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the "Philadelphia Record." lie remained with this paper for several years, contributing also to New York journals. He then accepted a position in a New York brokerage and forwarding house, and soon established his own firm. He has made a special study of economic questions, particularly of the currency and of the tariff. By request he contributed a paper to the currency commission sitting in Washington. During the war with Spain he wrote much verse on war incidents, and his "llobson of Santiago," -Victor Blue," "McElrath of Malate," and others were widely copied. His patriotic poems af>peared under the title " The Men behind the Guns" {Boston, 1898).

ROOSEVELT, Blanche, author and singer, b. in Sandusky, Ohio. 2 Oct., 1856 ; d. in London, 10 Sept., 1898. She was a daugliter of William H. Tucker, of Virginia, and was educated in her na- tive state. She made her first appearance in opera at Covent Garden, London, in "La Traviata," 23 April, 1876. She sang a few years later in various light operas, and made a success as Mabel, in " The Pirates of Penzance," at the Fifth avenue theatre, when that work was first produced in this coun- try. She left the stage because of the wish of her husband. Count Machetta, and also because her voice, though sweet and of excellent quality, was not strong enough for grand opera, adopting lit- erature as her profession. She wrote a life of Gustav Dore, for which she received a decoration from the French academy. Her work entitled " Verdi, Milan, and Othello " secured her European recognition as an author, and she became the friend and correspondent of Browning, Longfel- low, and Lord Lytton. Her chief fame was as a writer on musical subjects. Miss Roosevelt (her pen and stage name) published " Home Life of Henrv W. Longfellow "(New York, 1882) ; " Marked ' In Ilaste ' : A Story of To-day " (1883) : " Stage- Struck ; or, She would be an Opera Singer " (1884) ; " Life and Reminiscences of Gustav Dore " (Lon- don, 1885); "Copper Queen: A Novel" (1886); "Verdi, Milan, and Othello" (1887); "Hazel Fane" and "Elizabeth of Roumania" (Philadel- phia, 1891) ; and " Familiar Faces " (New York, 1895). Several of Miss Roosevelt's works were translated into French, Italian, and Swedish.

ROOSEVELT, Theodore, governor, b. in New York city, 27 Oct., 1858. Eight generations of his father's family have lived in New York. From to the pres- ent the name has always been found in contemporary records ; it has fig- ured prominently in the business, social, and politi- cal affairs of the city, while mem- bers of the family have taken active parts in all the wars of the coun- try from the Revolution to the Spanish war. Of mingled Dutch,

Scotch, Irish, and

French Huguenot ancestry, Theodore Roosevelt was born iu a home of wealth, but not to a life of idleness. He was brought up with the constant injunction to be active and industrious. He was a delicate boy, and so his first business in life was to make himself strong and well. By the time he entered Harvard he was able to take part in all kinds of sports, and, while he never greatly ex- celled in college athletics, yet he bore his part well, and was graduated in 1880 with a sound body and well-trained mind. On leaving college he be- gan the study of law. In the fall of 1881 he was elected to the assembly from the 21st district of New York, and was three times re-elected, serving in the legislatures of 1883, 1884, and 1885. While chairman of the committee on cities he introduced reform legislation which has proved beneficial to the people of New York. One of his measures was the act taking from the board of aldermen power to confirm or reject the appointments of the mayor. He was chairman of the legislative investigating committee which bore his name, and which re- vealed many of the abuses then existing in the city government. In 1886 Mr. Roosevelt was the Republican candidate for mayor against Abram S. Hewitt, United Democracy. Mr. Hewitt was elected by about twenty-two thousand plurality. Later he was appointed a Republican member of the tr. S. civil service commission by President Cleveland in his first administration. His ability and honesty in the administration of the affairs of that office strengthened his hold on popular re- gard. He continued in that office until 1 May, 1895, when he resigned to accept the office of po- lice commissioner from Mayor Strong. He found the administration of affairs in a demoralized con- dition, but the same energetic methods that had characterized all his work, the same uncompromis- ing honesty that is his most prominent character- istic, when applied to police affairs, soon brought the administration of the department to a high de- gree of efficiency. Prom the New York office he was called by President McKinlcy, on 16 April, 1897, to be assistant secretary of the navy. There again his energy and quick mastery of detail contrib- uted much to the successful administration of the department and the preparation of the navy for the brilliant feats which soon followed. When war was declared with Spain, Mr. Roosevelt could not think of remaining in the quiet of a govern- ment office. On leaving college he immediately went abroad, not to take the usual European trip, but to climb the peaks of the Alps. On returning he has spent every summer in hunting and on his Dakota ranch. There he learned to know cow- boys, not simply as picturesque objects, but as cour- ageous men, strong to bear the hardships of war- fare. From such men the famous Rough Riders were chiefly recruited. Four years' membership in the 8th regiment of the New 'i'ork state National guard, to which he belonged from 1884 to 1888, and in which he was for a time a captain, fur- nished at least a basis for his military career. But more than all else that induced him to go to the front were his devotion to the cause for which the war was fought and his love for an active life. These same reasons drew to him scores of young men of prominent families from all parts of the country, who joined the western cavalrymen to go and fight the Spaniards. The regiment thus formed was known as Roosevelt's Rough Riders, although it was commanded by Col. Wood, of the regular army. Col. Roosevelt being second in com- nuuiil, with the rank, until promoted, of lieuten- ant-colonel. At the head of his Rough Riders he pressed up the hill at Guasimas. 24 June, leading his men to victory. The war with Spain at an end. he returned in August with his regiment, which was soon after mustered out. Receiving the Republican nomination for governor of New York, he entered into the canvass in a characteristic