Letters to His Children | Page 3

going over the letters and planning this volume, which is
arranged as he wished it to be: "I would rather have this book published
than anything that has ever been written about me."

THE LETTERS

IN THE SPANISH WAR
At the outbreak of the war with Spain in the spring of 1898 Theodore
Roosevelt, who was then Assistant Secretary of the Navy, in
association with Leonard Wood, organized the Regiment of Rough
Riders and went into camp with them at Tampa, Florida. Later he went
with his regiment to Cuba.
Camp at Tampa, May 6th, '98.
BLESSED BUNNIES,
It has been a real holiday to have darling mother here. Yesterday I
brought her out to the camp, and she saw it all--the men drilling, the
tents in long company streets, the horses being taken to water, my little
horse Texas, the colonel and the majors, and finally the mountain lion
and the jolly little dog Cuba, who had several fights while she looked
on. The mountain lion is not much more than a kitten as yet, but it is
very cross and treacherous.
I was very much interested in Kermit's and Ethel's letters to-day.
We were all, horses and men, four days and four nights on the cars
coming here from San Antonio, and were very tired and very dirty
when we arrived. I was up almost all of each night, for it happened
always to be at night when we took the horses out of the cars to feed
and water them.

Mother stays at a big hotel about a mile from camp. There are nearly
thirty thousand troops here now, besides the sailors from the war- ships
in the bay. At night the corridors and piazzas are thronged with officers
of the army and navy; the older ones fought in the great Civil War, a
third of a century ago, and now they are all going to Cuba to war
against the Spaniards. Most of them are in blue, but our rough-riders
are in brown. Our camp is on a great flat, on sandy soil without a tree,
though round about are pines and palmettos. It is very hot, indeed, but
there are no mosquitoes. Marshall is very well, and he takes care of my
things and of the two horses. A general was out to inspect us when we
were drilling to-day.
Off Santiago, 1898.
DARLING ETHEL:
We are near shore now and everything is in a bustle, for we may have
to disembark to-night, and I do not know when I shall have another
chance to write to my three blessed children, whose little notes please
me so. This is only a line to tell you all how much father loves you. The
Pawnee Indian drew you the picture of the little dog, which runs
everywhere round the ship, and now and then howls a little when the
band plays.
Near Santiago, May 20, 1898.
DARLING ETHEL:
I loved your little letter. Here there are lots of funny little lizards that
run about in the dusty roads very fast, and then stand still with their
heads up. Beautiful red cardinal birds and tanagers flit about in the
woods, and the flowers are lovely. But you never saw such dust.
Sometimes I lie on the ground outside and sometimes in the tent. I have
a mosquito net because there are so many mosquitoes.
Camp near Santiago, July 15, 1898.
DARLING ETHEL:

When it rains here--and it's very apt to rain here every day--it comes
down just as if it was a torrent of water. The other night I hung up my
hammock in my tent and in the middle of the night there was a terrific
storm, and my tent and hammock came down with a run. The water
was running over the ground in a sheet, and the mud was knee- deep; so
I was a drenched and muddy object when I got to a neighboring tent,
where I was given a blanket, in which I rolled up and went to sleep.
There is a funny little lizard that comes into my tent and is quite tame
now; he jumps about like a little frog and puffs his throat out. There are
ground-doves no bigger than big sparrows, and cuckoos almost as large
as crows.

YOUTHFUL BIBLE COMMENTATORS
(To Miss Emily T. Carow)
Oyster Bay, Dec. 8, 1900.
The other day I listened to a most amusing dialogue at the Bible lesson
between Kermit and Ethel. The subject was Joseph, and just before
reading it they had been reading Quentin's book containing the
adventures of the Gollywogs. Joseph's conduct in repeating his dream
to his brothers, whom it was certain to irritate, had struck both of the
children unfavorably, as conflicting both with the laws