in the open, and he knew the keen pleasure of books. So when he
returned to America after his marriage in 1886, he built a house
on Sagamore Hill at Oyster Bay on Long Island. Here he could ride,
shoot, row, look after his farm, and here in the next year or two
he wrote two books. One was the life of Gouverneur Morris,
American minister to France in the early years of our nation; the
other a life of Senator Thomas H. Benton of Missouri.

But he was not long to stay out of political office. In 1888
President Cleveland had been defeated for reelection by the
Republican candidate, Benjamin Harrison. The new President
appointed Mr. Roosevelt as one of the Civil Service Commissioners,
with his office in Washington.

Most politicians are charged, certainly Mr. Roosevelt was
sometimes charged, with being a selfish seeker after personal
advancement. There is not much on which to base this argument in
Mr. Roosevelt's acceptance of this office. For the man who is
looking out merely for his own ambitions, for his own success in
politics, is careful of the position he takes, careful to keep out
of offices where there are many chances to make enemies. The Civil
Service Commission was, of all places at that time, the last where
a selfish politician would like to be. Nobody could do his duties
there and avoid making enemies. It was a thankless job, consisting
of trying to protect the public interests against a swarm of
office-seekers and their friends in Congress.

It is ridiculous now to remember what a fight had to be waged to
set up the merit system of the Civil Service in this country. The
old system, by which a good public servant was turned out to make