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Home  »  Theodore Roosevelt, the Citizen  »  Page 149

Jacob A. Riis (1849–1914). Theodore Roosevelt, the Citizen. 1904.

Page 149

Board, “I have heard this thing, and I am told you said it. You know, of course, that it is a lie. I shall send at once for the man who says he heard you tell it, so that you may meet him; because you know if you did say it we cannot have you around here any more.” The man got out at once and never came back while Roosevelt was there.
  It was all as simple as that, perfectly open and aboveboard, and I think he was buncoed less than any of his “wise” predecessors. There was that in his trust in uncorrupted human nature that brought out a like response. There always is, thank heaven! You get what you give in trust and affection. The man who trusts no one has his faith justified; no one will trust him, and he will find plenty to try their wits upon him. Once in a while Roosevelt’s sympathies betrayed him, but not to his discredit. They laugh yet in the section-rooms at the police stations over the trick played upon him by a patrolman whose many peccadilloes had brought him at last to the “jumping-off place.” This time he was to be dismissed. The President said so; there was no mercy. But the policeman had “piped him off.” He knew