Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1908-11-11
MRS. TAFT A fine
AMERICAN WOMAN
EXCEPTIONALLY WELL FITTED
FOR PLACE AS MISTRESS
OF WHITE HOUSE.
PUTS HOME DUTIES FIRST, BUT
Is AN ADVOCATE OF HIGHER
EDUCATION.

Washington, Nov 7.-Wben Mrs.
Roosevelt leaves Washington next
March her place as first lady of the
land and mistress of the white house
will be taken by a woman gracious
and tactful, of broad culture and in
tellectual strength. a fit hostess for
the presidential mansion and a fit
helpmeet for the president.
Mrs. William Howard Taft is no
stranger to the white house. During
her husbands term as secretary of
war she was a frequent guest of Mrs.
Roosevelt's and almost invariably
held her place in the receiving line at
the large presidential receptions.
In her girlhood days Mrs. Taft, then
Helen Heron, was the house guest
for several weeks of President and
Mrs. Hayes. This visit is said to be
one of Mr.. Taft's most highly priced
recollections, but it may be that in
the earlier day in the white house no
thought entered the head of a young
girl guest that one day she would be
mistress of the mansion.
Well Fitted for High Place.
The new cares and social duties
which Mrs. Taft will have to take on
may tax her strength to the utmost,
but it is probably true that there
could not be found woman better
fitted for the place than the wife of
the next president. She has individu-
atty, strength of character and an
independence of belief, added to a
mind of rare cultivation, the result
of years of study and travel. She
has devoted herself to the care of her
home and children and the seconding
of her husbands public career, and in
the latter capacity she has familiar
lied herself with the great questions
of the dav.
So we'll equipped educationally is
Mrs. Taft that she will not only be
able to converse intelligently on sub
jects of public interest with her own
countrymen, but, being linguist, she
will be able to discourse familarly
with foreign statesmen and diplomats
in their own tongues. 1t is said that
Mrs. Taft has devoted a part of each
day for years to the study of Ian
guages and music, and in both has
attained proficiency reached only
by the few
Original and Has Initiative.
The wife of the new president has
a marked friendliness of manner to-
ward strangers that win and holds
them She is original and has initia-
tive, and much travel has supplied
her with a fund of anecdote which is
never exhausted, and on which she
draws freely as a means of entertain
ment. The earnestness of her man
ner, added to her cordially, has made
Mrs. Taft one of the popular host
esses of the capital city.
Mrs. Taft is a college graduate and
has always advocated the higher edu-
cation of women. She believes that
it rounds out the femininity which is
the charm of every woman, and makes
her better helpmeet for man. It'll
has been said of Mrs. Taft that she
has no wasted moments. She has lit. |
tie likings for things frivolous, and
it is safe to say that the social affairs
given at the presidential mansion dur
ing the Taft regime will appeal to the
intellectual as well as to the pleasure
seeking.
Woman of WeII-Defined Ideas.
Whatever Mrs Taft undertakes she
does well. She has well-defined
ideas, as have all sound-thinking per-
sons, and she has the courage of her
convictions. She is an Episcopalian
and has attended st. Johns church
on Lafayette Square during her resi-
dence in Washington. She adheres
strictly to her churchly duties and
is one of the few women in official
life who have not countenanced the
growing tendency toward Sunday en-
tertainments.
A part of each day is given up to
outdoor exercise. Mrs. Taft has
found that the open air is a cure for
many ills and that brisk walk of
some miles is better than any tonic.
The whitehouse grounds are spacious.
but they do not afford sufficient room
for an extended walk. so the chances
are the Washington residents will
meet the mistress of the white house
taking her customary morning con-
stitutionals up Connecticut avenue or
out on the Tarrytown road. Mrs.
Taft walks whenever she possibly
can, doing her shopping and even cali
ing On foot.
Treasures Collected in Travel.
Mrs Taft has surrounded herself in
her Washington home with the curios
which she has collected on her trips
abroad. Many of these are gifts
from Chinese and Japanese friends
The dismantling of the home on K
street and the removal of all the
treasures to the white house will be a