The National tribune., 1903-01-01

his natty yellow sash tied quite properly
Let the procession move" he ordered
and it moved, an attendant from tn
White House, Tom Pendel, who is ye
there. going with the wilful child. Blu
| they carried with them joy for hundre
or more sick men. All the long Afternoon
| little Tad rode about on the old cart dis
pensing rays of sunshine to the sad-heart
ed, discouraged men. When he got back t
the White House just at night, Mrs. Lin
coin was very angry with him, and woult
probably have spanked him, if it had beel
wise thing to do, but she didn't. Their,
are men from those hospitals who re
member the child's gentle Christmas deeds
and they would not let the memory so fo
many bright golden dollars.
Carloads of stuff are brought into thu
White House every Christmas, sent b,
admiring friends from Alaska to Cuba
and from Portland. Me-. to the Philip
pines, but little Tad's example has never
Ssncc been emulated. The things go VI
into the garnet for time. Nobody know.
where they land eventually. That ole
White House garnet is a good cemetery
1t never yields up its secrets. If it only
could!
President Johnson's grandchildren and
the Hayes and Grant children made mer
~ in the old house at Christmastide, but
they were too large for Christmas trees
They had delightful children S parties, and
danced III the East Room, and ate in the
big. bare old State Dinlng-rOom, but Kris
kringle did not come to the inmates OF
the house except by the most decorous
route. During the last term OF the
Clevelands the small daughters had splen-
'hI.iSf WI heel
ly the same spot where Tad Lincoln $
used to stand. There was never a great
deal of local interest i'll these children. dow
ever. because the parents tried SO hard to
stifie all healthy curiosity about them, that
Il feeling OF Indifference grew up concern
ing them. Ruth was not pretty little
child, and she had such viXenish temper
that she was always unattractiye. She
had Il habit of throwing herself on the
moor or the sidewalk, or wherever she
happened to be, and squallins at the top
of her shrill voice.
When she was taken out by her nurse,
it was incognito, like the foreign princess,
don't you know. and orders were very
strict that she was not to be spoken to
by anyone. nor was anybody to know that
she was the daughter of the President.
When the other youngsters came along,
the same drastic orders were extended to
cover them.
The contrast between the Cleyelands
and the Roosevelts in this respect is most
marked. There was a time when Mr..
Roosevelt resented most emphatically any
mention of his wife and children in the
papers, but all that is changed now. AS
for the White House, thcy-the children
own it. If Archie wants to go into the
Cabinet Room to eat slice of cake or a
piece of pie, he goes, and exchanges conf
dences with the august ministers who are
his fathers advisers. while he is getting
sugary crumbs on the velvet carpet and
daubing the rosewood furniture with his
sticky hands. They tell a story, too,
about Kermit's rushing into an important
Cabinet meeting one day, and whispering
an excited message into his fathers will
ing ears. The two Immediately left the
room. When the President came back,
he said that Kermit's prize chickens were
about to chew each other up, and then
the Cabinet conference was continued.
With children like this in the White
House it can easily be believed that they
had jolly time Christmas, and the Presi-
dent and Mrs. Roosevelt gave them an
undivided day. When evening came
there was grand family dinner party
in the big new State Dining-room, which
would look like a baronial hall il it only
had dirty, smoke-stained rafters and its
and yelvet-hung walls did not
smell so new. There are stays heads and
an elk's head--the largest in the world
deers heads. panels Of stuffed birds, and
a lot of other things hung evound-tro-
plies of the hunt and hook.
Holly and mistletoe were everywhere
abundant. Without holly it would not be
Christmas. Every man wore sprig Of
it, and the women wore the little white
wax berries of the mistletoe. 1t is so
pretty, and then the little Christmas Ii
cense that wearing it gives gave piquance
to the daring also. 1t was white
Christmas" here, and that brought joy to
the superstitious, though those who lacked
coal would gladly have held the supersti-
ton in allegiance for the sake of warmth.
The day was quite fully celebrated in all
the Legation homes, some of the foreign
ers entertaining in regal magnifcence.
Taking it altogether, Christmas Of 1902
was happy one.
Since we have got the Philippines our
code Of sa!utes has been changed to give
to the officers over there. Sa-
lutes may now be fired on Sunday when
required as matter of international cour-
tesy. An ex-President of the United
States gets q guns and the Vice Governor
Of the Philippines II guns, the same as
received by the Assistant Secretary Of
War.
II is said that Secretary Of War Elihu
Root is very anxious to resign the port
he has set himself to do by April that he
win get out of the Cabinet by that time
There are doubtless plenty Of men who
will try to worry around on his beat il he
will give them a chance.
DR.. D. E. Salmon, Chief Of the United
States Bureau Of Animal Industry, says
very emphatically that the only wise way
and expeditions way to stamp out the
foot and mouth disease is to kill the dis
eased animals. There have been 1900
head Of cattle killed in Massachusetts
alone. 1t is strenuous luck, to say the
least but it would be a sitter proposition
il the disease got into the great herds of
cattle beyond the Mississippi.
The first Of the series Of State recep-
tons will be held at the White House on
the evening of Jan. 8, 1903. 1t Il given
in honor Of the foreign representatives,
and is known as the Diplomatic Recep-
ton" 1t is supposed to be the very
SWEETEST reception Of the series Of four.
The invitation is like a call to court, it
must be accepted, sickness or death be-
ing the only bar. And 1t sure is one of