New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-09-25

Miss Della T'crrey, of Mfllbury, Mass
saws that September so of the present year
will be the proudest day of her life. she
will on that date celebrate the eighty-h1th
anniversary of her birth, and, despite the
fact that she has progressed on lie
Journey far beyond the allotted three
score years and ten, she has the taste
temperament and good health to enjoy
such a party as she has planned for thls
momentous occasion. Miss Torrey, IN
fact, by no means resembles the lone and
forlorn figure which tradition has aSSoci-
ated with the unmarried woman of adj
vanced age. Not only has she kith ana
kin in goodly numbers. but these relatives,
young and old, are exceptionally fond OF
her. Through one admiring relauve-no
other than President Taft-she has gained
no small fame during these last two
years. To William II. Taft she has all
ways been Aunt Della" and Aunt Della
she has become to a considerable portion
of the newspaper reading public that has
followed the chronicle of her doings, with
interest and has found quaint phlloS-
ophy In her homely interviews.
Aunt Della" might almost be said to have
been carried to the pinnacle of fame on the
reputation of her apple pies. The Presi-
dent OF the United States has praised
them. and people from one end of the
country to the other have been writ
ing for her recipes. Her culinary Prov
ess, however is far from being her
only claim to distinction. for, consider
ing her age, she is one of the most re-
markable women in the United States. She
is far more up-to-date than many women
twenty or thirty years her Junior. AL
though she enjoyed her first motor ride
only last year and her first yacht cruise
this season, she is a convert TO both these
pastimes. She reads several newspapers
each day and keeps abreast the times on
all public questions. as persons who have
read her interviews on the tariff may
readily surmise. While she has, In
sense. abandoned the practice for the
theory of cookery, she is yet quite capable
of preparing one Of her old-tine spreads
for a memorable occasion, and she exer-
cises a personal supervision over her vese-
table garden and an extensive flower gar
den that boasts as its chief treasure
rose transplanted from the White
House.
And the wonder of Il IS that Aunt Della
does all these things without apparent eff
fort. She walks without assistance from
cane or crutch and does not make use of
eyeglasses except for reading. Her hear
Ing Is perfect and, perhaps most remark
able of all, she writes a firm legible hand
She has had plenty Of practice in penman-
ship, too, this last year. for her CORE
is. the unlimited portion or
it-has suddenly assumed formidable pro-
portions and she replies to every letter IN
nerson and with busineSslike promptness
And finally, In addition TO all or these IN
terests, Aunt Della" has become very much
of a traveller for a woman OF her years
She makes a visit OF several weeks at the
White House each year during the helght
of the official social season. and each sum
mer she spends some time at the Presi-
dents summer cottage at Beverly, Mass
The impressive old house, with its whl'e
paint and green shutters, which has oeen
homo 70 Miss Torrey for nearly fourscore
years, is a delight to all lovers OK lhe
colonial in architecture and interior decOra-
tons. Situated in a tract OF four OF hVe
acres and shaded by numerous large trees.
every detail from the quaint fence winch
sanarates the estate from the village street
to the stately columns when support tiie
two story portico is in strict accord with
the architectural tenets OF early Ne" Eng
Iopd At the side of the house is another
seems IN afford the best possible frame Tor
,t,a arec+ figure of the snowy-haired mis-
tress as she appears in a gown OF black
silk to greet callers.
The interior of the house bears out all
Tho nromise Of it's exterior In pictures
and decorations and furniture 1t is remi-
niscant of half a century past. Here is
wealth of rare old china. in the blue ana
white that was so popular a generation or
two ago. and here in place of honor re-
noses the family Bible. q ponderous. red
hound volume that affords. on the pages
speciaIly provided for such entries. com
plete chronicle OF the family. The furnl-
ture. almost without exception, is old ma
hoeany of the purest design, and many OF
the pieces are calculated to arouse the
envy of any person who has any trace of
the collecting hobby.
President Taft's affection not only for
AUNT Della" but also for the homestead
that has suddenly become the great show
MACE of the hamlet of Millbury. Is due TO
the fact that the old house has all the sig
nifcance OF home to him and the swSt-
woman who pTesides over II has
been his second mother. The mother OF
the President, second wife of Judge Al
phonso Taft, of Cincinnati. did not enjoy
the most robust health. and finding the
summer climate of the Ohio city very try
ing, she made IL a regular practice TO
spend the heated term each year with her
only sister in the old homestead at MILL
bury Thus il came about that William III.
Taft spent considerable portion OF each
year during all the interval OF his boy
hood under the hospitable roof of Aunt
Della" acquiring at that early and i'm
age a wholesome admiration
for her cookery, which has endured TO this
day.
Following the death of President Tafts
father. his mother removed TO Milbury and
made her home with Aunt Della" so that
during all the latter years OF her life there
was a double attraction for the future
President in the peaceful little hamlet To-
Gated half an hours ride by trolley from
the city of Worcester. Mass. Whenever he
was in the country William II. Taft. like