“One day they read aloud an advertisement in huge letters on a distant billboard, and then I realized that something was the matter, for not only was I unable to read the sign but I could not even see the letters. I spoke of this to my father, and soon afterwards got my first pair of spectacles, which literally opened an entirely new world to me. I had no idea how beautiful the world was until I got those spectacles.”

-Theodore Roosevelt An Autobiography

One of TR”s traits I can certainly identify with is being hampered with lousy vision. Myopia, nearsightedness, having the trait of being blind as a bat. We were about the same age when we both received our first pair of spectacles. Mine, heavy and awkward, could not compare to young Thee’s glasses.

Young Theodore’s glasses were of undoubtedly of the style he would become famous for wearing as an adult, the pince nez.

Appearing around 1840, the modern pince nez reached their peak of popularity around 1900. That’s why in later pictures or TR you see him wearing glasses with earpieces. Their name comes from the French pincer to pinch and nez for nose, and as their name would suggest, they are quite painful to wear.

Perhaps the most painful thing to an owner of glasses, other than wearing them,  is losing them. Even Baseball mascots are not immune to this optical tragedy.

                                                        Has anyone seen my glasses?