Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-06-29

Written for THE EVENING stan.
MRS. HARRISON'S MAIL.
The Tasks that are Imposed Upon the
Mistress of the White House.
coRREsPoNDENCE ALMOST EQUAL 70 THAT Oh
THE PREsIDKyT's-sTRANaE REQUESTS THAT
COM IN THE LErTERs--MRs. HARRIsoN's OLD
GOWNS CUT UP TO SUPPLY SCRAPS.
The post of presiding lady of the executive
mansion is, in the minds of most people,
associated with gorgeous social hospital
tiles, self-satisfying consciousness Of supreme
rank, and an unceasing round Of enjoyment.
1t never enters into the romantic popular idea
of life at the White House that it has q prac-
teal side.
The mostcare-oppressed and hardest-worked
woman in the land is its first lady. In addition
to her duties at the head of the household of
the President and the direction of the domestic
administration of the mansion she is beset
with every conceivable demand upon her time
and energy from directions which have no re-
lation to her sphere as wife, mother, house.
keeper, queen of the drawing-room, or social
leader. These duties would in themselves alb
sorb about all the time comprised within the
waking hours of any woman, but they do not
complete the full measure of daily experience
OF Mrs. Harrison as wife of the President
HOW MRS. HARRIsoN's GOWNS HAVE GONE.
The most exacting time-consuming and labo-
rious portion of the daily routine of the chief
lady OF the White House is her correspond
ence. If this confined itself to per-
sonal friends it wo1ld be manageable, but
embracing within its scope every nook and
800 81 L.. \
slty OF subject. it assumes the proportions of a
burden which no woman could carry, not even
one so painstaking conscientious and indus
trious as Mrs. Harrison. There is humorous
phase to this toilsome drain upon the time and
energies Of the wife of the President One of
the principal subjects of correspondence in
Mrs. Harrison's mail is the requests for sam
pies OF her inaugural ball costume. They
come from feminine sources, of course,
and in the appeals, for the, coveted
fragment OF the silk-woven homespun
textile the acme of epistolary composition
and logic is often reached In the kindness of
her heart Mrs. Harrison has gratified many of
these simple appeals from the fabricators Of
crazy quilts and patchwork, but not to the
extent OF demolishing the historic gown in
which she looked so queenly at the great ball in
the vast corut of the pension building, but from
garments which had seen services in church.
going and household display and social duty in
times Of senatorial dignity and in the retire
ment OF home life at Indianapolis. In this
fragmentary form the dresses of former davs
have disappeared, leaving decided void in the
wardrobe of the first lady
The sources of supply have long been ex-
hausted, while the demand continues I'M
abated This presents an emergency which
can only be met by calling upon the looms of
the manufacturers for an output sufficient to
supply the popular appeal. The fair relic
hunters of the republic do not stop at samples
OF inauguration ball dresses, but intersperse
their well-intentioned epistolary requests by
asking locks from the bounteous tresses which
lie IN wavy brown masses threaded with gray
upon the head OF Mrs. Harrison There is a
limit to the possibility Of nature, and, notwith-
standing her wealth OF the treasured article
sought, these requests are respectfully declined
or are committed to the silk-lined paper basket
where they belong.
If even a moiety of the appeals for locks Of
hair for charity or jewelry were gratified the
presiding lady would long since have been
driven to such expedients to replace natures
supply known only among the tonsorial mys-
terles OF the wlgmaker and hair-dresser
PEOPLE WHO SEND RECIPES.
Another fruitful theme of epistolary COM
munication between the outside world and the
inner circle Of the Presidents family springs
from solicitious grandmothers and thrifty ma
irons who make the care of the inner man
their chief delight and study. There have been
received recipes enough for bodily ailments
particularly In the infant stages of humanity,
TO constitute an invaluable pharmacopeia for
White Household practice, but with possible
consequences for which no one would care
about being responsible. Reams of stationery
have been thus traversed by photographic
efforts which might be a sufficient guarantee
OF the simple-hearted and good intentions of
the writers, but advance little encourageme mt
upon which to base a very high estimate of
their medical learning.
Another field Of epistolary effort, and one we'll
worked over by the indefatigable wseacres of
thousand households and communities is that
which blooms in the self-constituted advisory
relations of the writer This would make an
other chapter OF horrors to which the first lady
Is compelled to submit. She dailv receives
directions sufficien; to run the domestic and
social affairs of the White House into the
ground without half trying.
APPEALS FROM OFFICE SEEKERS.
Not the least feature of the first lady's corre-
spondence is the appeals of the office-seekers,
not only from themselves, but through their
lady friends. Remarkable as it may seem
these appeals are not confined to personal
friends or acquaintance, but come from entire
strangers. AS Mrs. Harrison has never been in
the habit OF interfering in her husbands affairs
she naturally gives this portion of her extern
sive correspondence a silent passing by.
These salient features of the mail of the pre-
siding lady OF the White House only represent
a glimpse of its contents In the number of
letters received, for weeks Mrs. Harrison'ss mail
was quite as large if not larger than the private
mail of the President, and has from the begin
ing involved degree of labor which it would
have been impossible to perform had it not
been for Mrs. Lord, Mrs. Harrison's elder Sis
ter. This estimable lady has been of invalu-
able assistance to Mrs. Harrison in her exacting
and unenGing duties at the executive mansion.
Mrs. Elizabeth Scott Lord was born at Oxford.
Ohio. also the birthplace Of her sister, Mrs.
Harrison.
MRS. LORD AND HER FAMILY.
The young ladies attended the Oxford female
seminary when they reached sufficient years,
and before that received their tuition from
their mother in the home circle and in the
younger schools. Elizabeth Scott, at nine years
Of age, visited her grand parents at Washing
ton, Pa, where she also attended school, but
returned to Oxford, and. with her sister, COM
pleted her education under the instruction of
her father. Miss Scott was married in IS49
to Russell Lord, Of Honesdale, Pa. Mr.. Lord
had long been Unidentified with the DEVELOPMENT
Of that mining region, and was civil engineer
on the Delaware and Hudson canal, which he
assisted in bull ling. He was . native of Rome,
NY.
Mrs. Lords son, Walter Scott Lord civil en-
gineer on the Delaware and Hudson canal in
charge OF the railroads of that company at Al
bany, New York, was one Of the most promising
Won fv,f ba