Jacob A. Riis (1849–1914). Theodore Roosevelt, the Citizen. 1904.
Page 205
| hundred thousand at least. He inclined to ten or fifteen thousand, as indeed proved quite near the mark; when there was a rap on the door, and in came the engineer, wiping his oily hands in his blouse, to shake hands and wish him luck. Roosevelt got up from the table, and I saw him redden with pleasure as he shook the honest hand and asked his name. |
| “Dewey,” said the engineer, and such a shout went up! It was an omen of victory, surely. |
| “Dewey,” said Roosevelt, “I would rather have you come here as you do to shake hands than have ten committees of distinguished citizens bring pledges of support”; and I knew he would. It is no empty form with him when he shakes hands with the engineer and the fireman of his train after a journey. He was ever genuinely fond of railroad men, of skilled mechanics of any kind, but especially of the men who harness the iron steed and drive it with steady eye and hand through the dangers of the night. They have something in common with him that makes them kin. The pilot of the Sylph that brought us through the raging storm in the Sound the other day was |