New York City. This was after the return from a long trip in Europe and Egypt. His health was not good, but Mr. Cutler, in a letter to the present writer, says that while at school he then showed "the alert mind, retentive memory, and earnestness of purpose which has since marked his public life and his private life." He entered Harvard University in 1876, graduating in 1880, and prepared for the bar at Columbia University.<br><br>He was elected to the legislature of New York in 1882, in which he served three terms, and it is said that during that time he introduced and carried through more important city legislation than was ever brought about by any one preceding him.<br><br>In 1884, through domestic troubles and ill health, Roosevelt abandoned his political work in New York and went to North Dakota, where he had purchased a cattle-ranch of considerable size. Here the continued out-of-door life brought him health and strength.