My Brother, Theodore RooseveltRobinson, Corinne Roosevelt
History
My Brother, Theodore Roosevelt
Robinson, Corinne Roosevelt
Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919
In the little note written on yellow, very minute writing-paper, headed
by a satisfied-looking cat, “Edie” expresses the wish that “Teedie”
could have been with her on a late picnic, and “Teedie,” I am equally
sure, wished for her presence at his eleventh-birthday festivities,
which were described by my sister Anna in a letter to our aunt, Mrs.
James King Grade. I quote a few lines from that letter, for again
its contents show the beautiful devotion of my father and mother and
sister to the delicate little boy--the devotion which always put their
own wishes or arrangements aside when the terrible attacks of asthma
came, for those attacks seemed to make them feel that no plan was
too definite or important to change at once should “Teedie’s” health
require it. My sister writes, the letter being dated from Brussels,
October 30, 1869:
“Last Thursday was dear little Teedie’s birthday; he was eleven years
old. We all determined to lay ourselves out on that occasion, for
we all feared that he would be homesick,--for he is a great little
home-boy. It passed off very nicely indeed. We had to leave Berlin
suddenly the night before, for ‘Teedie’ was not very well; so we left
Berlin on Wednesday night at eight o’clock and arrived at Cologne on
Thursday morning about nine. You can imagine it was a very long trip
for the three little children, although they really bore it better
than we three older ones. [She one of the older ones at fourteen and
a half!] It was a bitterly cold night and snowed almost all the time.
Think of a snow storm on the night of the 27th of October! Teedie was
delighted at having had a snow storm on his birthday morning, for he
had never had _that_ before. When we reached Cologne we went to the
same hotel, and had the same nice rooms which we had had on our former
stay there, and that of course made us feel very much more at home.
Teedie ordered the breakfast, and they all had ‘real tea’ as a very
great treat, and then Teedie ordered the dinner, at which we were all
requested to appear in full dress; so Mamma came in her beautiful white
silk dinner dress, and Papa in dress coat and light kid gloves. I was
very cold, so only wore silk. After Teedie’s dinner Papa brought in all
his presents. They, Mamma and Papa, gave each of the three, writing
desks marked with their names and filled with all the conveniences.
Then Teedie received a number of smaller presents as well.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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