It was to me a means, first and last, of ending the
murder in Cuba. One of the very earliest things I had to do with
as a reporter was the _Virginius_ massacre, and ever since it had
been bloodshed right along. It was time to stop it, and the only
way seemed to wrest the grip of Spain from the throat of the island.
I think I never quite got over the contempt I conceived for Spain
and Spanish ways when I read as a boy, in Hans Christian Andersen's
account of his travels in the country of the Dons, that the
shepherds brought butter from the mountains in sheep's intestines
and measured them off in lengths demanded by the customers by tying
knots upon them. What was to be expected from a country that sold
butter by the yard? As the event showed, it ran its navies after the
same fashion and was justly punished. I made friends that winter
with Dr. Leonard Wood, whom we all came to know and admire afterwards
as General and Governor Wood; and a fine fellow he was. He was
Roosevelt's friend and physician, and we spent many strenuous hours
together, being in that mood.
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