“No,” he said, very decidedly. “In 1916, possibly—it is too early to say more.”
In spite of this pronouncement from Roosevelt’s sagacious and well-loved friend, I went a few days later to see Mr. Roosevelt, at the office of the Outlook in New York, and urged him to allow his name to be proposed for President at Chicago. In that hour I nailed the Roosevelt colors to my mast where they still fly. Looking back to that time, and weighing well all that has happened since, I do not regret my action, though it cost me more than one of my best friends. Could I hope to be remembered at all, it would be as one of the founders of the Progressive Party. Like thousands of Progressives, I would have died for Roosevelt without a thought. We loved him without measure and beyond reason as our leader, the champion of human progress, the hope of the world, the greatest American of our time.
CHAPTER XXIV
Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive Party
In October of the year 1910, as the first decade of the Twentieth Century was drawing to a close, my mother passed from the world where for nearly ninety-two years she had lived and labored. It seemed to us that for a moment the restless throng paused to note the passing. A long succession of meetings of commemoration were held by her church, her clubs, the many associations she had founded and worked for. So great was the outpouring of love and reverence that it seemed as if her beloved name were writ in fire across the firmament. The largest of the memorial meetings was held in Symphony Hall, Boston, and was given by the city.
At the request of the committee of arrangements I had written,—asking Mr. Roosevelt to address the meeting. His answer has been preserved:
The Outlook,
287 Fourth Avenue, New York City
January 6th, 1911.
My dear Mrs. Elliott:
It would give me the utmost pleasure were I able to be present on the 8th, to speak of your dear mother. You know that I felt for her not merely the highest regard, and indeed I may say reverence, because of her work, but a very warm personal affection. Unfortunately my engagements are such that it is physically impossible for me to get to Boston before the 10th. There was not a man or woman in America for whom I felt the same kind of devotion that I felt for your mother. I am more sorry than I can say that I cannot be present.
Sincerely yours,
Theodore Roosevelt.
It may well be that I inherited my devotion to Roosevelt from my mother, but I rather think that it was her spirit in me that recognized in him the leader of those causes dear as life itself.