Chapter 5, The Political Hack Summary and Analysis

Friends of the Roosevelts remark that the wedding was lovely and the couple appear very happy. The festive mood at the reception at Chestnut Hill catches everyone, even Edith Carow, Roosevelt's former sweetheart. Of their wedding night, Roosevelt writes, "Our intense happiness is too sacred to be written about."

The couple enjoys two weeks at Oyster Bay before Roosevelt embarks on his studies at the newly established Columbia School of Law. By way of a proper honeymoon, Roosevelt promises his bride a five-month tour of Europe in the spring. The couple enjoys the private time at Oyster Bay, nonetheless. They spend nearly every hour together, reading both newspapers and classics aloud to one another.

After their time alone, The Roosevelt's move into 6 West Fifty-Seventh Street and Theodore seeks to fill his father's old shoes. He...