Autobiographical.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVII, Issue 88, 13 December 1913, Page 5

Autobiographical.

* MR THEODORE ROOSEVELT. BRILLIANT VERSATILITY. [By Electric Telegkaph—Cofyiught] [United Phess Association.! (Received 8.0 a.m.) New Yo>k, December 12. Roosevelt's autobiography has been published by MacMillan's. It claims that Roosevelt was not endowed with any special aptitudes or excellencies, whoever he attained being due to conscious effort and deliberate determina-

tion. As a child, he was sickly, delicate. nervous, timid, and short-sighted, and he deliberately set himself to overcome these disabilities. He developed, too, a passionate love of natural history,, the adoration of fighting men, and In 1 forced himself to speak in public. He trained himself in courage and self control.

The book furnishes an interesting study of the gradual growth of his political convictions. His public life was always tempestuous. Once he got his way with a committee regarding a Bill before the New York Legislature by secreting a chair leg where he could easily, reach it, and producing it when the committee became unruly.

He comments on the terrible picture of corruption iri the public life of the United States, and the. bribery, coercion, cowardice, falsehood and inefficiency prevalent. A vivid chapter deals with the Spanish War, accompanied by documentary evidence which proves that his heroism at San Juan Hill was not a fabrication.

The book is filled with brilliant stories, giving a perfect idea of the extraordinary range of his versatility.