Recommended Reading: Theodore Roosevelt's Letters to his Children by T.R.

THEODORE ROOSEVELT'S LETTERS TO HIS CHILDREN by Theodore Roosevelt

"Among other places that [Quentin] visited was Schmid's animal store, where he left his little snake. Schmid presented him with three snakes, simply to pass the day with -- a large and beautiful and very friendly king snake and two little wee snakes...as Quentin and his menagerie were an interruption to my interview with the Department of Justice, I suggested that he go into the next room, where four Congressmen were drearily waiting until I should be at leisure. I thought that he and his snakes would probably enliven their waiting time. He at once fell in with the suggestion and rushed up to the Congressmen with the assurance that he would there find kindred spirits. They at first thought the snakes were wooden ones, and there was some perceptible recoil when they realized that they were alive. Then the king snake went up Quentin's sleeve -- he was three or four feet long -- and we hesitated to drag him back because his scales rendered that difficult. The last I saw of Quentin, one Congressman was gingerly helping him off with his jacket, so as to let the snake crawl out of the upper end of the sleeve"