The Washington times., 1911-06-20
WHITE HOUSE WILL
HAVEGENERALPUB
AS GUESTS TONIGHT
Festivities to Be Repeated
i at the Suggestion of
#s. Mrs. Taft. L
Continued from First Page.)

q President, was the silver wedding an
niversary celebrated at the White
House last evening. No social affair 81
magnificent, so emblematical of the af
fections of a people for the Chief Exc
cutive and the first lady of the land,
has ever been held in Washington-a
city noted for the distinction of its
social affairs.
More than 5000 people, the. elect OF
the official and social life of the Capital
came last evening to wish the President
aad Mrs. Taft many happy returns of
the day." The scene that met their eyes
when the well wishers stepped upon the
broad expanse of the White House
lawns may be best described by the
word fairyland, that that term often
misused when applied to smaller things.
1t was no ordinary event, this celebra-
tion of the silver wedding anniversary
of the President and Mrs. Taft. And
yet, the throngs that gathered there
seemed for awhile to forget official
dom, the rank of state, the customary
social precedents. They were there TO
greet a man and woman who had had
twenty-five years of unmarried welded
happiness, and they shook the hand OF
MIR. and Mrs. Taft as man and woman,
as well as President and his wife.
A Perfect June Evening.
Never was such a celebration held
under more auspicious circumstances.
The weather OF a j une nlSHl was per
feet. The threatened rain did not
come, the skies cleared. and, from a
setting of blue, stars peeped down
and were answered by thousands of
artificial lights that made the White
House grounds a seeming paradise.
In the brilliantly lighted rooms of
the White House diplomats, states
men, men of large affairs, gathered
from near and far. mingled in a sptr-
II of genial bonhommie. Here and there
ofE In =
of white, enlivened with touches Of
gold and lace, strolled over the waXed
floors and out upon the lawn where
the President and his family stood in
their gowns and diamonds vying with
the general brilliance of the scene,
met and talked of silver weddings
which were different from that of the
Tafts.
The Presidents Station
Leaving the closer confines of the
White House itself, one had but to
step upon the south portico to drink
in the real grandeur of the scene. A
hundred yards down the sloping eX-
panse in front of bower of ferns and
an electric sign that flashed 1855
1911" stood the President and Mrs.
Taft, Aunt Della TorTey. the members
of the Presidents immediate family
and those of the Cabinet. Search
lights from the State, War, and Navy
building played upon fountains that
bubbled joyously under the lent col
ors.
Above the south portico was an
electric flag of red, white, and blue.
The trees and shrubbery had been
blue lights, festooned from branch
to branch. hung suspended above two
long lines of humanity waiting to
shake the hands of those in whose
o11 IoI 1ovo
of variegated shapes and colors, bob
bed enchantingly in a summers
breeze.
Three Bands Playing.
The music from three alternating
bands floated over the greensward and
out into the streets where thousands Of
unbidden peeped in wonderment through
the iron picket fence which separated
them from the more fortunate with
within. Another searchlight from the
roof of the White House, operated by
jackies from the dispatch boat Dol
phIn, sent its shimmering rays here and
there into every nook and corner of
the grounds and adjacent streets.
The reception was scheduled to begin
at o'clock, and just about that hour
the fanfare of trumpetS announced the
approach of the Presidential party,
Room and upon the rear portiCo and
down the steps to the lawn. The Ma
rtne Band struck up The Star-Spangled
Banner" There was a clapping of
Eloved hands, subdued cheer. AS the
President and his party moved slowly
down the Carpeted lane to the outdoor
reception stand the assembled thousands
heard the strains of the wedding marcn
from "Lohengrin.'
II was then that the real Significance
of the occasion, the first silver wedding
anniversary held at the White House in
a third Of a century, went home to
every guest
Memory went backward over the
flight of years to another night when
William Howard Taft, then unthought
of for the Presidency, and Miss Helen
Heron, then a Cincinnati belle, had
marched in similar fashion down a be
ribboned lane to become man and wife.
Those who have reached high estate
are but human, after all. The same
emotions stir, the same happinesses are
akin to them, the same customs apply,
and the President of the United States
and his wife doubtless experienced at
that moment the same feelings that
have caused other hearts, beating in
unison for a quarter of century, to
give thanks for an anniversary such as
this.
President and Wife Receive.
Reaching the reception stand, which
was just an open-air bower OF ferns and
flowers, with an easy chair or so for
Aunt Dela ana tnOSe VINO lIliSnt grow
tired through the pleasant ordeal of
handshaking, the Presidents eye wall
dered above him, where '1SS6-19ll'
biazed in electric lights before a back
ground of green.
The President and Mrs. Taft smiled
happily and reminiscently for a moment,
then turned about to grasp the hand
of the couple who stood at the head of
the long waiting line. Diplomats in the
gorgeous raiment of the courts of thirty
foreign countries, began to file by. They
bowed low, voiced their heartfelt con-
gratulathQns, and the famed Presiden-
tial smile came into play. 1t remained
on the Taft countenance for-nearly four
hours.
Then came officials of the army and
navy, Senators, Representatives, those
prominent in the residential set, guests
from afar who had come TO Washing
ton, especially for the event, newspaper
men and others who wanted TO con-
Eratulate the distinguished couple upon
silver anniversary.
1t was more than two hours before
dent and his family. Sometimes Mrs.
Taft, still showing the effects of re-
cent illness, would sit temporarily in
one of the easy chairs, but moment
later some familiar face and a hearty
greeting would bring her to her feet
again, ana, to the qualification of all
those who looked on, she insisted upon
remaining in the receiving line until the
last visitor had filed by. Miss Helen
Taft stood near, ready to take her moth
er's place by the Presidents side, in
the event Mrs. Taft grew weary of the
round of handshaking.