Weekly journal-miner., 1909-10-13
TAFT'S TEACHER |S RESIDENT OF
 PRESCOTT
From Wednesdays Dailyl

HeeI NiJn One ol tHe mOSG dSItcdi i' surprises he has come face to fac, with in his long journey through the country. It will be that memorable event that will take hlm back tC his school days when a boy and aftGr forty years have passed he will he greeted by his former school teachc in Cincinnati in Mrs. Mary B. Cul lumber, a prominent resident of this city today.
 Learning of the noteworthy and pleasant position this pioneer lacy oi Prescott enjoys so far as it attaches to the president of the nation, she was called upon yesterday by a rep resentative of the Journal-Miner and in answer to questions gave a brief but intensely interesting reminisence of the past, so far as it applies co the earlier life of the nation ex- eeutive and especially 90 of his boy hood days when Ee was under the guiding rod of the school marm for the short space of two years.
 In that time, Mrs. Cullumber says:
 ''wiIlie Taft was not unlike otLer boys, but in one respect he did diff fer from any one of the hundreds that I was assigned to teach. He had that smile that has made his famous all over the nation. I can recall the day as of yesterday, when I saw him in the school room of the sixteenth district of Cincinnati and after forty years have passed, see again the old reflection of that smile that VII; not efface from memory.
 "He was such good natured boy and in all the large class membership that one distinctive feature in Lis facial expression ha- followed hn down through all these years and to me it is just today as when he Wa. twelve years of age.
 fWhen he came into prominence q few years ago as a possible, candidate for the presidency and when his photo was before me in all of its ifelike mood, I mentioned this incident of the boys expression as 1 recalled it so long ago and when his smile came into the prominence that has made him famous and he ascerded the high est station the American people can bestow, his smile to me was just tho same.
 "There is nothing assumed in that facial expression he is noted for, it IS simply inherent, and I don't eaIe what other people may say to the contrary. It is an absolutely lifelike portrayal of his true nature. That IS one of the strongest characteristics I knew of him when he W: a pupil in my department and the other was his careless and unconcerned manners all tempered with an excellent dis position
 Continuing, Mrs. CulIumter said:
 "For twenty-four years was ea,- schools of Ohio and hat my name may be recalled in educational chan nels of that day, will inform you that the records will show that Mary B. Ray was so employed that being my maiden name. When President Taft was my pupil I was assigned by the principal of the public schools of Cincinnati to the drawing depart ment and in this capacity I was for incidentally speaking, took me away from the department that 'Wiiiie' was in. I then was ordered tc Ice ture before the norma! school ard in the long years of my teaching pass ed from one course to smother, rnt,i finally my mother Mary Ray, head of Arizona and the splendid inouce- ments financially that were open to one of my experience in teaching and just thirty-five years ago next Thanksgiving we arrived in Presc Iit.
 "There are, as you know, many of the pioneers still alive who will re- call the day of cur arrival and I believe there are several of my for mer pupils residing in Prescott who will remember the strict teacher that Mary B. Ray was when she tausft in the schools of this city. For eleven years I was employed as a teacher here and after left the city schools I taught at Fort Whiqple and had several children of the officers ln my school. Retiring from the teachers profession I was married to Allan Cullumber of Walnut Grove.
 "But to revert to President Taft nnd his coming to Prescott next week. I have been in poor health for some time and for the last three