Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1889-04-19

| with faces that have been scrubbed into q
shiny redness, and in Immediately white
| and stiff pinafores that will be sadly discol-
ored and limp before the day is donel Tots
| In patched dresses and little pink toes peeping
| through their shoes, but happy as chipmunks
! on All autumn dayl Pickaninny tots, with
faces as black as Michigan soil. hopping and
| skipping with Understandable gleel Smutch
faced totsl Garterless tots, with stockings
hanging down. But all Of them deliriously
| happy totsi
| the children are on their way to the White
House grounds to spend the day.
The children of Washington have more
| genuinely enjoyable time on Easter Monday
than during all Of the Christmas holidays
They look forward to it as the greatest vent
Of the year. True, during tho Christmas
season they are given any amount Of plum
pudding, rninco pie, turkey and pink and
yellow candy, but the close of the festivities
usually finds them in a condition Of satiated
disgust and they secretly wish the thing were
over.
Easter Monday does not consist in the
munching of indigestibles. 1t is simply a
grand romp on the undulating lawns sur
rounding the mansion of the nations presi-
dent.
Washington is always beautiful In the
Easter season. The rains of the early spring
havo ceased, and tree and flower havo sud-
denly burst into bloom Tho air is filed with
the perfume Of tho hyacinths that are 80
plentiful in tho parks and the lilacs, dande-
lions and snowballs insert their rich colors in
the most radiant spring Kaleidoscope to be
seen in the United States. The grounds sur
rounding the White House are beautiful in
design and coloring, and the spectacle Of
thousands of children dancing over them,
bathed in the warm light Of the spring sun, is
one Of exquisite picturesqueness The groups
| of toddlers extend as far over as the Washing
ton monument, which looks like gigantic
marble finger pointing into space. Most Of
tho children are with the parents or nurses,
but it requires the most careful watching to
keep the young ones from getting lost in the
ever moving crowd. The children, most of
whom arc provided with little fancy basket
OF variously colored eggs, roll them down the
slopes Of the many mounds on the grounds
and when they are broken they distribute
them among the numerous ragged bootblacks
and homeless urchins who stani around and
eat an enormous number Of eggs without
turning hair.
In this common playground all distinctions
OF race, color and previous and present con-
mentioned atiluent tots will roll and romp
and crack eggs with the contingent from
Toddledom in Swampdoode lone of Wash
ington's rough spots, and before the day Is
over their mothers are talking contidentially
together, comparing the various points Of
their progeny.
The lady of the White House usually min
giles with the children for an hour or SO on
Easter Monday Nellie Arthur, the daugh-
ter of the late ex-President Arthur, used to
take part in the egg rolling games herself
Mrs Cleveland always made it point to be
among the children on the White Lot on
Easter Monday, and would amuse them and
coddle and coax them with skill that was
the admiration of all the newspaper CORE
spondents in Washington.
The spectacle of this most beautiful Of
White House mistresses carrying little
ragged girl on her shoulders, or taking
bunch OF violets from her dress to give to
little boy who asked for them, would make
striking enough pictures to hang on the walls
of the executive mansion. When Gen Grant
was president no used to stroll out to bench
in the White Lot, where he would sit, putting
at a cigar and watching the antics of the
children Tho fun. is kept up without cessa-
ton from early morning until darkness be-
gins to fall, when the children, thoroughly
played out, but with healthy glow in their
checks, are marched off to home and to bed
1t takes some days for the gardeners of the
White House to clear the grounds of egg
shells.
1t is not in the White Lot alone that these
Easter egg rollings take place, but in all of the
larger parks of the city The spacious grounds
surrounding the Capitol used to be great
place for the children, but the great marble
terrace which is now being completed has
spoiled the hull for egg rolling
CLARENCE I. CULLEN.