Letters to His Children | Page 4

of common-
sense and with the advice given them by their parents as to the proper
method of dealing with their own brothers and sisters. Kermit said:
"Well, I think that was very foolish of Joseph." Ethel chimed in with
"So do I, very foolish, and I do not understand how he could have done
it." Then, after a pause, Kermit added thoughtfully by way of
explanation: "Well, I guess he was simple, like Jane in the Gollywogs":
and Ethel nodded gravely in confirmation.
It is very cunning to see Kermit and Archie go to the Cove school
together. They also come down and chop with me, Archie being armed
with a hatchet blunt enough to be suitable for his six years. He is a most

industrious small chopper, and the other day gnawed down, or as the
children call it, "beavered" down, a misshapen tulip tree, which was
about fifty feet high.

FINE NAMES FOR GUINEA PIGS
(To E. S. Martin)
Oyster Bay, Nov. 22, 1900.
Mrs. Roosevelt and I were more touched than I can well say at your
sending us your book with its characteristic insertion and above all with
the little extract from your boy's note about Ted. In what Form is your
boy? As you have laid yourself open, I shall tell you that Ted sings in
the choir and is captain of his dormitory football team. He was awfully
homesick at first, but now he has won his place in his own little world
and he is all right. In his last letter to his mother in response to a
question about his clothes he answered that they were in good
condition, excepting "that one pair of pants was split up the middle and
one jacket had lost a sleeve in a scuffle, and in another pair of pants he
had sat down in a jam pie at a cellar spread." We have both missed him
greatly in spite of the fact that we have five remaining. Did I ever tell
you about my second small boy's names for his Guinea pigs? They
included Bishop Doane; Dr. Johnson, my Dutch Reformed pastor;
Father G. Grady, the local priest with whom the children had scraped a
speaking acquaintance; Fighting Bob Evans, and Admiral Dewey.
Some of my Republican supporters in West Virginia have just sent me
a small bear which the children of their own accord christened Jonathan
Edwards, partly out of compliment to their mother's ancestor, and
partly because they thought they detected Calvinistic traits in the bear's
character.

A COUGAR AND LYNX HUNT
Keystone Ranch, Colo., Jan. 14th, 1901.

BLESSED TED,
From the railroad we drove fifty miles to the little frontier town of
Meeker. There we were met by the hunter Goff, a fine, quiet, hardy
fellow, who knows his business thoroughly. Next morning we started
on horseback, while our luggage went by wagon to Goff's ranch. We
started soon after sunrise, and made our way, hunting as we went,
across the high, exceedingly rugged hills, until sunset. We were
hunting cougar and lynx or, as they are called out here, "lion" and "cat."
The first cat we put up gave the dogs a two hours' chase, and got away
among some high cliffs. In the afternoon we put up another, and had a
very good hour's run, the dogs baying until the glens rang again to the
echoes, as they worked hither and thither through the ravines. We
walked our ponies up and down steep, rock-strewn, and tree-clad slopes,
where it did not seem possible a horse could climb, and on the level
places we got one or two smart gallops. At last the lynx went up a tree.
Then I saw a really funny sight. Seven hounds had been doing the
trailing, while a large brindled bloodhound and two half-breeds
between collie and bull stayed behind Goff, running so close to his
horse's heels that they continually bumped into them, which he
accepted with philosophic composure. Then the dogs proceeded
literally to /climb the tree/, which was a many-forked pinon; one of the
half- breeds, named Tony, got up certainly sixteen feet, until the lynx,
which looked like a huge and exceedingly malevolent pussy-cat, made
vicious dabs at him. I shot the lynx low, so as not to hurt his skin.
Yesterday we were in the saddle for ten hours. The dogs ran one lynx
down and killed it among the rocks after a vigorous scuffle. It was in a
hole and only two of them could get at it.
This morning, soon after starting out, we struck the cold trail of a
mountain lion. The hounds puzzled about for nearly two hours, going
up and down the great gorges, until we sometimes absolutely lost even
the sound of the