The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1901-11-09

wear and tear of being at the
seething heart of things po-
litical must tell more or less
on the strongest nervous sys-
tenn, SO that no ex-preSident of the
| United States has yet lived to be very
old. With the women who for the time
filed the place of first lady of the land
it is somehow different. Perhaps social
triumphs and happiness prolong life
At any rate, while only one ex-presi-
dent survives, there are now living eight
women who were once mistresses of
the White House. The list includes
Mrs, Benjamin Harrison. who during
the invalid period and fatal illness of
her aunt, the first Mrs. Harrison, pre-
sided over such social life as there was
in the executive mansion in those days.
Here is the list of the living ex-mis-
tresses of the White House: Mrs. Lett
tia Tyler Semple, Mrs. Betty Taylor
cambridge, Mrs. Harriet Lane John
ston, Mrs. Julia Dent Grant Mrs Lu-
cretia Garfield, Mrs. Harrison, Mrs.
Cleveland and Mrs. Mckinley.
In the happening of American events
it seems two centuries since John Tyler
was president, but thousands of people
yet remember when, in the early for
ties, Mrs. Letitia Tyler Semple, second
daughter of President Tyler, was at the
head of his household and of the social
life at Washington. 1t was in the nat
ural normal days when people ate din
ner by daylight and balls and evening
parties ended at IL. Happy days of
yore! Mrs. Sesnple was noted as
brilliant, graceful and tactful first lady,
and her fine qualities were never more
conspicuously displayed than when she
planned a magnificent reception in the
White House on the occasion of her IA
theirs second marriage, welcoming roy
ally and cordially the young stepmoth-
er who was actually and at once to dis
place herself. For this, if for nothing else,
Letitia Tyler Semple deserved to live
long, likewise to be richer than she now
is She lives in a home for the aged at
Washington. She is a handsome wom-
an still, with a profusion of white hair
and a fine, strong face that bears re-
narka BILE resemblance to the portraits
of her father, John Tyler
gentle graceful and touching re-
nembrance of Mr.. Mckinley is con-
nected with the venerable Mrs. Semple
Every Saturday morning when he was
in Washington the late president sent
her a bunch of rare cut flowers from
the White House conservatories, often
Then there is Mrs. Betty Taylor Dan
bridge, President Zachary Taylors
daughter, who held brief but brilliant
reign in the White House from March,
1919, till July, 1850, when her fathers
untimely death ended it. She was then
Mrs Bliss. Like Mrs. Semple, she was
a young married woman when she
came to head the social proceedings at
Washington. Southern fashion, they
aollo1 ba7- Miss RpttU then and Miss
Betty she is today to her familiar serv
itors After the death of her father
her mother and her first husband she
married a membe of the ancient and
honorable cambridge family of Virginia,
and at historic Winchester. Va, she
resides in the midst of luxury, tended
by those whom she loves. She lives so
quietly that few of the American peo-
pie know there still survives one who
is a daughter of General Zachary Tay-
lor and a brilliant ex-mistress of the
White House.
A writer has somewhere spoken re-
Gently of Mrs Harriet Lane Johnston
as one of the forgotten mistresses of
the presidential mansion. That writer
spoke not well. Harriet Lane Johnston,
niece of James Buchanan, the bachelor
president will never be forgotten in the
social history of the United States
Her reign marked a distinct social de-
parture at Washington From the days
of sweet, bright Dolly Madison till the
regime of Harriet Lane the social life
and usages at Washington had been
the social life and usages of the south
particularly those of Virginia. These
went without question. But previous to
assuming the reins of her gentle, court
ly government Harriet Lane had ac-
companied her uncle to England in his
capacity as American minister. She