My Brother, Theodore RooseveltRobinson, Corinne Roosevelt
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My Brother, Theodore Roosevelt
Robinson, Corinne Roosevelt
Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919
Robert Frost, who was with us that afternoon, had shortly before
published a remarkable poem called “Servant to Servants,” which
had attracted my brother’s attention, and of which he spoke with
keen interest to the author. Nothing distressed him more than the
realization of the hard work performed by the farmer’s wife almost
everywhere in our country, and in this poem of Mr. Frost’s that
situation was painted with his forceful pen.
This remarkable memory of my brother’s was shown not only that
afternoon amongst the poets, but shortly afterward by an incident in
connection with an afternoon at the Three Arts Club, where he also
generously consented to spend an hour amongst the young girls who had
come from various places in our broad country to study one of the three
arts--drama, music, or painting--in our great metropolis. My friend
Mrs. John Henry Hammond, the able president of the Three Arts Club,
was anxious that he should meet her protégées and mine, for I was a
manager of the club. I remember we lined the girls up in a row and
had them pass in front of him in single file--several hundred young
girls. Each was to have a shake of the hand and a special word from
the ex-President, but none was supposed to pause more than a moment,
as his time was limited. About fifty or sixty girls had already passed
in front of him and received a cordial greeting, when a very pretty
student, having received her greeting, paused a little longer and,
looking straight at him, said: “Colonel Roosevelt, don’t you remember
me?” This half-laughingly--evidently having been dared to ask the
question. Holding her hand and gazing earnestly at her, he paused a
moment or two and then, with a brilliant flashing smile, said: “Of
course I do. You were the little girl, seven years ago, on a white
bucking pony at El Paso, Texas, where I went down to a reunion of my
Rough Riders. I remember your little pony almost fell backward into the
carriage when it reared at the noise of the band.” There never was a
more surprised girl than the one in question, for seven years had made
a big difference in the child of twelve, the rider of the bucking white
pony, and it had really not occurred to her that he could possibly
remember the incident, but remember it he did, and one very happy heart
was carried away that day from the Three Arts Club.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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