on lasted. Here it was
that Theodore Roosevelt learned to ride on horseback and how to handle a
gun. And here, too, the boys would go boating, fishing, and bathing, to
their hearts' content.

Mr. Theodore Roosevelt the elder was a member of the Dutch Reformed
Church, and the religious teaching of his children was not neglected. At
an early age the future President became a member of that denomination
and has remained a member ever since. The church was on the East Side,
and had high-backed pews, and here were delivered sermons that were as
long as they were full of strength and wisdom. That these sermons had
their full effect upon the future President is shown by his addresses
delivered before the Young Men's Christian Association of New York City
and a church community of the West, years later. In addressing the
Young Men's Christian Association Mr. Roosevelt, who was then governor
of the State, said:--

"The vice of envy is not only dangerous, but also a mean vice, for it is
always a confession of inferiority. It may provoke conduct which will be
fruitful of wrong to others; and it must cause misery to the man who
feels it. It will not be any the less fruitful of wrong and misery if,
as is often the case with evil motives, it adopts some high-sounding
alias. The truth is, gentlemen, that each one of us has in him certain
passions and instincts which, if they gain the upper hand in his soul,
would mean that the wild beast had come uppermost in him. Envy, malice,
and hatred are such passions, and they are just as bad if directed
against a class or group of men as if directed against an individual."

Golden words, well worth remembering. A person who believes in them with
all his heart cannot go far wrong in his actions, no matter what his
station in life.

CHAPTER II

NICKNAMED TEDDY--GOES TO HARVARD COLLEGE--MEMBER OF MANY CLUBS--DEATH OF
MR. ROOSEVELT--ANECDOTES OF COLLEGE LIFE

The instincts of the hunter must have been born in Theodore Roosevelt.
His first gun was given to him when he was ten years of age, and for the
time being his books and his studies were forgotten, and he devoted his
whole time and attention to shooting at a target set up in the garden of
the country home and in going out with the older folks after such small
game as were to be found in that vicinity.

The horses on the place were his pets, and he knew the peculiarities of
each as well as did the man who cared for them. Riding a