The Washington herald., 1908-03-02

NeAlN dlAu TIE lISk lsdGy Ol the LdlQ are
over. the official dinners eaten. the musi-
Gales have closed series Of bright pano-
ramas in the big East Room, and the
family OF the Chief Executive VIII settle
down 70 a period Of well-earned rest. for
time at least. 'It is perfectly wonder
full what the people will undergo and
suffer in order to shake hands with the
President at the White House recep-
tions," wrote Tom Pendel. for many
years a member Of the White House
staff. And Tom Pen" as little Tad Lin
coin affectionately called him, was not
far from the truth. The ordeal, however,
is harder on the President, who must
stand in one place for two hours and
shake the hands OF rarely less than 1000
people. II takes a hardy. outdoor man,
such as the incumbent OF the White
House, with muscles toughened by tennis
playing and by lifting hard-mouthed
horses over hurdles to stand such a test.
Gen. Grant, soldier as he was. is said TO
have suffered great pain in his arm for
days after a large reception. while Gen.
Washington escaped all such tributes to
popularity by never shaking hands at his
principal levees-
There have been many other changes
since President Washington and Mrs.
Washington set up, tho American court in
the mansion OF Robert Morris. in Phila-
delphia. which was ADDED to and re-
decorated for the purpose and rented 20
the government for 5000 a year. Here
the first President received every other
Tuesday from to o'clock in the after
noon. HIS guests forming In circle in
the dining-room. and he passing around
l.. fffVw Ia Il .fri
sword and carried a cooked hat under
his arm at these receptions, when he ap-
peared as the head OF the new nation.
but when Mrs. Washington received he
appeared at her levees as a private citizen
with the hat and sword conspicuousiy
absent
But already the desire to have a voice
in all matters had become evident in the
people, for in Washington's seeond term
there were many who openly criticised his
bow. II was too formal, and his manner
was too reserved He could be something
OF dictator, IL is true, for when Citizen
Genet refused to enter the Executive
Mansion because a portrait OF Louis XVI
hung in the hall. offending his republican
spirit. Washington promptly had him re-
called Before this. when New York was
the Capital Of the United States. and the
Cherry street and Franklin Square, there
were many dinners, private theatricals,
and a few balls, besides the Ievees. al
though Mrs Washington did not care for
balls. She preferred her afternoons, where
cOffee and cake. and the first ice cream
were served. and quiet dinners with
Robert Norris Benjamin Chew, Edward
ShippeR, and DR. Rush 70 enliven her
guests.
When Washington was a city without
houses and Georgetown a city without
streets" as a witty French traveller de-
scribed it, John Adams and his clever
wife braved the bottomless mud of the
roads from the East and came 10 the
unfinished White House. To see the great
East Room, with its dignifed simplicity
and its coterie Of distinguished guests
that graces each Of the four great semi
official receptions each season. one smiles
10 recall a passage from Mrs Adams
letters: THE great unfinished audience
room 1 made a drying room of 70 hang
clothes in" For there were only six
chambers finished. not fires enough, and
only a little oval room on the second
floor for the public Ievees, the first being
on New Years Day. 1901.
Jefferson. to accentuate the great de-
mocracy OF his spirit. did away with the
levees that he fancied savored too much |
of court life, and held each year two pub |
lie receptions, one on January /, and ono |
on July 4. Mrs. Madison, fond of driv- !
Ing over 70 Cherry alley. Georgetown, or |
out to Bladensburg for tea, had her
social seasons rather broken into bv |
British intervention. Yet when the White |
House had been rendered uninhabitable |
by fire. she moved her democratic court |
10 the famous Octagon House, and so |
great was her hospitality the day that the |
treaty OF Client was signed In one of the |
upper rooms. that her servants. even.
were iEcapacitated for work by two fire.
quent potations IN the wine that flowed |
freely in the cause Of peace.
Mrs. Madison held many levees. and
mingled freely with her guests. The |
timid and awkward were her especial |
care. Once seeing an embarrassed coun- |
try youth stand against the wall for half /
an hour or so, she went over TO chat with /
him. The boy had his coffee cup still in |
his hand. and. being overawed by the ap-
preaching presence. dropped the saucer |
on the floor and thrust the cup in his /
trousers pocket. Mrs. Madison ordered
more coffee, commenting on the pushing |
OF the crowd. and when she went away
the fiattered youth drew out the cup and |
thought she had never known of his en-
barrassment.
There were some warm times in the
White House IN Jackson's time. Because
he championed the gay Peggy ONeal. |
then Mrs. Eaton. wife of JacksonS Sec |
retary Of War. he brought down the
wrath Of the Cabinet ladies. and. not
being able to manage these as he had
managed ali other people, Jackson suf- |
fered distress of spirit until his Cabinet |
was well-nigh disrupted and he had sent |
his niece, Mrs. Donelson, the then mis- |
tress Of the White House. back to Ten
nessee in tears Mrs. Fillmore, once a |
clever schoolmistress, eager for addi- |
uonal intellectual pabulum. was the one |
who first had books selected for a White
House library. She held Friday evening |
levees, despite weak ankle, and divided |
her home-loving heart with the public |
who clamored for receptions.
Poor Mrs. Lincoln, who came at a very
trying season. won the disapproval OF
society by spending much Of her time
shopping in New York. when the other
women OF the North were scraping lint /
and rolling bandages for the soldiers at
the front and while she cut out the state
dinners for economical reasons, she gave
a great $4,000 reception that brought
down even greater censure on her head. |
It was too difficult a place and too par
Ions a time for even the most finished /
hostess TO find success perched on her
banner. and the lines wera hard fnr tha |