104 The Fundamentals factions, even by warring nations, to arbitrate. It is self- evident that we have here simply the personification of prominent character traits of the American people at vari- ous stages of their historical development. They loved to hunt, to ride, to war; reaching a higher stage of civilization, they turned to studying, writing books, making peace; and all these contradictory traits were, in course of time, used to draw the picture of this legendary national hero. Some mythological features have not yet been fully cleared up; for instance, that he is often represented in the shape of a bear or accompanied by bears. For a while these “Teddy Bears” were in nearly every house, and it seems as if they even were worshipped, at least by the children. There is no doubt that some remote astral conception lies at the root of this rather puzzling feature. But two reasons are conclusive to establish the legendary thesis:' (1) The American nation, at the beginning of the twentieth century, had hardly emerged from the crudity of fetichism and witchcraft. Many traces of fortune-telling, charms, sorcery, and. other forms of superstition can be found by studying the daily papers. Even this hero Roosevelt was given to some such superstition. Whenever he desired to bring any one under his spell and charm him, he took him by the hand and pronounced a certain magical word. As far as I can discover it spells something like “dee-lighted.” (2) The other conclusive proof is the name. Theodore is taken from the language of a people representing the south- ern part of Europe and means “Gift of God;” Roosevelt is taken from the language of a people representing the northern part of Europe, and means “Field of Roses.” The idea is evident. This hero personifies the union of the two Euro- pean races which laid the foundations of early American civ- ilization—the Romanic and the Teutonic races; and the Americans imagined that a man who united in himself all those wonderful traits of character must necessarily be a
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