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Home  »  Theodore Roosevelt, the Citizen  »  Page 241

Jacob A. Riis (1849–1914). Theodore Roosevelt, the Citizen. 1904.

Page 241

  “The man,” I cried out, “who says that is either a fool or a scoundrel. Which of the two are you?”
  I don’t believe he heard. His kind rarely do. They never by any chance get any other side of a subject than their own, for they never can shake themselves off for a moment. He stood pointing at me still:
  “Does not Holy Writ say, ‘Thou shalt not kill?”’ he went on.
  “Yes! and on the same page does it not say that ‘Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor,’ even if he is the President of the United States?”
  The audience by this time was upon its feet, yelling its delight. It was what it wanted. The crank sat down. In the front row a red-faced Irishman jumped up and down like a jack-in-the-box, wildly excited.
  “You let him alone,” he shouted to the people, shaking his hat at them; “let Professor Riis alone. He can take care of himself. Teddy Roosevelt is the greatest man in the country”; and, turning half toward me, he shot up a fist like a ham and, grabbing mine, yelled out, “I druv him oncet!”