Jacob A. Riis (1849–1914). Theodore Roosevelt, the Citizen. 1904.
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| agreed if he would guarantee that Wyoming, the horse he offered him, would not kneel. He was averse to foreign customs, he said. |
| “Yes,” laughed the President, “you are a good American citizen, and home ways are good enough for you.” |
| I have a ride on Wyoming coming to me, and I am glad. I was cheated out of it the last time, because Washington had so tired me out that the President would not take me. And Wyoming can kneel if he wants to. I think I would let him jump a fence with me where his master led. I guess I know how his Rough-Riders felt. |
| That was the only time Washington tired me out. I had come to help tackle its slums, for it has them, more’s the pity. Ordinarily it is one of my holiday cities: I have three, Washington, Boston, and Springfield, Massachusetts. As to Boston and Springfield, I suppose it is just because I like them. But Washington is a holiday city to me because he is there. When he was in Albany that was one. To Washington I take my wife when we want to be young again, and we go and sit in the theater and weep over the miseries of the lovers, and rejoice |