Joanna’s Reviews > Becoming Teddy Roosevelt: How a Maine Guide Inspired America's 26th President > Status Update

"Roosevelt turned to Sewall, put his hand affectionately on his shoulder, and asked him how he liked it all.
'Well,' said Sewall, 'I'm mighty glad to have come and seen it, and it'll give me something to talk about for all the rest of my life; but I'd rather go fishing for a steady thing.'
The president laughed heartily, then in a confidential whisper said, 'So would I; but for goodness sake don't say it'."

"As the men from Maine felled cottonwoods to be used for their log house, Roosevelt eagerly helped out....One night, after a day of felling, TR to his amusement overheard one of the local hands ask Dow how the cutting was going. 'Well, Bill cut down fifty-three,' Wilmot reported, 'I cut forty-nine, and the boss, the boss he beavered down seventeen.'"

Can't beat Maine lumberjacks with an ax! 🤣🤣

"Curiously, this was Sewall's first time on horseback - in Maine, folks didn't as much ride horses as use them to pull things - and TR found it a hoot. He wrote Bamie, 'They looked the pictures of dreary discomfort, Sewall remarking that his only previous experience in the equestrian line was when he 'rode logs'."

"Now doctor, I am going to do all the things that you have told me not to do, for if I had to live a life such as you have pictured to me, I wouldn't care how short my life was."

That's telling 'em! 🤣🤣

"It might also have been during this trip that Roosevelt asked Dave Sewall - as they navigated a particularly wet and rocky backwoods byway - how people in Aroostook County told the difference between roads and rivers. 'No beaver dams in the roads,' quipped Sewall." 😂

Roosevelt to his mother: "I have never seen a grander or more beautiful sight than the northern woods in winter. The evergreens laden with snow make the most beautiful contrast of green and white, and when it freezes after a rain all the trees look as though they were made of crystal. The snow underfoot being about three feet deep, and drifting to twice that depth in places, completely changes the aspect of things."

"Our Young Folks was filled with stories by Roosevelt favorites like Mayne Reid and many of the biggest writers of the day, from Harriet Beecher Stowe to Celia Thaxter to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Roosevelt later insisted he took its lessons of 'manliness, decency, and good conduct' more seriously than what he learned in school, long believing the periodical taught him 'much more than any of my textbooks.'"

"Sewell and Roosevelt found that despite their many differences, there were more than a few similarities in their lives....Both had a deep admiration for epic poems and adventure literature. Sewell was as much a fan of Sir Walter Scott and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow as Roosevelt was, and he was prone to lengthy recitations while he hunted (or even as he got dressed in the morning, for that matter)." 😃

"Swell and Roosevelt found that despite their many differences, there were more than a few similarities in their lives....Both had a deep admiration for epic poems and adventure literature. Sewell was as much a fan of Sir Walter Scott and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow as Roosevelt was, and he was prone to lengthy recitations while he hunted (or even as he got dressed in the morning, for that matter)." 😃