I feel just as you do about the
Canal. It is the greatest contribution I was able to make to my country;
and while I do not believe my countrymen appreciate this at the moment,
I am extremely pleased to know that the men on the Canal do, for they
are the men who have done and are doing the great job. I am awfully
pleased that you feel the way you do.
"Theodore Roosevelt."
In 1887, General William Tecumseh Sherman was much talked about as a
candidate for the presidency, until his famous declaration came out: "I
will not run if nominated, and will not serve if elected." During the
weeks of talk, however, much was said of General Sherman's religious
views, some contending that he was a Roman Catholic; others that he was
a Protestant.
Bok wrote to General Sherman and asked him. His answer was direct:
"My family is strongly Roman Catholic, but I am not. Until I ask some
favor the public has no claim to question me further."
When Mrs. Sherman passed away, Doctor T. DeWitt Talmage wrote General
Sherman a note of condolence, and what is perhaps one of the fullest
expositions of his religious faith to which he ever gave expression came
from him in a most remarkable letter, which Doctor Talmage gave to Bok.
"New York, December 12, 1886.
"My Dear Friend:
"Your most tender epistle from Mansfield, Ohio, of December 9 brought
here last night by your son awakens in my brain a flood of memories.
Mrs. Sherman was by nature and inheritance an Irish Catholic.
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