ROOSEVELT'S BIRTH AND EDUCATION. 51 



many fisTi each of us can land up here. The one who catches the 

 most fish wins.' 



" The rest of us lay down flat on our stomachs," Mr. Crom- 

 well says, in continuation of his narrative, " and made believe to 

 swim ; and Theodore, standing above us on the coiled cable, threw 

 down one end of his line — a thin but strong rope. If I remember 

 correctly, my brother was the first fish to grasp the line — and then 

 commenced a mighty struggle. It seemed to be much easier for 

 the fish to pull the fisherman down than for the fisherman to haul 

 up the dead weight of a pretty heavy boy lying flat on the deck 

 below him — and I tell you it was a pretty hard struggle. My 

 brother held on to the line with both hands and wrapped his legs 

 around it, grapevine fashion. Theodore braced his feet on the 

 coiled cable, stiffened his back, shut his teeth hard, and wound his 

 end of the line around his waist. At first he tried by sheer mus- 

 cle to pull the fish up — but he soon found it was hard work to lift 

 up a boy about as heavy as himself. 



THE FISH CAUGHT BY STRATEGY. 



"Then another bright idea struck him. He pulled less and 

 less, and at last ceased tryiug to pull at all. Of course the fish 

 thought the firshermau was tired out, and he commenced to pull, 

 hoping to get Theodore down on deck. He didn't succeed at first, 

 and pulled all the harder. He rolled over on his back, then on 

 his side, then sat up, all the time pulling and twisting and yanking 

 at the line in every possible way; and that was just what Theodore 

 hoped the fish would do. You see, all this time, while my brother 

 was using his strength, Theodore simply stood still, braced like 

 steel, and let him tire himself out. 



"Before very long the fish was so out of breath that he couldn't 

 pull any longer. Besides, the thin rope had cut his hands and 

 made them sore. Then the fisherman commenced slowly and 

 steadily to pull on the line, and in a very few minutes he had my 

 brother hauled up alongside of him on the coil of cable." 



The elder Roosevelt was a firm believer in hard work, and 

 made this a part of the science he knew so well — the science of 



