"
The din started again.
"No, no, gentlemen," shouted the Colonel. "I want to withdraw. It is
my earnest wish. It is my absolute determination."
But the caucus seemed equally determined. "We want Teddy!" "We're
going to have Teddy!" "You got this thing going, you ought to run it."
Colonel Roosevelt paced up and down the stage, trying his best to
silence them. Then, during the din, one by one some of his oldest
friends went to him and begged him to accede to the crowd's wish.
"Take it Ted," they urged. "Take it." That underslung jaw of the young
Colonel's became rigid.
"I won't do it. I can't do it," he answered.
Then someone managed to make a motion that the nomination of Colonel
Roosevelt be made unanimous. It was seconded and made extremely
_unanimous_.
[Illustration: Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.]
[Illustration: Group on the Stage at St. Louis Caucus]
"Then, gentlemen, I accept and I resign," Colonel Roosevelt said. "I
want quiet for a moment here on this situation. This is something that
I have thought about and have given my most earnest consideration. I
am positive I am right on it. We must not have creep into this
situation, in which we all believe from the bottom of our hearts, the
slightest suspicion in the country at large.
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