Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1909-02-15

ladies reside In Georgetown or In scat,
tered parts of the city at two and
three miles distance. Mrs. Otis, my
nearest neighbor, is at lodgings al
| most half a mile from me. We have
not the least fence, yard or other con-
venience without, and the great, I'M
| finished audience room I make dry
ing room of to hang my clothes in.
Six chambers are made comfortable;
two are occupied by the president and
Mr. Shaw: two lower rooms-for
common parlor and one for levee
room. Upstairs there is the oval room
how the library-whch is designed
for the drawing room, and has crimson
furniture in it."
In a second letter Abigail Adams
wrote:
In the city here are buildings
enough, if they were compact and
finished. to accommodate congress and
those attached to it, but as they are
and scattered as they are I see no great
comfort for them. The river which
runs up to Alexandria, is in full view
of my window, and ] see the vessels
as they pass and repass. The house
is on a grand scale, requiring thirty
servants to attend to and keep the
apartments in proper order and per-
form the ordinary business of the
house and stableS--an establishment
very well proportional to the presi-
dents salary. The lighting of the
apartments from kitchen to parlors
and chambers IS q tax indeed, and the
fires we are obliged to keep to secure
us from the daily agues in another
very cheering comfort. Bells are wholly
wanting, not one being hung thru the
whole house, and promises are all you
can obtain. Yesterday l had fifteen
visits
Many changese Since Adams Time.
There have been many changes since
Abigail Adams day in the White
House and two of them are very rad
ical. The lady of the White House
does not return calls and the Potomac
now runs down to Alexandria
The internal arrangements OF the
White House from the days OF Mrs
John Adams to Mrs. Theodore Roose-
Welt have been shifted and made over
and redecorated and refurnished
score Of times. yet the essential feat
ures are practically the same as orig
inally constructed. The building was
sacked and burned by the British in
1914. Yet its original walls remain in
about the same position. The front
portico and porte cochers and east
wing have been added. The subdivis-
ions are as they We're originally con-
structed save door here and window
there. Hundreds of thousands of vis-
itors have been entertained within
those walls and the people who have
merely looked and gone away will num-
Der among the millions. From one
to five hundred visitors go thru the
lower part of the White House daily.
except Sunday and days when the
building is closed.
The Taft family, being considerably
smaller than the Roosevelt family, will
find the accommodation at the White
House ample for all their purposes.
President Roosevelt set new records
for hospitality in entertaining friends
at the White House. 1t was rare
thing for him not to have one or more
guests and extra plates at table. The
result was that there were times when
the family was crowded The three
Taft children are all at school: Miss
Helen at Bryn Mawr; Charlie in the
preparatory school of his uncle, Hor-
ace Taft at Watertown, Conn, and
Robert at Yale.