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Home  »  Theodore Roosevelt, the Citizen  »  Page 183

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

Page 183

common citizenship. They did it in a way that was a revelation to some who under other circumstances and in a different environment would have called them “dudes.” In the fight they were the coolest and in the camp frequently the handiest of the lot. One whose name is synonymous with exclusiveness in New York’s “smart set,” and who for bravery in the face of the enemy rose to command of his troop, achieved among his brother officers the reputation of being handiest at “washing up” after “grub,” when they had any. And it happened more than once on the long marches through the Cuban jungle, when “Roosevelt’s Rough-Riders,” compelled to campaign on foot, in humorous desperation had taken the more fitting title of “Wood’s Weary Walkers” to themselves, that some Eastern-bred man with normal manners of languid elegance was able to relieve his hardier Western neighbor who had never walked five miles on foot in his life. When at the end of the march the college chap came trudging up cheerfully carrying two packs beside his own and ready for the chores of camp that his tired comrade might rest, a gap was closed then and there in our national