Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-01-18
Ten Pr.sider Is o. One Mind.

OF all the employees of the White
House. the oldest is Captain Pendel,
Chief Doorkeeper and Usher. He was
appointed by President Lincoln in De-
ceriber, 1864, and has held his place
tn rough all administrations since the
Civil War. For more than a genera
ton. therefore. he has been showing
visitors into the East Room, nearly two
million persons in all.
One day Mr.. Mckinley advised Pen
del 10 write his "reminiscences. The
Chief Usher acted upon the suggestion,
and a volume setting forth his expert
ences during thirty-seven years of ser
vice in the White House, has just been
issued. In its pages the author tells
how it was he who went to Boston and
posed for the figure of Lincoln in the
famous Hunt Portrait of the great and
good President. and how the portrait
was later destroyed in the great Bos-
ton fire. Pendel it was who accom-
panied Johnson on one of the rare oc
casions on which that President at
tended services at the Methodist
church: for, while johnson was
Christian believer. he was not a regu
Ian church member. Then 1t was the
Chief Usher who. through Grants two
terms in office, often protected the
President from the wiles of unworthy
Office seekers. who resorted TO all sorts
ri tricks to get the ear of the General.
Again he ate Thanksgiving dinner
with Hayes-the only President who
has ever invited the employees of the
White House to share with him the
Thanksgiving turkey. When Garfield
vas shot. the Usher helped carry the
wounded President up stairs when the
latter reached the White House. Pres
ident Arthur liked certain modest
band Of cigars, and il was Pendel
who was commissioned to stop at a
little Pennsylvania avenue shop and
buy smoke" for the First Gentle
T.an of America. Pendel it was who
packed the duck shooting kits for
Cleveland. He was reader in ordinary
T. Harrison. keeping the President
posted daily on events as summed up
in the newspapers. President McKin-
ley was his friend. And finally, the
Chief Usher was the first employee Of
the White House to grasp the hand OF
Theodore Roosevelt as President of
the United States.
Among the ITshers interesting coll
lection of tales out Of school, is one cit
ing 4 singular coincidence in which all
The ten Presidents whose habits he
knew so well. were Of one mind. This
is n story of the one thing besides soap
and water. which all the Presidents
used i'll common. 1t was q little thing
but it is just such trifles that impress
rDoH us the fact that great men are
bu, human. II was toilet ARTICLE.
There always have been many rivals
cI this particular article, but curiousiy
nnugh. all the Presidents from Lin
oolE to Roosevelt have had an identical
iuea concerning the brand Of their
choice. The Presidents of thirty
years ago and their successors used H.
rs did all persons of refinement i'm
their time. Reference is made to DR..
Lyons Perfect Tooth Powder. Today.
as though the habit were presidentialIy
Inherited. one Of II the familiar blue
eirameled boxes containing the pow
der. stands beside every toothbrush
in the bed-chambers of the Roosevelt
family. AS the package is metal il
viii not break, and as it has a patent
telescope measuring tube. it is always
corked and is. therefore, a convenience
IN toilet bags of travellers as well as a
luxury in the boudoirs of stav-at-
home. General Grant carried ii with
him on his tour round the world
From New York Press.