We love him and we revere him. We are prouder of our citizenship
because he is our fellow citizen; and we feel that his life
and his writing, both alike, spur us steadily to fresh effort
toward high thinking and right living. To have written "The
Man Without a Country" by itself would be quite enough to
make all the nation his debtor. I belong to the innumerable
army of those who owe him much, and through you I wish him
Godspeed now.
Ever faithfully yours,
THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
I spoke as follows:
"If I try to say all that is in my heart to-night, I do not
know where to begin. If I try to say all that is in your
hearts, or in the hearts of his countrymen, I do not know
where to leave off. Yet I can only say what everybody here
is silently saying to himself. When one of your kindred
or neighbors comes to be eighty years old, after a useful and
honored life, especially if he be still in the vigor of manly
strength, his eye not dim or his natural force abated, his
children and his friends like to gather at his dwelling in his
honor, and tell him the story of their gratitude and love.
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