Introduction xv 



velt's character and career. He is indeed a many- 

 sided and versatile man, but there is nothing mu 

 tually contradictory about the different phases of 

 his nature or of his past undertakings. His vital 

 Americanism is shown equally in his historical 

 studies of the pioneer movement that built up 

 our great West and in his accounts of ranching 

 life and his studies of the big game of America. 

 In his varied literary work, as in his other ef 

 forts and activities, there is little or nothing of 

 an incidental or dilettante nature ; all of it is -the 

 frank expression of the man himself. The book 

 on the War of 1812 was written when he was still 

 very young. It might well have proved to be the 

 merely boyish effort of a young man who had said 

 to himself, "Lo, I will go to work and write a book!" 

 But, on the contrary, it was in fact the outgrowth of 

 vital interest and of strong conviction regarding his 

 subject; and so the book lives and will continue to 

 live. Thus all of his work for about a quarter of a 

 century, whether literary in its character or active 

 and official, has been done in the same direct, 

 straightforward way as simply pertaining to the task 

 in hand ; and the task, whether great or small, has al 

 ways been deemed worthy of the whole vital energy 

 of the man. 



This collection opens with a paper which, strictly 

 speaking, has no place here. It is an essay on the 

 Presidency written for a family paper, the "Youth's 



