Roosevelt High School - Bwana Yearbook (St Louis, MO)

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BWENH ROOSEVELT S CHILDHOOD n N Theodore Roosevelt youth never d1ed Teedle as he was called lj was an rnterestxng and lmagrnatlve chlld Although he had ast ma 1 and suffered a great deal he was always full of energy and constantly entertalnmg hrs younger brother and s1ster by telhng them the most fascl natlng storles 'naklng them up as he went along They would be contxnued for weeks sometlmes months A thmk whxch meant a great deal to the life of Teedle and h1s brother and slsters was the most ardent devotron of the most lovlng father and moth er also that of thelr Aunt Anna Bullock who took much of the care of the chlldren as her responsmbxllty smce the mother was never very strong The mother was a southern glrl of the most dellghtful personality The father was from northern people energetlc charltable always cheerful and ready for fun after the day s work He was a wonderful companion to hrs chlldren Unfortunately he was called away to the C1V1l War but would not enl1st as a soldier because of the dlfference 1n the v1ews between hum and hrs wrfe This dliference m op1n1on made no dlfference 1n the devotlon of the young couple but made lt rather hard for them Several summers were spent by the Roosevelt family at Madlson New Jersey where the chxldren had wonderfully free out of door life Theodore Roosevelt ln later llfe carried out the prmclple w1th hrs chlldren that a free llfe for some period 1n the year dld a great deal to stlmulate the lmaglnatlon of the chlld At the age of mne and a half years whxle on a vlslt to Savannah Tee die wrote to hls famlly letters the vocabulary of whrch would scarcely be used by an average twelve year old chlld The other chlldren also wrote astomshmgly good letters whrch IS a proof of the tramlng they recelved from thelr cultured parents In a letter to h1s father Teedle wrrtes about the loss of one of hrs pet mlce One of my mxce got crushed It was the mouse I llked best though It was a common mouse Its name was Brownle It was characterxstxc of Roosevelt to show great frlendshrp for the common place thrngs He always enjoyed most hrs assoclatlon with the plam people to whom he gave hrs most loyal devotlon In May 1869 the famlly saxled for Europe much to the regret of the children who loved the summer months spent on the Hudson They were dreadfully homeslck rn Europe and longed to get back Teedre corre sponded with a little nelghbor frlend of his srsters Her name was Edlth Kermlt Carow Her letters always made hrm feel stlll more homeslck Llttle dld they then reahze that some day thls same Teedle would become Presx dent of the Unlted States and Ednth the mxstress of the Whlte House On Teedne s blrthday the famxly decided that they must do everythmg they could to dxstract hls attennon from has longxng for home The parents I nr s ' at - uv 1 U ' V ' !- . . A I... . ,Qt I . h .4. . p - 1-wurq .- v b , . ., . , . . . . H . ,, . n 1 H U 7 1 , . . . 9 , . ' ! , . ' ' . . . . . it s 9 . ,, . . , . s I ' ' sa - u ' ' 1 . . U . . . . ,, , . . J - V Y Q , . ' ' Cl ' ,Y . . . . . . , . . . . U . ,, . Ib ' Y 1? ' ' ' ' .U

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EUJEINE were ordered by the blrthday chlld to appear 1n full dress for the dmner party after whlch the presents were brought ln to each ch1ld was grven a wrxtmg desk wlth hls name on It Then Teedle was grven h1s presents Thls lllustrates how strong the famlly was 1n then' devotlon to each other The father and mother both were the closest compan1ons of thexr chxldren and always commanded thelr respect One beautxful day durlng the1r sojourn 1n Rome the chrldren were play mg leap frog on the Pmcxan H111 when word was bemg passed that the Pope was coming Teedle whlspered to the llttle group of American chlldren that he dldn t beheve 1n popes that no real Amer1can would and they all felt lt was due to the stars and strlpes that they should share hrs attltude of d1s tant dlsapproval Then the crowd parted and the lxttle chlldren cranmg thexr necks to catch a ghmpse of this queer person saw the Pope who was carrled m a sedan chaxr He seemg the eager faces of the chlldren leaned over hold1ng out hrs hand to them and Teedle who couldn t reslst the frlendly smlle of the k1ndly gray halred old gentleman came over knelt and k1SQ6d hrs hand Whlle spendlng a few weeks ln the Swlss Mountalns 1'eed1e showed hls pluck and endurance whlch was such a Stflklllg part of h1s character One day he had a severe attack of asthma and all nlght h1s mother sat by he was hlkmg wrth hrs brother H1s mother wr1tes Teedle and Elhe have walked today thxrteen mlles and are very proud of then' performance In deed Teedle has been further several txmes Although th1s year abroad was one filled W1th del1ghtfu1 memories happler chxldren could scarcely be found than those of the Roosevelt famlly when they arrrved home 1n the Sprmg of 1870 One day the mother called her eleven year old son to her s1de and sald Theodore you have the mmd but you have not the body and wlthout the help of the body the mmd cannot go as far as lt should You must make your body It IS hard drudgery to make ones body but I know you w1l1 do lt At thls the boy threw back h1s head and rephed I11 make my body From thls tlme on Theodore made a most lmportant promlse to hlmself whxch he carrled out and finally fulfilled so that when he was a man he had overcome the dreadful asthma The father ever ready w1th rdeas beneficial to the health and happ1ness of h1s chlldren changed one of the second story rooms of thexr home xnto an open air gymnasrum 1n whlch he mstalled every xmagmable swmg bar and seesaw Here It was that Teedxe started to strengthen hrs body In the Autumn of 1872 the Roosevelt fam1ly made another trlp to Europe agam to the regret of the chlldren After spendlng some tlrne 1n England they spent three months on the N11e where a great part of the txme was spent ln v1s1t1ng the pyramlds Elhot Teedxes younger brother writes Teedxe and I won t mmd the N1le very much now that we have Nil ' ' ' L! 1 I! ' . 1 , i , U. ' 1 . . . . . M . ,, . . Y 9 ' . H . ,, . . . . , . . I . . , 5 1 Y ' 7 9 . . A . ,, , . ' h - 9 ' l 1 v 1 1 . Q . . . . . ,, 7 , . his side telling him stories of when she was a girl. Yet two days later . . . i . . 1 ,, K , . 1 - ' 6 ' 0 ' Y! ' 7 - - . . ' G6 ' ' Y 7 , . . , . ' 77 ' ' ' ss 9 ' 9 7 9 ,, . . . . . , . 7 Y , . 5 A U - . L. . . . . . . V y . ,L . ,, . I , . . . . . . . . . . . . M . , ,, ' Y Y ' AA n ' ' Y ' ' , .