Jacob A. Riis (1849–1914). Theodore Roosevelt, the Citizen. 1904.
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| champion of all that is good and noble and honest; when I read in an old letter that strays into my hands his brave, patient words: “We have got to march and fight for the right as we see it, and face defeat and victory just as they come”; and in another: “As for what—say of my standing alone, why, I will if I must, but no one is more heartened by such support as you give than I am”—why, I feel that if that is the one thing I can do, I will do that; that, just as he is, with or without faults, I would rather stand with him and be counted than anywhere else on God’s green earth. For, standing so, I know that I shall count always for our beloved country, which his example and his friendship have taught me to love beyond my own native land. And that is what I would do till I die. |
| There is yet one side of Theodore Roosevelt upon which I would touch, because I know the question to be on many lips; though I approach it with some hesitation. For a man’s religious beliefs are his own, and he is not one to speak lightly of what is in his heart concerning the hope of heaven. But though he is of few public professions, yet is he a reverent |