The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939, 1908-06-26
MRS. TAFT PROUD OF THE FACT
THAT SHE KNOWS HOW TO COOK
BY DOROTHY DALE
Copyright, 1908, by the Newspaper
Enterprise Association)

1
| Enterprise Association
| WASHINGTON, d. c.. June 26.--.
Although fashionable Washington
is done up in meth muslin and the
P. P. C. cards of fleeing officialdom.
have been distributed. Mrs. VIM.
H. Taft, wife of the secretary OF
war, who may be the leading lady
of the land, is still at her home on
X st. NV.
| But Mrs. Taft is not at all. fretted
about it. And 1t is not for cam
paign reasons. She is waiting as
she always does for her youngest
child, Charley, to finish his year
at the Force public school, where
he is in the sixth grade.
| The first visit was at noon, the
morning calling hour at the late
rising capital. was ushered into
a reception room by Filipino but
Ter whose every football brought an
echo as he went up the stairs to
his mistress. There wasn't rug
in the halls or rooms, opening into
each other. There were no hang
ings and the walls were bare OF
pictures Muslin covered the chan
deliers and everything except the
teakwood chair and curious metal
and earthenware vases from the
Orient. The whole place had an in
hospitable, not-at-home appearance.
| When she entered, Mrs. Taft's
manner had much the same tone.
She is a tall, commanding figure
with clear-cut features, steady
gray eyes and luxurious hair slight
ly touched with gray. Even in q
flowing Japanese silk morning
gown she was stately.
After prefacing by saying she
must not be quoted, Mrs. Taft
graciously but conservatively dis
cussed life in the Philippines and
Washington. r
Mrs. Taft told how she plans all
of her childrens clothes, does her
own marketing and orders all her
dinners and functions, besides do
ing all OF the things which her po-
sition as the wife of cabinet
member demands. Her everyday
life shows her a many-sided wom-
an, fond Of society and its exac-
ttions, intensely interested in her
children and their welfare, the
central figure of her home and
withal the busiest woman in
Washington. 4
Mrs. Taft has no secretary as the
other ladies of the cabinet have.
She says frankly that it's because
she cannot afford one. And the
answering Of her voluminous cor
respondence and invitations alone
is big task.
Her mornings are taken up doing
this work, managing her household
doing the daily ordering over the
telephone or going down to the CEN
trail market to pick out choice vege-
tables and foods. Besides there are
frequent callers.
The Taft household staff is not
large. There are only the Filipino,
who is butler, valet and all-round
man in one, cook and housemaid.
During the season the rest of the
day is a whirl of society functions:
Bridge luncheons, stand up func-
tions and dinners are almost the
daily routine. And besides that
the official visits must be made.
Mrs. Taft paid more than 1000 be-
tween Jan. l and the close of the
season at the beginning of May.
There are three children in the
Taft family, Robert IS, Helen is,
and Charley 10.
Robert is in his second year at
Yale and is on his class crew.
Helen, unlike most society buds, Is
to go to college. She will enter
Bryn Mawr in the fall.
The Taft children are public
school products. Mrs. Taft believes
in that. She says that 1t is the
place for American children to be
educated and frowns at any sug-
gestion of European education for
her daughter. A student herself
at the University of Cincinnati. she
approves the academic training for
girl as well as boy.
Mrs. Taft is an ardent patron of
all things musical, is a wide reader,
but claims only one accomplish
ment-cooking She thinks all girls
should learn to cook, but at home.
Domestic science and mental train
ing should not be combined, she
says.
She also believes that women
should vote. That does not mean
hold office, she explains, as that
would cause confusion and tend to
take woman out of the home.
Although in the fashionable sec
ton of Washington, the Taft resi-
dence is unpretentious.
1t is a three-story brick house,
with four rooms on floor. The
first floor is made up of two draw
ing rooms, one On either side of the
hall, library and dining room. The
furniture is almost entirely OF
carved teakwood, brought from the
other side of the world, and few
padded easy chairs. One large one
is the favorite of the big secretary,
but much monopolized by his studi-