he birds, hunted coon, gathered
walnuts, and fished in pools for minnows. But even with all these
outdoor pastimes he was far from well. Often he had choking spells of
asthma at night. Then his father would hitch a team of horses, wrap
his little invalid boy up warmly, and, taking him in his arms, drive
fifteen or twenty miles in the darkness. This was the only way he
could get his breath.

Twice his father and mother took him to Europe in the hope of
improving his health. A playmate remembers him as "a tall, thin lad
with bright eyes, and legs like pipe-stems." He was not able to go to
school regularly, so missed the fun of being with other boys. Most of
his studying was done at home under private teachers, and in this way
he prepared for college.

Theodore Roosevelt spent four years at Harvard University and was
graduated in 1880. It had been his aim to develop good health and a
strong body, as well as to succeed in his studies. This was a
struggle, but he won the fight, and, in speaking of himself at the
time of his leaving college, he says: "I determined to be strong and
well and did everything to make myself so. By the time I entered
Harvard, I was able to take part in whatever sports I liked. I
wrestled and sparred, and I ran a great deal, and, although I never
came in first, I got more out of the exercise than those who did,
because I immensely enjoyed it and never injured myself."

Some time after leaving college, the frontier life of the Wild West
called him. The lonely and pathless plains thrilled him, and he became
a ranchman. His new home was a log house called Elkhorn Ranch in North
Dakota. Here he raised his own chickens, grew his own vegetables, and
got fresh meat with his gun. He bought cattle until he had thousands
of head, all bearing the brand of a Maltese Cross. No fences confined
these cattle, and sometimes they would wander for hundreds of miles.
Twice a year it was the custom to round up all the Maltese herds for
the purpose of branding the calves and "cutting out" the cattle which
were fat enough to be shipped to market.

On these round-ups, Theodore Roosevelt did his share of the work.
Often this meant he rode fifty miles in the morning before finding the
cattle. By noon he and his cowboys would have driven many herds into
one big herd moving towards a wagon that had come out from the ranch.
This wagon brought food for the men, and Mr. Roosevelt has remarked,
"No meals ever tasted better th