The Washington times., 1901-09-22
WHITE HOUSE CHILDREN.
President RoOseyelt's Family Soon
to Invade the Mansion.
Six Interesting Young People. Four
of Them Being BOys-Aiice, the
Eldest, Seventeen Years oId-All
Carefully Educated and Wen Bred.

Carefully Educated aud Wen Bred
The historic old White House will soon
ring again with the voices of children.
Since President Cleveland's retirement no
little ones have dwelt there but within a
short time the Roosevelts will take pos
session and then the quaint old Executive
Mansion at Washingtor viii again be
bright and cheerful.
President Roosevelt has a most inter
esting family. 1t consists of his wife and
six children. The eldest of the Roosevelt
children is Alice, aged Il. and the young
est is Quentin. aged 4. Between these are
Theodore, jr, aged II; Kermit, aged u;
Ethel, aged TO- and Archibald, aged Z.
Men elected to the Presidency of the
United States are generally past the me
ridian of life, and as a natural conse-
quence their children are grown up Ihls
has, as rule, confined the occupants OF
the White House to adults. except where
there have been grandchildren There
have been exceptions however.
The White House during President Lin
coins term OF office was made cheerful by
the presence of the Presidents youngest
son, Tad. President Johnson's children
two daughters-were both married by the
time he became head of the nation, but
his three grandchildren. children of Mrs
Daniel Stover, lived with him throughout
his occupancy of the Executive Mansion.
During General Grants term the only
children in the family were those of Gen.
Fred Grant and Mrs. Sartoris, but they
were only occasional visitors at the White
House.
During President Hayes term the Ex-
ecutive Mansion was quiet, for his chill
dren were all grown. President Garfield
had a large family, and during his oc-
cupancy of the Executive Mansion 1t was
ever bright with the faces of happy chill
dren- President Arthur was a widower,
and not until the latter end of President
Cleveland's first term were children
voices again heard in the White House
Baby Mckee, a grandson, made
things lively during President Harrison's
term, but the mansion was comparatively
quiet during the five years MIR and Mrs
Mckinley occupied it. There are no little
children in President McKinley's imnedi-
ate family. The White House was not
desolate during the Mckinley occupancy,
however. for the reason that some of the
Presidents nieces were generally there.
With the entry of the Roosevelt family
the old mansion will be more cheerful than
at any time since the Garfields lived
bright and interesting a sextette as are
to be found in any home in America
They are all strong and rugged and, like
their father are full of activity
The family life of President Roosevelt
has, up to the present time. been closed
to the newspapers. The President HIM
self appears to be as radically opposed as
his wife to anything in the least like
parade of his domestic virtues or the
Juvenile charms of his children for the
admiration of the world that reads and
looks at pictures. During his term as
Governor of New York President Roose-
welt put himself on record with an in
dignant and forcible protest against the
fndecency of a man with a camera who
intruded upon the privacy of his home at
Oyster Bay.
This reticence may not be exactly what
one would expect of d man whose life and
standards of conduct are generally ac
cepted as being of the West Western; but
President Roosevelt is only Western in af-
fairs OF bronchos, lariats, and firearms;
in his home he is Roosevelt. with the
dignified and delicate domestic ethics of
old Dutch New York.
II could not tell you much about the
Roosevelt children, however much l might
want to- said an Intimate friend of the
family recently because / see little of
them, although | visit the home frequent
ly. Mr.. Roosevelt always has some
thing he wants to talk to you
about and he starts with it as soon as ht
catches you. and, while you are there h'
does not want to be bothered with tn,
children. When he wants to romp viii
his children he does not want to be in
terrupted by his friends THAI is th'
whole case in nutshell.
Evidently the new Presidents childrei
are being brought up under a commend
ably oid-fashioned regime. in accordanc
with the old English rule that ''childreI
should be seen and not heard" Mrs
Roosevelt has on several occasions plain
Iy expressed her disapprobation of any
thing which would have a tendency t,
make her children think themselves
any Importance to the public. That the.
have profited by this sensible view
their position is evident to all who hav
come in contact with them, whether a
Washington or at their country home o
Long Island. They are reported on al
hands to be simply hearty. healthy. youni
Americans, entirely without self-con
seriousness or even suspicion OF an.
right to fame on the score of being theil
fathers children
AS the remark of the friend of the fam
ly would seem to imply, there are times
when the President wants to romp with
his little ones without interruption. II Is
a fact not always remembere by the nu-
merous admirers of the President that ht
himself was a ''pigeon-chested and asth-
matte youngster. According to his owl
account he could not keep up with tht
children of his own age either in theif
play or in their school tasks. This may
be a great consolation for the weaker
among the many of his juvenile admirers.
il has probably had much to do with his
insistence upon plenty OF open air exer-
them he becomes for the time being one
of them just as in the Cuban trenches he
worked with a pick among his men. OBJ
iivious for the time of his regimental
rank.
These children, of whom the public
would like to hear so much. and of whom.
for reasons which the public Is bound 10
respect, there is 50 little TO tell, were all
canoe about their given names which
were not chosen for them at AIT lturd
or culled out of the pages Of popuiar-nov'
els Theodore explains itself-the thirt
Roosevelt of that name In direct success
sion beginning with Theodore. the mer
chant and importer of glassware, lathe,
of the new President Kermit one mlgh
suppose to be some ancient Dutch name
taken from the remote history OF th'
Roosevelts; remote its origin may be
bur IL is Manx, not Dutch-Celtc, not Teu
tonic-commemorating its bearer descen
from an ancestor in that quaint isle am
starting him in life with one presuma5l.
az fhe rest, Archibald's first and secou,
names both connect him with the Scottlsi
sncestry the Bulloch family. which set
tied 10 the Southern States and Is stili
well known in Dixie as II was in the day
of the Confederacy, when one of Its mem
Alabama The fiery Huguenot strai
is duly honored In the baby, Quentin. Kei