Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-05-25

nice about Turkey and the Turks, though,
and these boys become excited at once.
They begin to jabber to each other at the
rate OF ninety miles an hour. and then be-
gin to belittle the Turk and to talk about
what a great people the Greeks are. Just
remark that the Turks are good, fine, and
that they can whip dozen or SO Greeks
and you will have trouble in getting your
shoes shined. Every Greek boy In the
place will make motions swear that the
Turk Is a coward and a dog; that he is mo
good and that one Greek can put to flight
twenty Turks. The other day one OF them
went TO the back of the shop. got Greek
newspaper and showed 1t to me, pointing al
the picture of beplumed helmeted Greek
of modern days. l couldn't just make out
who he was. but he seemed to be Greek
athlete of renown. They told me that he
was a strong man. and that he could Hex
everything in Turkey. When l went out
the last time I had them almost fighting
among themselves. and banging their fists
against the usurpers."
The people of the United States have
been pretty well informed Of all the ac-
complishments and good qualities Of Sec
rotary Taft. and they thought they knew
about all that the genial Secretary Of War
could do. But on the night that the Sec
rotary gave his brilliant reception at the
New Willard to Gen. Kuroki he demon
strated that among his other accomplish
ments was that of being a graceful dancer,
and that he could waltz, despite his 800
pounds, as we'll as the youngest officer in
the army. If Secretary Taft becomes the
republican candidate for president he Is
pretty sure of getting the solid vote of the
dancing men. On the night in question the
Secretary, had manfully gone through the
task Of being host at the most brilliant
military dinner ever given in this coun-
try and then stood for several hours greet
ing and shaking hands with at least 1,2OO
people at the reception which followed.
1t was near midnight and the crowd had
begun to thin out when the younger Off
GERS of the army could no longer resist the
temptation OF. a waltz over the beautifully
waxed floor The young ladies present were
equally as anxious to dance. and when the
Marine Band startedto play an enticing
waltz, the floor was soon filed Then 1t
was that Secretary aft. despite the labor
of the evening, could not resist the music,
and choosing one of the most beautiful! OF
his guests, he Joined the walters. For a
time the hundreds of his guests could
never known that the heavyweight Secre-
tary was a devotee of Terpsfchore. The
Secretary, however, by his light and grace
full movements, put to shame many OF the
tipping the light fantastic. He danced
out the number, and when the band
played another waltz he chose another
partner. and. as she put it, waltzed as
ting over a garden of flowers" His sue
cess was so great that almost every lady
in the room was anxious to be waltzed
around again by Willie"
The Secretary, fearing disastrous result
from further efforts, sent word to the Ma
rine Band to play Home. Sweet Home"
thus automatically ending the dancing
without offending any Of his would-be part
ners.
While this is the first time Secretary Taft
has been known to dance in Washington. he
was quite famous as dancer in the Phil
ippines. While governor general OF the
islands Mr.. Taft first scored as a leader
Of the cotillon and established his great
popularity among the high-class Fflipinos.
When he first arrived in the islands and
assumed the governorship he became pop
ular with the ladies by leading the cotil-
Ions and selecting his partners from among
the wives of the leading Filipino citizens.
It was considered a great honor by the
ladies to be selected as the partnersin the
dance by the governor general Not only
did Mr.. Taft lead the cotillons, but he
Joined In the merry waltz. and completely
captivated the brunette beauties Of the
archipelago by his dancing