and Ted left and the house seemed
empty and lonely. But it was the greatest possible comfort to feel that
you both really have enjoyed school and are both doing well there.
Tom Quartz is certainly the cunningest kitten I have ever seen. He is
always playing pranks on Jack and I get very nervous lest Jack
should grow too irritated. The other evening they were both in the
library--Jack sleeping before the fire--Tom Quartz scampering about, an
exceedingly playful little wild creature--which is about what he is. He
would race across the floor, then jump upon the curtain or play with
the tassel. Suddenly he spied Jack and galloped up to him. Jack, looking
exceedingly sullen and shame-faced, jumped out of the way and got
upon the sofa, where Tom Quartz instantly jumped upon him again. Jack
suddenly shifted to the other sofa, where Tom Quartz again went after
him. Then Jack started for the door, while Tom made a rapid turn under
the sofa and around the table, and just as Jack reached the door leaped
on his hind-quarters. Jack bounded forward and away and the two went
tandem out of the room--Jack not reappearing at all; and after about
five minutes Tom Quartz stalked solemnly back.
Another evening the next Speaker of the House, Mr. Cannon, an
exceedingly solemn, elderly gentleman with chin whiskers, who certainly
does not look to be of playful nature, came to call upon me. He is a
great friend of mine, and we sat talking over what our policies for the
session should be until about eleven o'clock; and when he went away I
accompanied him to the head of the stairs. He had gone about half-way
down when Tom Quartz strolled by, his tail erect and very fluffy. He
spied Mr. Cannon going down the stairs, jumped to the conclusion that he
was a playmate escaping, and raced after him, suddenly grasping him by
the leg the way he does Archie and Quentin when they play hide and
seek with him; then loosening his hold he tore down-stairs ahead of Mr.
Cannon, who eyed him with iron calm and not one particle of surprise.
Ethel has reluctantly gone back to boarding-school. It is just after
lunch and Dulany is cutting my hair while I dictate this to Mr. Loeb. I
left Mother lying on the sofa and reading aloud to Quentin, who as usual
has hung himself over the back of the sofa in what I should personally
regard as an exceedingly uncomfortable attitude to listen to literature.
Archie we shall not see until this evening, when he will suddenly
challenge me either to a race or a bear play, and if neither invitation
is accepted will then propose that I tell a pig story or else read aloud
from the Norse folk tales.
A FAR WESTERN TRIP
In April, 1903, President Roosevelt made a trip to the Pacific Coast,
visiting Yellowstone Park and the Grand Canyon of Arizona.
TAME WILD CREATURES
Yellowstone Park, Wyoming, April 16, 1903.
DARLING ETHEL:
I wish you could be here and see how tame all the wild creatures are. As
I write a dozen of deer have come down to the parade grounds, right in
front of the house, to get the hay; they are all looking at the bugler,
who has begun to play the "retreat."
WESTERN CUSTOMS AND SCENERY
Del Monte, Cal., May 10, 1903.
DARLING ETHEL:
I have thought it very good of you to write me so much. Of course I am
feeling rather fagged, and the next four days, which will include San
Francisco, will be tiresome; but I am very well. This is a beautiful
hotel in which we are spending Sunday, with gardens and a long
seventeen-mile drive beside the beach and the rocks and among the
pines and cypresses. I went on horseback. My horse was a little beauty,
spirited, swift, sure-footed and enduring. As is usually the case here
they had a great deal of silver on the bridle and headstall, and much
carving on the saddle. We had some splendid gallops. By the way, tell
mother that everywhere out here, from the Mississippi to the Pacific,
I have seen most of the girls riding astride, and most of the grown-up
women. I must say I think it very much better for the horses' backs. I
think by the time that you are an old lady the side-saddle will almost
have vanished--I am sure I hope so. I have forgotten whether you like
the side-saddle or not.
It was very interesting going through New Mexico and seeing the strange
old civilization of the desert, and next day the Grand Canyon of
Arizona, wonderful and beautiful beyond description. I could have sat
and looked at it for days. It is a tremendous chasm, a mile deep and
several miles wide, the cliffs carved into battlements, amphitheatres,
towers and pinnacles, and the coloring wonderful, red and yellow and
gray and green. Then we went through the desert, passed across the
Sierras and came into this semi-tropical country of southern California,
with palms and orange groves and olive orchards and immense quantities
of flowers.
TREASURES FOR THE CHILDREN
Del Monte, Cal., May 10, 1903.
BLESSED KERMIT:
The last weeks' travel I have really enjoyed. Last Sunday and to-day
(Sunday) and also on Wednesday at the Grand Canyon I had long rides, and
the country has been strange and beautiful. I have collected a variety
of treasures, which I shall have to try to divide up equally among you
children. One treasure, by the way, is a very small badger, which I
named Josiah, and he is now called Josh for short. He is very
cunning and I hold him in my arms and pet him. I hope he will grow up
friendly--that is if the poor little fellow lives to grow up at all.
Dulany is taking excellent care of him, and we feed him on milk and
potatoes.
I have enjoyed meeting an old classmate of mine at Harvard. He was
heavyweight boxing champion when I was in college.
I was much interested in your seeing the wild deer. That was quite
remarkable. To-day, by the way, as I rode along the beach I saw seals,
cormorants, gulls and ducks, all astonishingly tame.
MORE TREASURES
Del Monte, Cal., May 10, 1903.
BLESSED ARCHIE:
I think it was very cunning for you and Quentin to write me that letter
together. I wish you could have been with me to-day on Algonquin, for we
had a perfectly lovely ride. Dr. Rixey and I were on two very handsome
horses, with Mexican saddles and bridles; the reins of very slender
leather with silver rings. The road led through pine and cypress forests
and along the beach. The surf was beating on the rocks in one place and
right between two of the rocks where I really did not see how anything
could swim a seal appeared and stood up on his tail half out of the
foaming water and flapped his flippers, and was as much at home as
anything could be. Beautiful gulls flew close to us all around, and
cormorants swam along the breakers or walked along the beach.
I have a number of treasures to divide among you children when I get
back. One of the treasures is Bill the Lizard. He is a little live
lizard, called a horned frog, very cunning, who lives in a small box.
The little badger, Josh, is very well and eats milk and potatoes. We
took him out and gave him a run in the sand to-day. So far he seems as
friendly as possible. When he feels hungry he squeals and the colored
porters insist that he says "Du-la-ny, Du-la-ny," because Dulany is very
good to him and takes care of him.
A HOMESICK PRESIDENT
Del Monte, Cal., May 10, 1903.
DEAREST QUENTY-QUEE
I loved your letter. I am very homesick for mother and for you children;
but I have enjoyed this week's travel. I have been among the orange
groves, where the trees have oranges growing thick upon them, and there
are more flowers than you have ever seen. I have a gold top which I
shall give you if mother thinks you can take care of it. Perhaps I
shall give you a silver bell instead. Whenever I see a little boy being
brought up by his father or mother to look at the procession as we pass
by, I think of you and Archie and feel very homesick. Sometimes little
boys ride in the procession on their ponies, just like Archie on
Algonquin.
JOSIAH'S PASSIONATE DAY
Writing Senator Lodge on June 6, 1903, describing his return to the
White House from his western trip, the President said:
"Josiah, the young badger, is hailed with the wildest enthusiasm by the
children, and has passed an affectionate but passionate day with us.
Fortunately his temper seems proof."
LOVES AND SPORTS OF THE CHILDREN
(To Miss Emily T. Carow)
Oyster Bay, Aug. 6, 1903.
To-day is Edith's birthday, and the children have been too cunning in
celebrating it. Ethel had hemstitched a little handkerchief herself, and
she had taken her gift and the gifts of all the other children into her
room and neatly wrapped them up in white paper and tied with ribbons.
They were for the most part taken down-stairs and put at her plate at
breakfast time. Then at lunch in marched Kermit and Ethel with a cake,
burning forty-two candles, and each candle with a piece of paper tied
to it purporting to show the animal or inanimate object from which
the candle came. All the dogs and horses--Renown, Bleistein, Yagenka,
Algonquin, Sailor Boy, Brier, Hector, etc., as well as Tom Quartz, the
cat, the extraordinarily named hens--such as Baron Speckle and Fierce,
and finally even the boats and that pomegranate which Edith gave Kermit
and which has always been known as Santiago, had each his or her or its
tag on a special candle.
Edith is very well this summer and looks so young and pretty. She rides
with us a great deal and loves Yagenka as much as ever. We also go
out rowing together, taking our lunch and a book or two with us. The
children fairly worship her, as they ought to, for a more devoted mother
never was known. The children themselves are as cunning and good as
possible. Ted is nearly as tall as I am and as tough and wiry as you
can imagine. He is a really good rider and can hold his own in walking,
running, swimming, shooting, wrestling, and boxing. Kermit is as cunning
as ever and has developed greatly. He and his inseparable Philip started
out for a night's camping in their best the other day. A driving storm
came up and they had to put back, really showing both pluck, skill and
judgment. They reached home, after having been out twelve hours, at nine
in the evening. Archie continues devoted to Algonquin and to Nicholas.
Ted's playmates are George and Jack, Aleck Russell, who is in Princeton,
and Ensign Hamner of the _Sylph_. They wrestle, shoot, swim, play
tennis, and go off on long expeditions in the boats. Quenty-quee has
cast off the trammels of the nursery and become a most active and
fearless though very good-tempered little boy. Really the children do
have an ideal time out here, and it is an ideal place for them. The
three sets of cousins are always together. I am rather disconcerted
by the fact that they persist in regarding me as a playmate. This
afternoon, for instance, was rainy, and all of them from George, Ted,
Lorraine and Ethel down to Archibald, Nicholas and Quentin, with the
addition of Aleck Russell and Ensign Hamner, came to get me to play with
them in the old barn. They plead so hard that I finally gave in, but
upon my word, I hardly knew whether it was quite right for the President
to be engaged in such wild romping as the next two hours saw. The barn
is filled with hay, and of course meets every requirement for the most
active species of hide-and-seek and the like. Quentin enjoyed the game
as much as any one, and would jump down from one hay level to another
fifteen feet below with complete abandon.
I took Kermit and Archie, with Philip, Oliver and Nicholas out for a
night's camping in the two rowboats last week. They enjoyed themselves
heartily, as usual, each sleeping rolled up in his blanket, and all
getting up at an unearthly hour. Also, as usual, they displayed a
touching and firm conviction that my cooking is unequalled. It was of a
simple character, consisting of frying beefsteak first and then potatoes
in bacon fat, over the camp fire; but they certainly ate in a way that
showed their words were not uttered in a spirit of empty compliment.
A PRESIDENT AT PLAY
(To Miss Emily T. Carow)
Oyster Bay, Aug. 16, 1903.
Archie and Nick continue inseparable. I wish you could have seen them
the other day, after one of the picnics, walking solemnly up, jointly
carrying a basket, and each with a captured turtle in his disengaged
hand. Archie is a most warm-hearted, loving, cunning little goose.
Quentin, a merry soul, has now become entirely one of the children, and
joins heartily in all their plays, including the romps in the old
barn. When Ethel had her birthday, the one entertainment for which she
stipulated was that I should take part in and supervise a romp in the
old barn, to which all the Roosevelt children, Ensign Hamner of the
_Sylph_, Bob Ferguson and Aleck Russell were to come. Of course I had
not the heart to refuse; but really it seems, to put it mildly, rather
odd for a stout, elderly President to be bouncing over hayricks in a
wild effort to get to goal before an active midget of a competitor, aged
nine years. However, it was really great fun.
One of our recent picnics was an innovation, due to Edith. We went in
carriages or on horseback to Jane's Hill, some eight miles distant. The
view was lovely, and there was a delightful old farmhouse half a mile
away, where we left our horses. Speck (German Ambassador, Count Speck
von Sternberg) rode with Edith and me, looking more like Hans Christian
Andersen's little tin soldier than ever. His papers as Ambassador had
finally come, and so he had turned up at Oyster Bay, together with the
Acting Secretary of State, to present them. He appeared in what was
really a very striking costume, that of a hussar. As soon as the
ceremony was over, I told him to put on civilized raiment, which he did,
and he spent a couple of days with me. We chopped, and shot, and rode
together. He was delighted with Wyoming, and, as always, was extremely
nice to the children.
The other day all the children gave amusing amateur theatricals, gotten
up by Lorraine and Ted. The acting was upon Laura Roosevelt's tennis
court. All the children were most cunning, especially Quentin as Cupid,
in the scantiest of pink muslin tights and bodice. Ted and Lorraine, who
were respectively George Washington and Cleopatra, really carried off
the play. At the end all the cast joined hands in a song and dance, the
final verse being devoted especially to me. I love all these children
and have great fun with them, and I am touched by the way in which they
feel that I am their special friend, champion, and companion.
To-day all, young and old, from the three houses went with us to
Service on the great battleship _Kearsarge_--for the fleet is here to be
inspected by me to-morrow. It was an impressive sight, one which I think
the children will not soon forget. Most of the boys afterward went to
lunch with the wretched Secretary Moody on the _Dolphin_. Ted had the
younger ones very much on his mind, and when he got back said they
had been altogether too much like a March Hare tea-party, as Archie,
Nicholas and Oliver were not alive to the dignity of the occasion.
TO TED ON A HUNTING TRIP
Oyster Bay, Aug. 25, 1903.
DEAR TED:
We have thought of you a good deal, of course. I am glad you have my
rifle with you--you scamp, does it still have "those associations" which
you alleged as the reason why you would value it so much when in the
near future I became unable longer to use it? I do not have very much
hope of your getting a great deal of sport on this trip, and anything
you do get in the way of furred or feathered game and fishing I shall
count as so much extra thrown in; but I feel the trip will teach you
a lot in the way of handling yourself in a wild country, as well as of
managing horses and camp outfits--of dealing with frontiersmen, etc. It
will therefore fit you to go on a regular camping trip next time.