Omaha daily bee., 1888-07-26
BEN AND CARRIES COURTSIlIP
Anecdotes Of the School Days of the
Next President
BOTH AS LOVER AND STUDENT.
Mrs. CicveIaud's Style of Refusing
Callers Makes n Western Lady
Mad-Small Work orMiscrly
Officials-Gossip.
How Harrison Made Love.

tnc onlO lenlaIe seminary at oNlOru uurlng
the three or four years course taken by Gen
eral Harrison and his wife and she gave me
some interesting anecdotes regarding the
prospective occupants of the white house, re-
lating to their courtship and marriage, as
well as their school life The lady TO whom
] talked is ABOUT the age of Mrs. Harrison.
and lives in one of the thriving natural gas
cities not far from Indianapolis. Although
she is one of the most ardent and intelligent
democratic women ever met, she is an ad-
mirer of General and Mrs. Harrison. She
says the general is a model husband and
that he was "A model boy and a model lover.
81 shall never forget Little Ben Harr-
son, as we used to call him when he at
tended the university at Oxford while Carrie
Scott, now his wife, was n pupil in the Mi
anna university in the same little town. Ben
was chunky young man when he was
eighteen, and even was more like a man at
sixteen than most boys when they are
twenty lone. His arms were shorter than
those of the average boy when he was just
entering manhood, and it was very convent
ent for him to carry his hands down deep in
his pockets when he walked around the uni
vcrsity grounds, and when he was out
strolling with and making love to Carrie. /
never saw two people, young, or old, who
were so happy as were Ben and Carrie when
they were out walking around IN the after
noon. They would meet out at the trysting-
place. and the last to be seen of them in the
cleaning was when they disappeared down
the road in their regular walks. They
seemed to lose sight of the world and all the
cares IN it. Both we'e deeply in love, and
Carrie Scott used to make the
bravest fights against the piques
of the girls that ever, saw
,r;,, Il f.,,, I,,
impatient she would detiantly inform her
companions that if they didn't like Little
Ben" they could Just lump him, and that
they didn't care what the boys and girls
thought of them; that they thought enough
of one another to do both of them.
"As pupils, Ben Harrison and Carrie
Scott" continued the lady, "were extremely
studious. The boys said that Ben was one
of the best debaters in his class and that
his compositions showed deep study. He
was naturally combative in what he com
posed, ana i'll his arguments would naturally
take issue for the sake of debate Carrie
was always present when there was any
public demonstration when Ben took part,
and vice versa. / remember very well the
first time ! ever saw General Harrison We
instantly named him MIR. Ben. Harrison
because he was dignitied and seemed
to always be in "a brown study. He
walked about the grounds by himself and he
kept his face toward the ground, with his
arms up to his elbows in his pockets, and the
girls always said he looked 50 business-like
and serious He showed the traces of a
professional man in embryo, even when he
was but seventeen or eighteen years old. |
don't wonder he is good lawyer. He is one
of the sternest analyzers of human nature |
ever saw, and naturally he is a student.
Since | watched him during his school days,
and knew Carrie Scott his wife, so we'll
have kept close run of his domestic as well
as his public life as married man and an
| influential citizen of indianapolis. l have
| had great curiosity to know if that pecul-
| iarly strong love that they showed for each
| their long married life, and l believe it has
love to-day as they were thirty
| Ave years ago, and they are as well mated as
| two doves could be. The general, as l have
said, is model husband. He and Carrie for
many years have lived together just like the
| most ordinary young married people with
| very limited MEANS and he used to help her
| in the kitchen and in her domestic duties,
not excepting the washing and scrubbing
and looking after the children, just like a SER
| want girl. l don't think it will be necessary
| for any Of their friends to card the public
about their domestic relations, or try to ex-
| plain away any report to the effect that he
| has ever mistreated his wife. l expect II the
! public knew the history of their domestic
| lives nothing would give the general more
strength before the country, especially with
| the women.
| sIf Mrs. Cleveland's way of refusing to re-
ceive callers is the style in Washington, do
| not care to impose myself upon it," said Il
lady who formed the principal part of
| group of women from the west, who called
| recently at the white house to see the first
lady OF the land. I'VE went up this morn
| ing to pay our respects to Mrs. Cleveland"
| she continued, "and, of course, we We're
largely prompted by curiosity. have seen
| Mrs. Cleveland in public places several
/ l,,,t had TO nlEA han htTf hn
hand, look into her eyes, and say few
words to her, because / admired her and
| wanted to see how she appeared at short dis
| tance. We were informed at the door that
| Mrs. Cleveland was not receiving to-day, and
| that she could not see us. l insisted,
| however, that if it was not hard
| ship to her, we would be grateful if she
| would only say 'howdydoo' and shake hands
with US. The private secretary of the presi-
dent said that he would take our cards to
| Mrs. Cleveland, with our compliments, and
request that we be received at any time and
in the most convenient place in the house,
"We waited for some time" continued the
| lady, 'for the secrotary's return, and when
| he finally did appear he handed back our
| cards and said that Mrs. Cleveland did not
| wish to receive us. II was disappointment,
| of course but we did not care for that near
as much as we did the manner in which our
| requests were answered 1t is the first time
| 1 ever had woman send back my card when
| / called to pay my respects, and the cards
were handed back to each of us in manner
| and with a tone of expression which SAID
| You can use these to call upon somebody
| else' think that If we could not be re
| ceiyed by Mrs. Cleveland it would look more
| respectful if she had retained our cards, IL
| would have led us to naturally think that
| our little mementoes would be preserved,
and that some day, probably through care
| lessness the eyes of the mistress OF the
white house would rest upon our names.
But alas they were sent back to us with