EXERCISE 165 



games and sports. Even after completing his college 

 course, he spent many months on a Western ranch, 

 where a large part of the day was passed in the saddle. 



" What a waste of valuable months for a college 

 graduate! 77 one might say at first thought. But let 

 us see what kind of an investment it was. Persistence 

 in out-of-door games during school and college life 

 laid the foundation for good health, while the ranching 

 experience developed iron muscles and a vigorous 

 constitution. As Assemblyman, Police Commissioner 

 of New York City, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, 

 Colonel of the Rough Riders, Governor of New York 

 State, Vice-President and President of the United 

 States, this rugged health has been most useful 

 capital. The hardships of war in the tropics, the 

 strenuous exertions of speech-making tours, the vast 

 responsibilities of the presidency, have all been under- 

 taken without shrinking and performed with preemi- 

 nent success. No task has been too irksome, no 

 undertaking too vast, for his buoyant mental and 

 physical life. 



What has given him this great capability for suc- 

 cessful achievement? No doubt the college training 

 has been of great value, but the underlying foundation 

 was the physical and mental reserve power stored up 

 during the years of devotion to active, out-of-door 

 life. Another valuable lesson that the life of our 

 universally beloved President teaches is that of the 

 benefit derived from regularly keeping up out-of-door 



