Jacob A. Riis (1849–1914). Theodore Roosevelt, the Citizen. 1904.
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| putting on mine; and all I got for it was, when General Greene got into the carriage with a straw hat on, a deep sigh of relief and an “Oh, I am so glad you did n’t come in a top-hat,” with a malicious gleam toward me. Next time I leave it home. Perhaps it was to pay me for being late. He had arranged to pick me up at my home station, when going through to the city; but his train was a full half-hour ahead of time, and who could have fore-seen that? What other President, do you suppose, would have waited fifteen minutes at the depot with his special train while he sent up to the house for me, and then received me with a laugh? |
| That was characteristic of him, both the waiting and the being ahead of time. It was night, and there was nothing on the road to hinder, so he just slammed through. In that also he is a typical American in the best sense: given a thing to be done, he makes a sure of the way and then goes ahead and does it. “The way to do a thing is to do it,” might be his motto; it certainly is his way. But the man who concludes from that that he runs at it head-long makes the mistake of his life. I know absolutely |