The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1909-03-20

reftinently still. how does it measure with the
record OF the Roosevelt regime?
ihese are to-day queries of absorbing inter
est and nowhere has this phase of new ad-
Illustration quite the significance that it has
Al Washington. Diplomats and back of them
NE governments for which they stand. are as
LAnch interested in the personality OF the ris-
tHS American powers as their own country
men
Mrs Taft is neither the soft green of the
soul OF Burkes ideal feminine nor is she Ma
foieons adherence. intellect in petticoats. She
IS that rarer thing a wellbalanced woman
Ihe Tories, said Wellington, when Victoria
ascended the English throne could hope for
httie headway under female sovereign be-
ealse he had no small talk and Pitt had no
manners. Mrs Taft is a woman whom one
might Well imagine making allowances for
both shortages, provided there were such COM
pehsations along other lines as Wellington and
Pitt possessed.
Given such foundation in character with
Eouth good health and ambition and the De-
cnilar advantages her life has already given
her, few women have gone into the White
House SO well equipped to meet the exactions
Of the position of first lady of the land" Her
regime moreover, has not that negative quality
which circumstances have infused into the So
cal atmosphere OF some previous administra-
tons She has tastes and enthusiasms which
will give character to the social life at Wash
tngton of which the White House is the center
for the next four years.
Music which has fourished at Washington
under White House patronage during the seven
kears of Mr.. and Mrs. Roosevelts residence
Were. has even more emphatic encouragement
under the social sway of a woman who was
of the founders of Cincinnatis famous
musical organization, the Symphony orchestra.
Not only is she patroness of music, but is a
musician. She kept up her hours Of daily
practice regularly until within recent years.
han fho ahonp in hor Efo
many added duties made the continuance i'm
possible.
Though she does not regard herself as sufh-
GENTLY in practice to perform for a critical
audience she has by no means lost her skill
and frequently plays for her husband and
children during their evenings at home. These
are more than might be supposed, for Mrs
Taft is of the women who stays usually
at home unless her husband go out with
her.
Other avenues through which her artistic
taste finds an outlet are her love of pictures
and her appreciation of wood carving. Charles
Tafts art collection has no more apprecative
friend than his sster-in-law. She is enthusias
tic about every treasure he adds to it, and
Joys few things more than pointing out its
beauties to others. Faces and figures appeal
more to her than landscapes, and recently
acquired Rembrandt has given her keen pleas
ure. She has made study Of wood carving
and has the nucleus OF a collection containing
some excellent specimens She is a connois
seur of the craft, and knows the fine points
in the work of various schools and masters
She is book lover and has been student
all her life. first because she grew up in
home where books came down from the shelves
and made the worlds they contain part of the
domestic environment. Elizabeth Bennett and
her sisters, with their heart affairs and all the
occidental character delineations, stepped from
worn copy Of Pride and Prejudice" bringing
into the Heron LONE in Cincinnati, with its