TR's Death - Corinne Roosevelt Robinson
TR's younger sister Corinne wrote; "At six o’clock on that very Monday morning when I was hoping to go to him and enjoy his dear companionship, the telephone-bell in my room rang and my sister-in-law’s voice, gentle and self-controlled, though vibrant with grief, told me that he was gone, and that she wanted me to come at once to Sagamore.
It was not long before my eldest son and I were climbing the familiar hill. As we neared the house, I could not bring myself to believe that the great personality who had always welcomed me there had passed away.”
That afternoon Mrs. Roosevelt and I walked far and fast along the shore and through the woodlands he had loved, and on our return in the waning winter twilight we suddenly became conscious that airplanes were flying low around the house. In a tone of deep emotion Mrs. Roosevelt said: “They must be planes from the camp where Quentin trained. They have been sent as a guard of honor for his father."
That night as I stood alone in the room where my brother lay, these lines came to me—I called them “Sagamore,” that old Indian word for which my brother cared so much. It means chief or chieftain, and Sagamore Hill, the chieftain’s hill.
SAGAMORE by Corinne Roosevelt
At Sagamore the Chief lies low. Above the hill in circled row. The whirling airplanes dip and fly. A guard of honor from the sky. Eagles to gauge the Eagle. Woes of the world. The people go. With listless footsteps, blind and slow. For one is dead - who shall not die at Sagamore.
Oh" Land he loves, at last you know. The son who served you well below. The prophet voice, the visioned eye. Hold him in ardent memory. For one is gone who shall not go. From Sagamore!