Volume 2 — The Roosevelt Bears spend a day at ATLANTIC CITY

How the Bears got out of the box that day

Was never known, the children say;

But that afternoon, about half-past four,

They engaged fine rooms on the seventh floor,

About half-way up and half-way down,

Of the best hotel there was in town;

And there they stayed, enjoying a rest

And eating things the very best,

And seeing reporters and playing pool

And learning things not taught in school.

XC

“There they stayed enjoying a rest, and eating things the very best.”

Said TEDDY-B one morning bright,

After spending a hot and sleepless night:

“The weather’s warm and sticky too

For fellows dressed like me and you;

I move we take a little run

Down to the shore for some ocean fun.

I’ve heard it said that the bathing there,

With sandy bottoms everywhere,

Is quite a fad with men of wealth,

Who go there simply for their health.”

“My health is good,” said TEDDY-G;

“And I’ve wealth enough for you and me;

But if bathing’s fun, that’s what I need;

My health consists of fun and feed.”

So off they went that very day

To try Atlantic City spray

XCI

Copyright, 1907, by Edward Stern & Co., Inc. “Across the sand in running dash, They struck the breakers with a splash.”

XCIIThey took a ferry to Camden town

And got a train which shot them down

Across New Jersey and to the sea

So quick they scarce had time to see

The porter boy who brushed their clothes

And told them that hotels in rows

Lined every street and the ocean front

So thick they wouldn’t have to hunt.

And bathing houses, a score or more,

He said they’d find them near the shore.

They walked the boardwalk to and fro

And took a peep at every show;

They heard bands play and auctioneers

Make speeches which reduced to tears

The crowds of buyers who bargains sought

But didn’t need the goods they bought.

XCIII

They took a turn with a wheeling chair

Of double size, to fit a bear,

With TEDDY-B, the lazy kind,

And TEDDY-G, the man behind.

A palmist read their paws to see

How long they’d live and what would be

Their fortunes in the years to come

When as millionaires they’d be going some.

They saw the fish-haul on the pier

And the loaded net with fishes queer.

XCIV

They rode the donkeys on the sand

And held some children by the hand

While rides they took on donkey back

And made the bathers clear the track.

They went below with shivery feel

In a little boat where the water-wheel

Went splashing round with all its might

And pushed their boat into darkest night.

XCVAnd then to a boardwalk place they went

Two colored bathing suits to rent.

They dressed themselves like thousands more

Who were walking up and down the shore;

And across the sand in running dash

They struck the breakers with a splash.

Of all the fun of every sort,

Since Columbus sailed from Genoa’s port,

That the old Atlantic ever had

With ocean bathers, good or bad,

With buccaneers or pirate crafts,

Or shipwrecked crews on lonesome rafts,

With fishermen in ocean wave,

Or boats sent out their lives to save,

Or tourists bound for foreign clime

With dinners upset all the time,

With ocean fish of every form

Which swim the same in calm or storm,

With Admiral Drake or Captain Kidd

Who stole some gold and got it hid,

Or with careless boys of whom you’ve read

Who sometimes fall in over head,—

This fun the Atlantic had that day,

Some fifty thousand bathers say,

Beat every record for a thousand years

And made waves laugh themselves to tears.

XCVI

For the Roosevelt Bears had nerve and pluck

And as they faced each wave to duck

They plunged right in and got upset

Head over paws and awful wet.

XCVII

They took boys out in water deep

And made them from their shoulders leap;

And rescued swimmers, four or five,

And brought them back to shore alive;

And when they tired of the ocean’s whirls

They played on the sand with boys and girls,

And ran and danced and had lots of fun,

And dried themselves in the mid-day sun.

When back they went to get their suits,

To put on trousers, coats and boots,

Said TEDDY-G from his little house,

“This bathing suit wouldn’t fit a mouse;

It’s shrunk all up like a lady’s glove

And won’t come off by pull or shove.”

Said TEDDY-B from the box next door,

“Why didn’t you put on three or four?”

But TEDDY-G didn’t see the joke

And said he’d rip the thing or choke.

And rip he did from end to end

In a way no stitch would ever mend.

“It came off that way both smooth and nice,”

Said TEDDY-G when he asked the price.

They went that night by lucky chance

To an ocean pier where a cake-walk dance

Was on in style with couples six

Who knew full well the cake-walk tricks.

XCVIII

“All four danced with toe and paw the smartest cake-walk you ever saw.”

XCIXTwo pickaninnies won the prize;

They beat all records for their size;

And as they did their last encore

The Roosevelt Bears went on the floor,

And all four danced with toe and paw

The smartest cake-walk you ever saw.

The dancing finished with laugh and cheer

Then all the children on the pier

Shook hands with TEDDIES-B and G

And asked them both to come to see

A children’s dance, a pretty sight,

Which they would give the following night.

But the Bears replied with much regret

That Philadelphia they had not seen yet;

They must go back and crackers buy

To celebrate Fourth of July,

For they were bound to show the world

That when stars and stripes were first unfurled

And liberty rang sweet and loud

For warriors brave and patriots proud,

This flag and bell, right then and there,

Meant freedom for both man and bear.

CI