It started with a dead seal that he happened to find laid out on a
slab in a market in Broadway. He was still a small boy, but when
he heard that the seal had been killed in the harbor, it reminded
him of the adventures he had been reading about in Mayne Reid's
books. He went back to the market, day after day, to look at the
seal, to try to measure it and to plan to own it and preserve it.
He did get the skull, and with two cousins started what they gave
the grand name of the "Roosevelt Museum of Natural History"!
Catching and keeping specimens for this museum gave him more fun
than it gave to some of his family. His mother was not well
pleased when she found some young white mice in the ice-chest,
where the founder of the "Roosevelt Museum" was keeping them safe.
She quickly threw them away, and her son, in his indignation, said
that what hurt him about it was "the loss to Science! The loss to
Science!" Once, he and his cousin had been out in the country,
collecting specimens until all their pockets were full. Then two
toads came along,--such novel and attractive toads that room had
to be made for them. Each boy put one toad under his hat, and
started down the road. But a lady, a neighbor, met them, and when
the boys took off their hats, the toads did what any sensible
toads would do, hopped down and away, and so were never added to
the Museum.
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