Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 38, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 February 1906 — FROM CRADLE TO ALTAR. [ARTICLE]

FROM CRADLE TO ALTAR.

Bern JLnder 'Sad the Bride'x Girlhood Wa» Happy. ? Si. Valentine's day. in 1834. was the saddest day in the. life'of Theodore Roosevelt. v That day the death angel descended upon the old-fashioned, roomy home at 6 West Fifty-seventh street,. New York, to which he had bitt a short while before brought his bride. A|ice Hathaway ILee of Boston, and where Tire couple had dwelt in happiness With his mother, Marika Bullock Roosevelt. He was then a member of the Legislature, but had been required to spend much of his time at home, on account of his mother’s limeys and because, Feb. 11, of the same year, a little-girl had been born into the family whom he named Alice Lee,. It was a pathetic entrance into life—that of this world-loved bride of to-day. When she was three days old the crepe on the door was the symbol that death had claimed both the lovely" young mother from the North and the soft-voiced grandmother from the South. On the IGth of February the two bodies were carried from the same chnrch to the same cemetery and laid side by side in the same lot. Fighting against the despair which seized upon his soul, Assemblyman Roosevelt returned to his cheerless home. The motherless babe he confided to the care of a sister, now ;he wife of 'Commander W. S. Cowl.of the United States navy, and he fled ffom the scene of his heart-break-_ing experiences to the ranch of the Maltese Cross, in Dakota. Every American who can read knows the history of the Roosevelts from that time on. After three years, the widowed father married Miss Edith Carew, a friend of his childhood. Her attachment to the child instantly followed the first acquaintance and as the years have ripened this, the rejationship has become as close, the sympathy and affection as tender and sincere as that between a natural mother and her child, and the pn«e of the mistress of- the White House in the fair, slender girl with whom th» whole world is in love could not be greater had the love-light which first greeted the baby Alice shone in her own eyes. She helped the father to make the girl's childhood an ideally happy, one. The girlhood days of Miss Alice we re divided- between Oyster Bay, New York City, Waslcington and - She-:was . 14 when her father went to the Spanish war. She was not quite 15 when the family took possession of the executive mansion at Albany and but a little past 17 when her father became Vice President. She was preparing to make her debut in the Bellamy Storer mansion at IN’ashing.top, yvh£n the assassination of President -McixTßrtey—clnmged all the family plans. It was several months after entering the White House that the eyes of the country began to catch glimpses of this charming young occupant of the presidential home. Hitherto she had attracted no attention, but as the daughter of an exceptionally popular President she soon became an object of more than ordinary interest. Early in January, 1002, she made her debut to society at a ball in the East room, where she stood Saturday as a bride. Four years have transformed the. slim, unconventional debutante into the selfpossessed, self-reliant and well-poised bride at whose marriage altar the nations of the earth have laid their gifts. The great series of events of Miss Roosevelt's life came in the tour of the Orient last summer, with Secretary Taft and his parti’ and chaperoned by some of the foremost matrons of the country. The triumphal pageant began at San Francisco, where Representative Longworth joined the party. At Manila she received a royal welcome and clad in a viceregal gown was hailed as Princess Alice. She had a private audience with the Dowager Empress of China and the people of Japan called her the American princess and printed postal cards in her honor. The Sultan, of Sulu, lineal descendant of Mohammed, asked her to marry him.. Another asked the same privilege—whether upon the moonlit deck of the Manchuria or upon the beautiful inland sea of Japan, or amid the palms of the Moro country, or as they sat among the cherry blossoms and lotus buds of the .Mikado's gardens, only they know. The answer to the proposal of the young man from Cincinnati, who was the son of her father's friend, was an aye. The formal announcement of the engagement was withheld until the President made it at the White House Besides the tours alcove outlined, Miss Roosevelt has visited Cuba and Porto Rico and there, as elsewhere, the people thronged io meet her. WEALTH, BRAINS, CHARACTER. CoiiKrexMinaii l.oiißxvort h an Able anil Fortunnte Mun. Nicholas Longworth, Representative in Congress of the First Ohio District, is fifteen years Miss Roosevelt’s senior. He is the great-grandson of that Nicholas Longworth who, landing in Cincinnati in 1804, when it was a little river town, opened a law office and for defending a man accused of stealing a horse received two copper whisky stills which he exchanged for 33 acres of land which acquired a value of Later 'he paid $1,500 for a cow pasture which acquired a value of $1,500,000 within his lifetime. When he died he paid more taxes than ally man in the country except the senior Astor, liis fortune being estimated at $15,000,000. This is the sum which Longworth will inherit, making him, within a few years, one of the wealthy men of the nation. He is a graduate of Harvard university, is fond of outdodr sports, is intensely interested in politics and ambitious to make a name for himself. He has no wish to be a financier and undoubtedly will devote himself to public life. Unlike his father in law. Mr. Longworth is no hunter. It is said he never killed a living thing in the chaMz He is a good horseman, plays an expert game of golf, boxes, fences and- indulges in hand-ball and tennis. He is one of the best swimmers in the country. Mr. Longworth's preliminary education was in lhe public schools of Cincinnati, where he was born. He received the degree of A. B. from Harvard in 1891, and later was admitted To the Cincinnati bar. did not can* to practice law. however, and found his time absorbed In looking after his estates and in meeting his business, social and political engagements. Mr. Ixmgworth’s first essay in public life was a failure. He was defeated ip his canvass for membership in the State Ijegislature in 1897, l»iit was not discouraged. He ran again in 1899 and gained a victory. He next was elected to the State Senate, and in 11XJ3 be waa sent to Congresa. -