CAMPING WITH THE PRESIDENT 45 



hear his voice, and the cheers and laughter of the 

 crowd. And then we heard him say, "Well, good-by, 

 I must go now." Still he did not come. Then we heard 

 more talking and laughing, and another "good-by," 

 and yet he did not come. Then I went out to see what 

 had happened. I found the President down on the 

 ground shaking hands with the whole lot of them. 

 Some one had reached up to shake his hand as he 

 was about withdrawing, and this had been followed by 

 such eagerness on the part of the rest of the people 

 to do likewise, that the President had instantly got 

 down to gratify them. Had the secret service men 

 known it, they would have been in a pickle. We prob- 

 ably have never had a President who responded more 

 freely and heartily to the popular liking for him than 

 Roosevelt. The crowd always seem to be in love with 

 him the moment they see him and hear his voice. And 

 it is not by reason of any arts of eloquence, or charm 

 of address, but by reason of his inborn heartiness and 

 sincerity, and his genuine manliness. The people feel 

 his quality at once. In Bermuda last winter I met a 

 Catholic priest who had sat on the platform at some 

 place in New England very near the President while 

 he was speaking, and who said, "The man had not 

 spoken three minutes before I loved him, and had 

 any one tried to molest him, I could have torn him to 

 pieces." It is the quality in the man that instantly in- 

 spires such a liking as this in strangers that will, I am 

 sure, safeguard him in all public places. 



I once heard him say that he did not like to be ad- 

 dressed as "His Excellency;" he added laughingly, 

 "They might just as well call me His Transparency, 

 for all I care." It is this transparency, this direct, 



