Roosevelt's political and public services were but a part of his many activities. He was a very prolific writer; beside innumerable ad dresses, magazine articles and occasional pub lications he wrote
Theodore Roosevelt was a man of extraor dinary powers and, to those who knew him well and understood him, a man of most at tractive character and qualities. Doubtless he was sometimes gravely misunderstood; his men tal processes were so abnormally rapid that he often seemed to act with little or no reflec tion, when he had, in fact, considered the ques tion at issue most thoroughly and conscien tiously, although, perhaps, in one-tenth of the time which would have been needed for the purpose by an ordinary man. Moreover th
strength of his convictions and the vivacity of his speech and manner confused and fright ened timid men or those who knew him but slightly, and led them to think of and describe , him as arbitrary and overbearing; he was, / in truth, somewhat exceptionally anxious for ' information, assistance and advice from those for whom he felt respect and in whom he had confidence; but only one who wasn't afraid of him could fairly judge or really like had the stern sense of duty, the lofty pur- pose and the strict morals of puritanism, with out any of its prudishness or pharisaism or intolerance, and, most emphatically, without any of its too common hypocrisy or affectation of virtue. He __detested falsehood in every form and sharps of every kind, and, throughout his long and stormy career as a public servant and a political leader, always fought fairly and t in the open, and was restrained by the instincts • of a gentleman and the scruples of a man of honor. It were needless to speak of his pa triotism or his courage,—the events of his life sufficiently attest these,— but it is the firm belief of the writer that his profound wisdom, the unselfishness of his devotion to duty and his immense usefulness to his country will be more clearly recognized and more highly es teemed by each successive generation of Amer icans in our national future.