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“Theodore and Joe”
Jim Posewitz -- January 2004
I was given a poem, "Theodore and Joe," on a much re-copied sheet of paper, and soon became eager to track down its origin. The "Theodore" of the poem was Roosevelt (TR) and "Joe" Ferris was his North Dakota hunting companion. They met in September of 1883 when TR went west to hunt big game for the first time. The goal was to find and kill a buffalo and Joe was the local companion on this and subsequent hunts.
 For Gayle Joslin, one of Orion’s founding board members, the name Ferris was familiar. She had once shared a back fence and garden produce with a Ferris family. One phone call later we had an appointment with Mr. A. Douglas Ferris; we found the grandson of "Joe," living in our town. A day later we approached a local assisted living home to visit. Mr. Ferris was at the door watching for us; like maybe it had been a while since there had been visitors. The fact that Gayle and Mr. Ferris once shared a back fence was quite a coincidence, but that is another story. Mr. Ferris was pleasant company, had an excellent memory, and soon had us on the track of the poem’s author James W. Foley.
James W. Foley (1874 – 1939) had a talent for capturing the character and charm of good people living in a sometimes-hard country. He was, unofficially, North Dakota’s first "Poet Laureate". To set the mood for appreciating Foley’s poetry, writings from two other books are offered. The first, is a paragraph from TR’s autobiography relative to his first big game hunt. The second, includes passages written by an author who interviewed Joe Ferris some years later about that same hunt. At the time of the hunt Roosevelt was 24 years old and Ferris about the same age. It was their first hunt together, and they had been hunting in the gumbo and rain for days without taking a buffalo.
September 1883 - By Roosevelt
"It was rather a rough trip. Each of us carried only his slicker behind him on the saddle, with some flour and bacon done up in it. We met with all kinds of misadventure. Finally one night, when we were sleeping by a slimy little prairie pool where there was not a stick of wood, we had to tie the horses to the horns of our saddles; and then we went to sleep with our heads on the saddles. In the middle of the night something stampeded the horses, and away they went, with the saddles after them. As we jumped to our feet Joe eyed me with an evident suspicion that I was the Jonah of the party, and said: ‘O Lord! I’ve never done anything to deserve this. Did you ever do anything to deserve this?"
September 1883 - From the Ferris Interview
 "They rose and went after the horses, taking the broad trail made by the saddles through the dewy grass. Once Joe Ferris stopped. ‘Say, I ain’t ever committed any crime deservin’ that anything like this should happen!’ he exclaimed plaintively. Then turning straight to Roosevelt, evidently suspecting that he had a Jonah on his hands, he cried, in a voice in which wrath was mingled with comic despair, ‘Have you ever done anything to deserve this?’ ‘Joe,’ Roosevelt answered solemnly, ‘I never have."
"They found the horses sooner than they expected and led them back to camp. But rest was not for them that night. At three in the morning a thin rain began to fall, and they awoke to find themselves lying in four inches of water. Joe Ferris expected lamentations. What he heard was, ‘By Godfrey, but this is fun."
"Bad luck followed us,’ Joe Ferris remarked long after, ‘like a yellow dog follows a drunkard." Before returning to New York, TR would shoot a bull buffalo; and, invest with Joe’s brother and another partner in a cattle-raising venture. In 1884 TR returned to North Dakota to ranch, to hunt and to prepare himself for a life of remarkable service.
Theodore and Joe
By James W. Foley
On saddle ponies tough and strong
They jogged the prairie trails along,
The youngsters Theodore and Joe,
That nearly sixty years ago,
To Camp beneath the sparkling stars,
Where were no fences, gates or bars.
The grass was soft to trotting feet,
The prairie air was cool and sweet,
When they pledged friendship long ago.
The youngsters, Theodore and Joe.
And there was friendship true as steel
Forged by an old chuck-wagon wheel,
When saddle leather creaked and cried
As they rode with it, side by side,
The lush-grassed prairie lands among,
And both were ardent, keen and young,
With courage high and spirits hale,
They rode upon the Friendship Trail,
That’s nearly sixty years ago,
The youngsters, Theodore and Joe.
And oft in Prairie’s summer glow,
In winter’s blizzard and the snow,
In spring time round-up and the Fall
They rode the trail and heard the call
Of the great spaces far and wide
Where noble dreamings come to ride.
One came the noblest heights to scale,
One kept along the old, old trail,
The youngsters, Theodore and Joe.
There may be Happy Hunting Grounds
Where scouts and hunters make their rounds,
And round-ups in far-spaces wide
Where old time cowboys meet and ride.
There may be camp-fires of the stars
Where are no fences, gates or bars,
In all life’s lure and mystery
Who is to say what things may be
And two may meet and cry, "Hello,"
The youngsters, Theodore and Joe.
Epiloge to a Poem
On August 24, 2003 Gayle and I had the pleasure of having lunch with Theodore Roosevelt IV along the banks of Mission Creek east of Livingston, Montana. TR IV and his wife were on their way to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of TR’s dedication of the Yellowstone Park Entrance Arch. Gordon and Vanessa Brittan hosted the lunch in the lush cottonwood shade that filled the creek bottom of their ranch. We so regret not having connected with Joe’s grandson a few months sooner. It would have been nice to touch those ends together for a passing moment 120-years after that first hunt. Crystal clear Mission Creek was a bit up-scale from that slimy little prairie pool and lunch was way beyond, some flour and bacon done up in a slicker. Still, I can not help but envy and admire the mettle of the youngsters Theodore and Joe.
Orion The Hunter's Institute
219 Vawter
Helena MT 59601
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