“When the war broke out I came back from Europe to find that the Colonel’s time with ‘The Outlook’ was up. Before I could see him, he had begun to publish some syndicated newspaper articles in which he denounced the invasion of Belgium. Hurrying over to his office, which was then in Forty-second Street, I caught him on the verge of closing a year’s arrangement with the syndicate. I reminded him of my prior claim which he freely granted. He couldn’t see, however, how he could deliver full value to a monthly magazine. The syndicate could publish two or three times a month and so get back their money. I told him that was our affair. We wouldn’t worry about not getting our money’s worth. But the Colonel said that he couldn’t avoid worrying. He didn’t like being in the position of not being able to deliver full value. He had never been in that position before, and he didn’t propose to be there now. I gave him excellent reasons, as I thought, why he would be worth as much to us as to any newspaper syndicate, and he was nearly convinced but not quite. I left him feeling pretty sure that he would decide against us. But I was determined not to lose him. After wracking my brains for two or three hours for a new argument I suddenly remembered that I had mentioned no period for the proposed association. Suppose that I offered him a three years’ contract instead of one, would not that give us a greater and more exclusive value and so satisfy the Colonel that both parties would profit by the agreement? It was late at night and I had difficulty in getting the number of his private wire at Oyster Bay. Nevertheless I finally brought him to the telephone and made my new proposal. He laughed; and said, ‘You seem to want me pretty badly. I’m sure I can’t think why. It’s true your new offer puts a new complexion on the matter. Come out and see me tomorrow at nine. I have to decide this business by ten in the morning.’
“I went, and it was decided in our favor. We never regretted it and I’m thankful to say the Colonel never regretted it either.”
The Colonel at the time of his death was also a regular contributor to the “Kansas City Star.”
ROOSEVELT AT HOME
So far as his private life is concerned, Roosevelt will be recorded in history as being thoroughly representative of that love of family, domestic simplicity, and devotion to the duties of married life, which go to make a great race. These traits were of course largely influenced by Mrs. Roosevelt herself. She exercised a restraining power upon his impulsiveness. Before entering on any enterprise, he always asked himself, “What will she think of it?”
She was noted for her graceful mastery of every social situation, and as Mistress of the White House, she cultivated and preserved those traditions of hospitality that belong to that high place.
Roosevelt was a devout member of the Dutch Reformed Church. A friend thus describes the Colonel’s attendance at a little church of his faith in Washington: “He came in quietly, unattended, went well up front, bowed a moment in prayer and was ready for the service. The sermon was a good plain gospel sermon and he seemed to enjoy it. His singing and responses to the Scripture readings were like his talks to Congress—clear and energetic, as if he didn’t care who heard him as long as he knew he was right. Throughout the sermon he gave the most earnest attention. He impressed one as being a man who believed in exercising the same sincerity in religious matters as in any others, and I got a new light on his now famous ‘square deal’ principles.”
After the service Roosevelt said:
“The services this morning were enjoyable. The sermon was good and I agreed with him in the points he made that the home is the chief foundation stone of the republic and the hope of the church. The ‘Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty’ is one of the grandest of hymns; after a week spent on perplexing problems and in heated contests it does so rest my soul to come into the house of the Lord and worship and to sing, and mean it, the ‘Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty,’ and to know that He is my Father, and He takes me up into His life and plans, and to commune personally with Christ who died for me. I am sure I get a wisdom not my own and a superhuman strength in fighting the moral evils I am called to confront.”
A man with this belief can pass from this world unafraid and eager for the adventures of the higher world beyond him. Thus went the Colonel. Warrior though he was his end was peaceful; he approached his grave: