He constantly replayed one of their last conversations, when the older man had told his son that if he really wished to become a scientific man–an “out-of-doors” naturalist, as Theodore put it–he could do so, but he must be sure that he “really intensively desired to do scientific work.” Roosevelt Sr. warned that Theodore “must not dream of taking it up as a dilettante.”

Remembering his father’s words, Roosevelt dealt with his grief by pushing himself, working to the limits of his physical and mental strength, burying himself in a steady stream of anatomy, botany, literature, and rhetoric. He declined every social call and made every effort to avoid the frothy amateurism that his father cautioned him against, “grinding like a Trojan” until he had passed all his exams.

Happy Father’s Day.

Lunde, Darrin. The Naturalist: Theodore Roosevelt, A Lifetime of Exploration, and the Triumph of American Natural History. United States, Crown, 2017. pg 73