Jir < t> <y
Hus. Edward
* Dunroy
W *>
HAT manner of
woman is Mrs. Wil
liam H. Taft, whose
name lias been add
ed to those of the
women whose influ
ence has made the
social fame of past
administra
tions? How does
the White House regime with which
history connects the name of Taft
compare with the hospitality of Madi
son's, the elegance of John Quincy Adams', the
simple democracy of Andrew Jackson's, or
the stateliness of James Buchanan’s? More
THE WHITE HOUOE ON CH&/JTT7AS EVE
pertinently still, how does it measure with the
record of the Roosevelt regime?
these are to-day queries of absorbing inter
and nowhere has this phase of a new ad
ministration quite the significance that it has
‘it Washington. Diplomats, and back of them
the governments for which they stand, are as
much interested in the personality of the ris
ing American powers as th^ir own country
men.
Mrs. T alt is neither the soft green of the
soul of Burke s ideal feminine, nor is she Na
poleon's abhorrence, intellect in petticoats. She
is that rarer thing, a well-balanced woman.
1 lie lories, said Wellington, when Victoria
ascended the English throne, could hope for
little headway under a female sovereign, be
cause he had no small talk and Pitt had no
manners. Mrs. Taft is a woman whom one
might well imagine making allowances for
both shortages, provided there w-ere such com
pensations along other lines as Wellington and
Pitt possessed.
Given such a foundation in character, with
Jcuth, good health and ambition and the pe
culiar advantages her life has already given
her, few women have gone into the White
House so well equipped to meet the exactions
pi the position of 'first lady of the land.” Her
regime, moreover, has not that negative quality
"hich circumstances have infused into the so
cial atmosphere of some previous administra
li‘ ns- She has tastes and enthusiasms which
"ill give character to the social life at Wash
ington, of which tiie White House is the centeb,
be the next four years.
•Music, which has flourished at Washington
nder White House patronage during the seven
Bars of Mr. and Mrs. Roosevelt’s residence
b< re, lias even more emphatic encouragement
inder the social sway of a woman who was
)n,‘ °f the founders of Cincinnati's famous
Musical organization, the Symphony orchestra.
Sot only Is she a patroness of lnusfc, but Is a
Musician. She kept up her hours of daily
nactice regularly until within recent years,
"hen the frequent changes in her life and its
uany added duties made the continuance im
g'Ssiblc.
! hough she does not regard herself as suffi
;i ntly in practice to perform for a critical
tudience, she has by no means lost her skill
>tnl trequently plays for her husband and
children during their evenings at home. These
?• c more than might he supposed, for Mrs.
"aft is one of the women who stays usually
at home unless her husband can go out with
her.
Other avenues through which her artistic
taste finds an outlet are her love of pictures
'1 her appreciation of wood carving. Charles
left's art collection has no more appreciative
fncncl than his sister-in-law. She is enthusias
ts about every treasure he adds to it, and en
joys few tilings more than pointing out its
beauties to others. Faces and figures appeal
trure to her than landscapes, and a recently
tequired Rembrandt has given her keen pleas
ure. She has made a study of wood carving,
ail(l has the nucleus of a collection containing
'erne excellent specimens. She is a connois
^ttr of the craft, and knows the fine points
1,1 the work of various schools and masters.
, sho is a book lover, and has been a student
1! her life, first because she grew up in a
ii>mo where books came down from the shelves
nd made the worlds they contain part of the
omcstic environment. Elizabeth Bennett and
er sisters, with their heart affairs and all the
tridental character delineations, stepped from
*orn copy of "Pride and Prejudice,” bringing
ito the Herron home in Cincinnati, with its
«HRS ROOSEVELT L-4 w
quaint atmosphere of the early century. Becky
Sharp, perhaps, temporarily deluded the same
youthful group as she for a time deluded her
own glad array of daughters, much of the
own kith and kin. Henry
Esmond embodied their
ideal of chivalry, and
Thackeray’s whole world
of characters were famil
iar figures on the horizon
of their imagination. Mrs.
Taft is loyal to her old
literary friends, and still
dips into their society.
George Eliot is one of the
favorites of her later
years.
She is a general reader,
the newspapers coming
in for a daily share of
her time. To any subject
in which Mr. Taft is in
terested or of which he
is making a study she al
so gives her attention. As
few men of the period
have had occasion fo look
up information on such a
variety of subjects as the
president-elect, Mrs. Taft
has made herself a stu
dent of wide range. It
has intensified the sense
of comradeship existing
between them, and is per
haps but another expres
sion of the sentiment
which takes her walking
over the golf course with
her husband, though she
does not play. At Hot
CHARLIE TAFT * * *
.° uu" sne made the tour of (lie
course with Mr. Taft every day. a strenuous
, as t\u\ one knows who has climbed the
hills and descended the dales of the golf in
closure at that resort.
Mrs. Taft has brains, and uses them, with
out being in any sense aggressive or pedantic.
. e talks well, and looks well when she is talk
ing. Her smile has the charm of intelligence,
that quick flash of recognition, distinct from
the frozen, automatic smile peculiar to many
women in official life, on whom social duties
make many demands, even to that of contin
uously looking pleasant." She has a generous
mouth and handsome teeth, a straight nose,
well proportioned to her other features, a
broad forehead, above which her brown hair is
arranged in a soft pompadour.
In her knowledge of languages Mrs. Taft has
an advantage over many of her predecessors.
During their last winter as members of the
cabinet circle, Mr. and Mrs. Taft were in
mourning for Mr. Taft's mother, and they took
no part in formal social occasions. They have
many friends in many lands. Mrs. Taft, how
ever, like many women who have grown up
in a large family of girls among whom the tie
of kinship is strong, has few Intimate friends.
She plays a scientific game of whist, and lias
gravitated here toward the women who take
the game seriously. Of these Miss Cannon,
daughter of the speaker of the house of repre
sentatives, is one who is frequently with Mrs.
Taft. They drive together, one of Mrs. Taft's
favorite diversions, and are often together at
concerts. Mrs. Halite Erminie Rives Wheeler,
wife of the secretary of the American embassy
at Tokyo, is another of Mrs. Taft's friends. She
spent several months recently in this country,
and during part of the time was the guest
of Mr. and Mrs. Taft. Their friendship goes
back to days of travel in the east, when they
saw many things together and discovered a
sympathy in the point of view.
Gen. and Mrs. Corbin and
Gen. and Mrs. Edwards are
prominent in the social en
tourage of the next White
House regime. Gen. Corbin
comes from Ohio. Mrs. Cor
bin was Miss Edith Patten
of Washington, formerly of
California. Their friendship
with Mr. and Mrs. Taft is
of long standing. They were
ait in tlfr Philippines to
gether. Gen. and Mrs. Cor
bin have recently completed
a handsome country home
at Chevy Chase. Washing
ton's most fashionable sub
urb.
Gen. and Mrs. Edwards
are close neighbors of the
White House. Their friend
ship with the Tafts has al
so a far-reaching and inter
esting background. With
Gen. Edwards they have
reminiscences in common of
many lands. The chief of
staff of the army and Mrs.
Hell and Gen. and Mrs. Gar
lington. with their pretty
daughter Sally, one of the
arinv circle at Washington, are an i»vnmun,.
figures at the White House. Mrs Garlington
and Miss Garlington were members ot the
little party who heard the result of the nomi
nating convention at Chicago last June with
Mrs. Taft in the office of the secretary of war.
In addition to the sons and daughter ot Mr.
and Mrs. Taft, there are plenty of young people
at the White House from time to time, repre
senting various branches of the family. The
country became familiar with the names of
Mr. Taft's nieces and nephews at the time of
the convention in June, when they were on
hand to cheer for “Uncle Will. Of Mrs.
Taft's five sisters, four are married, as are also
her two brothers, and all have families.
Mrs. Taft's sisters are Mrs. Parsons of Co
hinibus, O.: Mrs. Charles Anderson of Cincin
nati. who has three charming daughters who
are graduates of liryn Mawr, where Miss Helen
Taft is now a student; Mrs. Louis Moore of
Cincinnati, who has one little son. and Mrs.
Thomas Laughlin of Pittsburg, who has two
small children. Her brothers, William Her
ron. who married Miss Janey Ksby of Cincin
nati, and John Herron, who married Miss
Georgie Aldrich, both have young children.
Much of the domestic machinery of the
White House goes on automatically, with little
variation from one administration to another.
Mrs. Taft is a good housekeeper. In the home
maintained until last June she bad four serv
ants, one a Filipino boy brought from the
islands. The house was tastefully furnished,
many souvenirs of travels giving it an interest
ing background. Mrs. Taft's room was decor
ated in blue, her favorite color, in matters of
dress Mrs. Taft has quiet tastes. She does
much of her own choosing and shopping, and
patronizes local shops. For evening she wears
white frequently, though pink is perhaps the
color for which she lias greater partiality. At
a reception at the White House one afternoon
last May, the last formal function she attend
ms HELEH TAFT
Pd (here as wife of the secretary of war,
she wore a demi-toilette of black lace
over white, with a black and white hat.
She prefers hats to toques.
The question has already come up as a mat
ter of speculation in official circles of Wash
ington society as to whether Miss Helen Taft
will finish her college course or be a White
House debutante within the next two years.
The question undoubtedly will be left to her
own inclination to settle.
One afternoon last June, when the eyes of
the nation were on Chicago, there emerged
from one of the big. substantial brick houses
in K street, Washington, a little group of
figures, including a woman who led the way
as they turned into Sixteenth street and
walked southward toward the White House.
She swung along with a step as elastic as that
>f the boy and girl accompanying her. They
ialked and laughed as they went, and their
roices, all pitched to the same pleasant con
tralto tone, bespoke their kinship.
Perhaps they noted through the green vista
if Lafayette park the glistening columns of
the north portico of the White House. The
picture was a familiar one to all of them,
rhat to the woman it stood for the moment
ts the concrete presentment of fate toward
which her steps had turned 22 years before
tlmost to the day, who shall say? Her clear,
blue-gray eyes looked as unblinking])- at the
reality as they had at the vision. Though in no
sense under the spell of that faculty which
Thurlow Weed years ago declared had bewil
dered many men whose eyes were turned in
that direction, she was too frank to feign an
indifference to the alluring possibility of a
residence within its walls. She had a can
didate at Chicago that day. and if the question
were put squarely to her she was ready un
hesitatingly to avow him.
The woman and children made altogether an
inconspicuous little group as they crossed
Pennsylvania avenue and entered the big triple
department building on the corner of Seven
teenth street. The watchman at the door of
he war department and the messengers in
llie corridors recognized them, however, as
ihey made their way toward the office of the
secretary, returning the grinning salutations
that greeted them on all sides.
Mrs. Taft wore a white linen suit. A flower
laden hat shaded her face, which retains all
its girlhood contours. The door closed upon
them, and it was five o'clock before they re
appeared. Was it the same party, or had
that history-making afternoon wrought some
subtle change? Mrs. Taft, wife of the secre
tary of war, was now Mrs. Taft, wife of a
presidential nominee. Her step war. lighter,
her eyes brighter. Happy? Surely. Her can
didate had won the first approaches to ulti
mate victory.
They went as they had come, on foot, stop
ping in the street to buy an “extra,” for the
pleasure of approaching the good news from
another angle.
The wife of a man already one of the most
conspicuous figures in public life in America,
Mrs. Taft became from that moment a national
figure. The November victory of the Republi
can party but concentrated the attention which
had been upon her for five months as the wife
af its nominee. There were no longer favo
rites in the field. Comparisons were out of or
der. The names of the president-elect and his
family became household words throughout the
land.
WHIT A FORMER OREGON
FARMER THINKS OF WEST
ERN CANADA.
Albert Nelson left Benton Co., Ore
gon, in Sept., 1904, for the great
Canadian prairies. To quote from his
letter: “I was greatly surprised to
find such an immense stretch of rich
virgin prairie still almost unoccupied
in the very heart of North America.
The splendid crops of oats, wheat, bar
ley. potatoes and hay I beheld in the
settlements made me very eager for a
piece of this rich soil, and I soon lo
cated in the Goose Lake country. We
have here a great stretch of the rich,
deep clay loam of the Saskatchewan—
a soil heavy and hard to break, but
particularly well adapted for the re
tention of moisture and production of
the bright No. 1 hard wheat, and
great crops of oats, barley, flax and po
tatoes. I had 60 bushels of oats,
weighing 441 lb. to the bushel, per
acre. Some of my neighbors had still
greater yields. Wheat j'ielded from 20
to 30 bushels per acre. We have all
done well here, and I could name
many Americans who came here with
means to go ahead, who have done
big already. For homesteads one has
to go further west, but the best prai
rie can be bought here for from $12.00
to $16.00 per acre. The climate is
dry and healthy. This is the regular
Saskatchewan fall weather — frosty
nights, and bright, sunny days—ideal
for threshing and hauling out of
wheat. The trails are dusty, as thou
sands of wheat teams are moving
towards the elevators.
“The sight, of it makes one stop and
wonder what it will be in a few years
when the immense prairies get under
cultivation. Heavy snowfall is the
exception here. Snow generally falls
in December and goes off in March.
It sometimes gets very cold, but the
Saskatchewan farmer does not fear
the cold. Winter is liis season of
rest. The first or second crop he
builds a comfortable house for him
self, and warm stables for his horses.
He need not, like some, be poking
about in the mud all winter attending
a few beasts for a livelihood.”
A Distinction.
She—I suppose your uncle didn’t
fail to remember you in his will?
He—It was scarcely a remem
branee—more like a faint recollection.
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