The morning times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1897, 1896-08-02

| i askeu her abont her knowledge Of elo-
| cution and oratory.
| An, yes ), she replied, smiling; Il
know little something about it-that is,
| TO say 1 have studied it. II seems to me
| TO be good deal of a waste of time for
| woman, since she can never amount to
| much as orator. Her delivery and presence
| are not sufficiently impressive, it seems
TO me, 10 give weight TO utterances that
would be eloquent delivered by man.
Though her nodesty forhids her say
ing SO there's no doubt that Mrs. Bryan's
| knowledge of the art of Uratory has been
very effective through her husbands aid.
When that tariff speech was delivered Mrs
Bryan was in the gallery. Her anxiety
was plainly to be seen. She knew that she
| must appear composed, Tor her young hus.
| band would from time to time look TO her
+, Tor encouragement; and ii had been ar
| ranged that II any hanges in the volume of
tone were necessary she was 10 signal as
| she had done at the rehearsal. The success
OF Bryan's speech is too well remem bered
to necessitate my describing il and il was
as much Mrs. Bryan's as his. though peo-
| pie did not know that. She was the proueiest
woman III Washington after that and she
said To her friend, Mrs. W C. Whitman, of
Lincoln Il felt as If l could take Off my
nat and throw it up when he had done
| l was 50 glad it was over"
| MIS- Dig stU interest IN ner nuShaftN'S
| career was apparent 10 every one in Wash
ington and she herself admits that she is
fonds of politics.
Mrs. Mckinley regrets that official duties
deprive her even 4 part of the time of the
society OF the husband to whom her life is
devoted.
Mrs. Bryan makes those official duties
part Of her life and identifies herself
so thoroughly with her husbands career
70
own 1t has become second nature to her.
this warfare OF brains. She loves the ex.
element. She reJoices in applause be-
slowed upon the man TO whom she has
given all that woman has 10 give, and
to whose advancement she has shaped her
life. Mrs. Bryan received me on the broad
porch where she had been seated as I
walked up the gravel path. 1t is Il little
difficult to foresec what the DIPLOMATIC
corps will think of her. if in the White
House she should dress with the simplicity
that l noted, and that l understand has
always been her custom, even when she
was in Washington before.
One thing is certain, she will not care
a little bit what they think. There is not
the slightest effort at conforming to the
prevailing fashions in her attire, and
she has never had a ciecollette gown in
her life. Her dress the Afternoon / saw
her was simple black and white striped
Eoverness in hone too fashionable
family. L saw her again on her trip to
Salem, her husbands birthplace, and her
travelling dress was simple in the ex-
IRENE ana fairly appropriate for the pur-
pose. 1t would have looked well had it
not been accompanied by q bonnet of Il
sort with which people in large cities are
not familiar.
But it need not detract from interest
in this possible mistress of the White
House that she cannot be considered well
dressed, for she Is never dressed in bad
taste or overdressed-two faults of which
mistresses of the White House have been
tention aud holds it. Her pale, not sal
low, face bears the unmistakable stamp
OF keen intellectually, and when she smiles,
which is frequently, it becomes as radiant
as sunshine. She is understood and slight,
and is graceful in her every movement.
There is nothing about her OF self-con.
seriousness, and her repose OF manner might
well be envied by many a grand dame in
a gold-bug dra wing-roo She asked ME
whether had seen and reported the cou-
vention. and when she learned that 1 had |
not, described some OF its incidents so |
graphically that she put me at my ease
at once.
II had expected that Bland or Boies |
would be nominated" she said. III |
Boies had been you would have had lots |
OF material to write about the candidates |
family, for he has seven daughters-al |
Boes." The joke was not premeditated, |
nor is anything she says labored or dull |
She has but three children, and of them |
she is justly proud. They are: Ruth, aged |
eleven. n bright, viyacious girl. much like |
her mother; William, jr., aged five, who |
now wants a bicycle, in reference to
which Mrs. Bryan says laughingly that
1t may be e4pedient to get him one to
catch the bicycle vote, and Grace, the |
pet and baby, who has just turned three |
years. I did not see the children about
and inquired for them. and was told that |
they We're at Salem, where I saw them
afterward.
They were hearty, healthy, .'well brought |
up" children, who, in the event of their |
papa's success at the polls, would prove |
worthy successors to the present White |
House children, Ruth, Esther and Marion
Cleveland
when / was admitted to the bar" she
said, 1.-THE women OF our town amused me
not little. or course, it was then rather
more unusual thanit is now fora woman to
be admitted to practice. My friends were
all more or less consumed with curiosity
They called to see me in mum bers and hest
tated and beat about the bush before ap-
preaching the subject that they all wanted
to talk about. About half of them finally |
got around to it, but one and all seemed to
think me great curiosity. In Washing
ton, too. people seemed to think it funny
that was lawyer, and the questions 1
was asked about it were often trying
and ridiculous. One Congressman asked |
me with what branc OF the law wasmost
and I told him domestic rela-
tions'
With all of Mrs. Bryan's ignorance Of So
ety and its ways she possesses an innate
dignity of bearing that has itself more than
once apparent in accepting the public con-
yratulations with which she has been show
cred since the convention. A lady who saw
a good deal Of them In Washington told me
that-sh entertained no fear that Mrs. Ry-
m would wear her honors becomingly II
hey should be forced upon her.
II saw them ct . White House recep-
.ion," she said, "juss sitter Mr.. Bryan's ia
nous speech. Everybody wanted to see
him and hts lawyer wife. Mrs Bryan ap-
feared in high necked, long slceved,