"My father," says the President, "was the best man I ever knew....
He never physically punished me but once, but he was the only man
of whom I was ever really afraid." The elder Roosevelt was a
merchant, a man courageous and gentle, fond of horses and country
life. He worked hard at his business, for the Sanitary Commission
during the Civil War, and for the poor and unfortunate of his own
city, so hard that he wore himself out and died at forty-six. The
President's mother was Martha Bulloch from Georgia. Two of her
brothers were in the Confederate Navy, so while the Civil War was
going on, and Theodore Roosevelt was a little boy, his family like
so many other American families, had in it those who wished well
for the South, and those who hoped for the success of the North.
Many American Presidents have been poor when they were boys. They
have had to work hard, to make a way for themselves, and the same
strength and courage with which they did this has later helped to
bring them into the White House. It has seemed as if there were
magic connected with being born in a log-cabin, or having to work
hard to get an education, so that only the boys who did this could
become famous. Of course it is what is in the boy himself,
together with the effect his life has had on him, that counts. The
boy whose family is rich, or even well-off, has something to
struggle against, too.
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