MR. ROOSEVELT'S LIFE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15521, 31 January 1914, Page 4 (Supplement)

MR. ROOSEVELT'S LIFE.

.'- : - —; — ♦.. — . .*-..,* The ; publication. an , autobiography, by Mr./ Roosevelt, has led, an "English- critic tp ,ask **•«< Is Mr. .Roosevelt' a Stylist?" He answers by saying it 'is. probably '-the very-last' epithet anyone : would apply to him off-hand. ' But, 'if not, we seem to ?* n * : a 4erm, for the extraordinary ■•'com-; mand that .he possesses over language in its. plainer, forms' and. for the purpose' of conveying '■ strong impressions. -"' This" longstory {of hißjife'.'iß one of the most lucid and.'. persuasive volumes 'we have ever 'read- .. It. gives that .sense- of absolute identity ; between' theme and treatment that is the mark of the truly successful book .We feel-that any . other .way of Writing it would.have been 'wrong. It.-is informing, vivid, ' humorous, convincing, and "likeable.' True; that-its effects ■<*». .all{ within the range.of , every-dny : feeling and. diction, , there are' no .thrills, psychological ..refinements, or half-tones. Nothing, is 'demanded ,of Hthe reader ,but an intellige,nt interest in- public affairs and human character. 'But' for the purpose of letting the : world know Mr. Roosevelt as. Le wishes to be known nothing" better can be imagined. If;'- this is not style, it is'something that deserves a name of its own. - Mr. Roosevelt has already told his creed in."The Strenuous Life, and we v -were prepared for k the proofs offered 'in ,these pages that he is a. man ; of purpose and a man- of war The first duty of man being to'. do his ' own • share *. in improving the world, and the world ' being notoriously : recalcitrant to any such process, it fol- i lows that-the earnest -philanthropist must have hard knuckles. Mr. Roosevelt returns' to no text more- frequently than to the uselessriess of those who are. "soft." One must "Tove-righteousness more than peace" ; in. .to make sure of either, and this maxim he applies; both, to exter- . nal ■•. and internal. politics. We are,.told, how• he.s'ot himself in youth' to'build lip his\ 'own imperfect physique, add., he - has clearly a strong belief tost the physical Virtues' are • indispensable to. fructifying the rest. -Arid/ certainly it is' hard, to imagine that without, conditions of bodily fitness ■". the < author ' could have • passed through the many-; stirring phases- of his career »arid • survived ito describe it with the» zest - that < glows -in these, pages. [ : ■