The Detroit times., 1909-04-15
TEACHERS RAMBLE
ABOUT WASHINGTON
Detroit Party Presented To Presi.
dent Taft and Spend Interesting
Hours in Sightseeing.

ho AhSaaOSto Va thC RottJ shAe WIN
on the teachers Easter excursion
were. perhaps. the frst Detroiters TO
be received by President Taft since
his elevation to the ONCE OF chief ex-
ecutive.
the party that left Detroit just after
the close OF the public schools. Satur-
day. April 3. but not all were instruc-
tors, although the excursion was In
tended primarily for teachers. Among
! those who went on the trip was Miss
Anna Conway. one OF the bright young
teachers In the Alger school, and she,
with the others report delightful
trip from the time they left Detroit
until they returned. Not the feast In
lteresting OF the experiences while
away was the reception accorded the
members of the party by the presi-
dent, the affair having been previous
lily arranged by Congressman Edwin
DENLY.
''Of course. we were all excitement
to see President Taft" says Miss
Conway. Congressman DENLY had
made all arrangements. To be admit
ted TO the White House we were oblig-
ed to present cards at the door, and
were then ushered into the east room.
Here We waited. with several other
parties that were to be received at the
same time, until the president made
his appearance. He was accompanied
by two officers in uniform and two Sc
cret service men.
las We approached him to be intro
duced, the officer asked each one OF
US to pronounce his name plainly and
distinctly. and he in turn repeated 1t
when presenting US. President Taft
gave each one hearty hand grasp
and we passed on to the next room.
While the line was passing, 1t was no.
ticeable that one Of the secret service
men kept his head in one position,
looking intently at the hands of each
person that passed before him. That.
no doubt. was to be on the lookout for
any weapon that some crank might
have.
President Taft made no speech. He
simply greeted US In cordial way
and had a pleasant smile for all AZ
forwards, We went through the White
House. which was deliberately decorat-
ed with a profusion OF the most beau
tiful roses, and from the windows we
could see dozens of the magnolia
trees In full bloom on the grounds.
While in Washington we went to
the United States supre ne court room,
and were there when the judges
entered in the full robes OF their Of
fee. We spent some time in the SEN
ate and saw Senator Smith, from
Michigan and Also saw 'vice-Press.
dent Sherman presiding. Later we
went to the house If representatives.
In the latter place, there was dis
cussfon on concerning the tariff and
lit seemed a perfect oabble Of voices,
the members all trying to talk at
once, like lot OF children. One rep
resentative declared that IL the tariff
were to be increased on women's
hosiery and gloves, IL was no more
than fair that French briar pipes for
men should have an additional tax.
That was about the only thing We
could hear concerning the proposed
change in the bill.
"Of course, we visited the various
public buildings, including the mag
nificent congressional library. One
peculiar thing that struck me was the
lact that on one side of the street
there would be the costliest buildings,
while on the other there would be
tumble-down old shacks. In this re-
spect, the city of Washington was
disappointment
Then. we made trip TO Mt. Yer
non and saw Washington's old home
and his tomb. and also visited Airing
ton Heights, where so many OF the
nations dead are buried-thousand
in unmarked graves.
"A feature Of the city is the pay-as-
you-enter street cars. but do not like
them, for a woman with q number OF
parcels in her hands finds 1t very in.
convenient to open her purse at the
time Of entering the car. Another nos
ticeable thing Of the city Is the lack
of attractive opera houses. 1t was
evident that there were many visitors
in Washington, as nearly every person
We met had guide book.
when we left Detroit, we went by
way OF Cincinnati to Richmond, and
from there down the James river 10
Point Comfort II struck me as
rather peculiar to see one side Of the
river boats reserved for the whites
and the other for the colored people.
Through the courtesy of Congress-
man DENLY. we were privileged to go
through the battlesnip Minnesota, and
the Delaware. which is just being built
at Point Comfort. The middies had
a Teddy bear for mascot. and we
were shown how the guns are manipu.
lated, and the various interesting
points about these mammoth war ves-
sells. While we were there big Ger
man cruiser came along and fred a
salute and received reply from the