THEODORE ROOSEVELT, THE TYPICAL AMERICAN [Sidenote: =Of Dutch descent=] =185. Theodore Roosevelt as a Boy.= Although the son of a rich man, Roosevelt both as boy and man was most democratic. One of his forefathers, Klaes Martensen van Roosevelt, came from Holland to New York in the steerage of a sailing vessel, a most lowly way to travel. This was long ago, before Peter Stuyvesant was governor of New Netherland, as New York colony was then called. Young Roosevelt had learned a few words of an old Dutch baby-song. When in South Africa, he pleased the Dutch settlers by repeating the few words he still remembered. The settlers still teach this song to their children, though their forefathers left Holland for that country more than two hundred and fifty years ago. [Illustration: THEODORE ROOSEVELT _From a photograph by Bell_] Roosevelt's mother was a charming southern woman, who was true to the South in the Civil War; her brothers were in the Confederate Navy. One night, as she was putting the children to bed, Theodore broke out into a rather loud prayer for the Union soldiers. The mother only smiled. [Sidenote: =Absence of sectional bitterness=] The father stood for the Union and for Lincoln. He helped fit out regiments and cared for the widow and the orphan. But there was no quarreling in this home over these differences. What a fine example to set before children! No wonder Roosevelt could refer with pride, when a man, to the heroic deeds of the Blue and the Gray. [Sidenote: =What the Roosevelt children did=] Theodore was a sickly boy. Hence he was sent to a private school or had a tutor. The children spent their summers among the delights of a country home. They had all sorts of frolicsome games. They had pets: cats, dogs, rabbits, woodchucks, crows, and a Shetland pony. They ran barefoot and joined their elders in playing at haying, harvesting, and picking apples. In the fall they climbed the hickory and the chestnut trees in search of nuts. Sometimes they played "Indians," in real fashion, by painting hands and faces with pokeberry juice! But the children thought that by far the happiest time was Christmas. Roosevelt declares that he never knew another family to have so jolly a time at that season of the year. [Sidenote: =Praises father as model man=] Roosevelt makes a statement I wish every boy could make: "My father was the best man I ever knew." Roosevelt, the father, did not permit his children to become selfish. Each was taught to divide his gifts--not always an easy thing for older folks to do. In this home the children were taught to avoid being cruel and to practice kindness. Idleness was forbidden. The children were kept busy doing interesting things. Neither was young Roosevelt permitted to play the coward. He was taught to face unpleasant things like a man. His father could never stand a lie, even if it were only a "white" one. There was no room in that home for the coward or the bully.