Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-12-19
WHITE HOUSE TURKEYS
President Will Give Every
Family Man a Bird.
CHILDREN'SCHRISTMAS
YOUNGER ONES WILL HANG
THEIR STOCKINGS FOR SANTA.
"reminiscences Of Days Of Yore Recall
ed by 0ld-Time Attaches Of the
Executive Mansion.
CHILDREN'SCHRISTMAS

Everybody around the White House will
be made happy this Christmas. for the
President has ordered his steward, Henry
| Pinckney, to give to every married or fam
| lily man In the building. and connected with
! the service Of the executive mansion. big,
fat turkey. The order Of the President re-
| quires just 125 turkeys. and as they will
| average above ten pounds each the dis
tribution will amount to nearly ton of
| dressed fowl. and cost the President a neat
| sum. Dvery attache Of the White House
who has family, every policeman In the
| grounds, all the men who are connected
with the greenhouses and all the employees
at the stables will get turkey on Christ
| mas eve Because of the scarcity of tur-
| keys he has had some trouble securing
| them. except at high prices. They are to be
| brought direct from the country, and will
| be killed and cleaned the night before pre-
sentation to the White House force.
In distributing turkeys President Roose-
| welt follows practice set by President Nc
| Kinley, but the present list is by long odds
| the most extensive ever made up. President
| McKtnley's practice was to give turkey to
t every man Of family Immediately in the
| White House and present of some other
| kind to the single men. The latter received
| stick pins cuff buttons and similar articles.
| The number of turkeys used as presents
never exceeded thirty or forty. There are
! not many single men on duty at the White
House now.
Family Gathering.
While all the Roosevelt children will en-
| joy Christmas day. and the festivities of the
week following, only few of them will
| participate in the time-honored practice of
hanging up the stockings for the visit Of
Santa Claus. Ethel Archie and Quentin
are the young members of the family who
may indulge in the traditional custom, al
though it is limited among the household
servants that one and possibly two of these
| youngsters have reached the point in
knowledge of the fables of the world when
they may receive their presents in a more
practical manner. Quentin is five years
old. All of the Roosevelt children will be
at home, those who are away In school
coming home several days before Christ
mas.
A Christmas tree has not yet been deter
mined upon, and there may not be one
This will be decided by the wishes of the
children. Santa Claus will not be forgetful
of the little ones in the way of presents and
good things, and the larger ones will be re-
membered by father and mother, members
Of the family and friends. The usual ex-
change of presents and tokens Will take
place Christmas morning among the family.
Besides the presents of the President and
his wife, the Roosevelt children will prob
ably receive many gifts from strangers in
all parts Of the country. Express wagons
Will PROBABLY commence TO roll up TO tnS
White House on Monday with packages
that come from well-wishers of the Presi-
dent and his family throughout the coun-
try. The President and his wife no doubt
will be also remembered in this way, but
the largest number of presents will be for
the children. Mrs j. Roosevelt will have
these packages stored away until Christ
mas morning, when they will be turned
over to the ones for whom they are in
tended.
There viii be no lack OF JOY and frolic
among the children Christmas day. With
them will be some of their little friends
and the President and his wife will not in
terfere with the livelness Of the celebra-
ton and the romp and play. The children
will run over the grounds and through the
building much as they have always done in
their spacious home at Oyster Bay. From
a juvenile point of view the celebration In
the White House will not have been equal
ed since the days when the Cleveland chill
dren were here. President Cleveland in
dulged the children In the enjoyment of the
day. and bought many presents for his lit
tie ones. One of his presents one year was
a nickel-plated tricycle. for Ruth which he
helped teach the child to ride. When she
had mastered the machine and furiously
rode up and down the Railways of the ex-
ecutive mansion he made no objections.
Mrs. Cleveland frequently sent many or the
presents which people all over the country
sent to her children to institutions In this
city where orphan children were received.
Two years ago the President distributed
the presents IRON Tic SIIlSliIidS tiCo given
In the Cove School house at Oyster Bay. He
was the central figure on that occasion, and
the children Of Oyster Bay will remember
the event for many years.
First Christmas Trees.
Within the recollection of the Oldest en-
ployes Of the White House there were no
Christmas trees up to the time of the Har-
rtson administration. President Johnson
had a number Of grandchildren, but has
children were all too old for such juvenile
festivities as Christmas trees.
The Grant children were also beyond the
age when Christmas trees are enjoyable
The Christmases of the Hayeses and OF
the Harrisons were the most ideal of any,
so far as the attaches and employees of tie
White House were concerned. The feature
of the Christmases of the White House un-
der President and Mrs. Hayes was the dis
trlbution of presents TOT all the persons en-
before each Christmas Mrs. Hayes always
sent Col. w. H. Crook. the present disburs-
ing officer Of the White House. and Maj.
Webb Hayes, then young man. to visit
the stores of Washington to select presents
for all in the White House. from the
highest official to the lowest and most hum
BILE servant Each present would bear
card, upon which was written the name of
the person for whom it was intended
On Christmas morning all Of the presents
would be placed In the hallway of the pri-
vate part Of the White House. Then Presi-
dent and Mrs. Hayes would go into the
big, roomy library and send for the men,
beers of the family and employees. The
President himself took a most lively in
terest in the events that followed. It was
the duty of Scott Hayes and Fannie Hayes,
then children, to play the part of Santa
Claus.
One of them would go into the hallway
and carry a present to President Hayes,
who would read the name of the person
for whom it was intended and direct it's
presentation. Upon the retirement of this
child the other would enter with a present,
and so the ceremony continued until a ore g.
ent had been given to each person. One OF
the first presents that Colonel Crook re-
ceived was a silver pitcher He still re-
tairs 1t as valuable souvenir of the Hayes
administration.
President and Mrs. Harrison also distrib-
uted presents to all OF the White House en-
ployes, but they did II by. a Christmas tree.
With the exception gof Baby" Mckee, a
grandchild, there were no children In tne
Harrison family and so the Christmas
trees were given especially for the benefit
Of the employees. This tree was always
generously filed, and every person was re.
membered. President Harrison, with that
quiet dignity that always characterized him.
took a deep interest in the annual Christ
mas tree.
Memories of Old DAVIS