Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-05

House can scarcely be called social sue
cess. His experience had been almost
wholly Of the camp, and his wife and even
his youngest daughter, "Betty, had shared
his nomadic existence. In the society OF
fashionable ladies the President was awk-
ward, and Mrs. Taylor was so averse to the
duties imposed upon her by her position
that she was accustomed to pass the time
sitting patiently in her own room plying
her knitting needles and occasionally
smoking her pipe. Mrs. Bliss Betty in
consequence did the honors of the estab-
lishment with the artlessness Of rustic
belle and the grace of duchess"
To Mr.. and Mrs. Fillmore there was
nothing possible except the routine life Of
the. White House. Before her marriage
Abigail Fillmore had been a teacher, and
she was always a student. It is to her
credit that to her personal needs was due
the fact that Congress was induced for the
first time to supply books as part of the
furniture of the Executive Mansion. Mrs
Fillmore's health while she was hostess Of
the White House was delicate, and she
never aimed to become a social leader.
MRS. PIERCE AND HARRIET LANE.
President and Mrs. Pierce greatly re-
laxed the etiquette of the White House.
Old New Hampshire friends holding clerk-
ships in Washington not only were not for.
gotten, but were visited by Mrs. Pierce and
invited to dine at the Presidents table.
This accomplished lady came to Washing
ton suffering under the weight of heavy
bereavement-the death of her only son in
railroad accident a few weeks before.
Mrs. Pierce as lady of the White House left
many agreeable memories behind her, but
enfeebled by sorrow and in delicate health
she performed her public duties with the
least possible ostentation.
Harriet Lane, the Presidents niece, acted
as mistress of the White House during the
next four years. She was born in the
Cumberland valley, and had been carefully
educated, had long been an inmate Of her
unele's household and possessed large ex-
perience of society, having been the hostess
of the American Embassy while Mr..
Buchanan was Minister to England. She
performed her duties with grace and dis
tinction.
The White House during President Linz
coins ineumbency was not gay. Mrs. Lin
coin was ambitious, but she was singularly
ill-ftted to be Presidents wife. Hospi-
tality to her was q burden. She was dis
inclined to observe the social requirements
of her position. She gave receptions, but
they were cold and formal and generally re-
sorted to by strangers in Washington.
Andrew Johnson's wife was an invalid
and his daughter, Mrs. Martha Johnson
Patterson, acted as the mistress of the
Executive Mansion. She was an educated
and accomplished lady.
Mrs. Grant as mistress of the White
House was always unobtrusive, and at first
her official receptions and dinners passed
of without any great eelat They increased
in brillianey, however, as the years went
by. The one great social event of President
Gropf1c a1r iriv fba -,
1874 in the great East Room of the White
House of his only daughter, Miss Nellie
Grant.
FROM GRANT TO HARRISON.
Mrs. Hayes was charming lady, but her
attempt to Danish wine from the White
House table put her, to a certain extent,
under the social ban. Mrs. Lucretia Gar
field, familiarly called by her husband,
"Crete," began promising career as the
lady of the White House. Lady-like,
sweet-voiced, easy of department, well in
formed, anxious to please but unwilling to
be patronized, she began her receptions
firmly, kindly, successfully. But the great
sorrow soon came and she left the White
House not to return again. Miss Nellie
Arthur was too young to assume the duties
of hostess of the White House, and these
devolved upon the Presidents sister, Mrs.
McElroy. She, however, was able to give
comparatively little time to her brothers
household, but the ladies of his cabinet
came to the Presidents rescue.
AS President Cleveland was bachelor he
installed his sister, Miss Rose Elizabeth.
Cleveland, as hostess of the White House
She held this place until Frances Folsom
Cleveland came to do the honors. That she
has been as capable and charming mistress
as the mansion ever had goes without saying.