"186 IN BRIGHTEST AFRICA 
onalion. I meant to make it symbolic of Roosevelt, 
of his strength, courage, fearlessness—of his kingly 
qualities in the old-fashioned sense. And this model- 
ling afforded me great comfort and relief. I worked 
on it day after day. Taxidermy, groups and bronzes, 
were all forgotten. While I was so engaged one day 
an old friend of mine, James Brite, an architect, called 
me on the telephone. I asked him if he wouldn’t 
come up and design a pedestal for the lion. He came 
up not only that day but many others. Neither of 
us knew just what we were going to do with it when it 
was finished. I had a vague idea of casting it, making 
one bronze for Mrs. Roosevelt, and destroying the 
model. 
We were still working when one day Archie Roose- 
velt came in. I showed the lion to him. 
“None of us want to see statues of Father,” he said. 
“They can’t make Father,” and as he put his arms 
about the pedestal of the lion, “but this is Father. 
Of course, you do not know it, but among ourselves 
we boys always called him the ‘Old Lion’ and when 
he died I cabled the others in France, ‘The Old Lion 
is dead.’”’ 
Other members of the Roosevelt family and friends 
of the Colonel came, and what they said encouraged 
us. I made one model after another, trying to blend 
the majesty of a real lion with the symbolism. Then 
one day when Mr. Brite and I were in the studio a 
man came in whom we had never seen before. After 
some desultory conversation he asked how large the 
lion was to be. We said we didn’t know. “How 
