The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1912-04-30
SAILORS. HARD LOT
Lieut.. Semmes Read Never VIII
Be Able to. Walk, Again.
WAS THROWN FROM A. HORSE
accident Occurred While He Was
Whke House Naval Aid-louiso
Home for Aged Women Is Halt
Century Old.
BY GEORGE CLINTON,

BY GEORGE CLINTON.
Washington.-President Taft has as.
signed to him for occasional service
at the White House several young
army and naval officers, whose duty
1t Is to act as personal aids. It must
not be understood that these soldiers
and sailors are sent to Washington for
the express purpose of attending on
the president at official and social
functions. They are sent here to do
the ordinary military and naval work
IN the departments, and to attend the
president only as ''side Issues" Once
In while some Of these younger off,
GERS, IN case the presidents regularly
appointed constant personal aid" is
absent, accompany him on his rides.
Lieut.. Semmes Read four years
ago was sent to the capital for navy
duty and to act as one of the White
House aids. He had been here about
year when he started on a horse
back ride with the president through
Rock Creek park. Sailors are not the
fine horsemen ordinarily that army Of
f1cers are, and Lieutenant Read was
thrown when his horse SHE'D at an
automobile, and his back was injured
For the last three years young Read
has been an inmate either of the naval
hospital here or of the Johns Hopkins
hospital In Baltimore. He has been
confined to his bed all the time and
word has just come from the surgeons
that this young sailor never will walk
again. but will be confined to his bed
for the rest of his life. The officer Is
bearing up manfully under the SEN
tence of the surgeons. He is said to
be one Of the most cheerful patients
in the United States naval hospital.
Lieutenant Reads mother has been
In Washington for some time. The
! other day she went to the hospital and
waited for three hours while the final
examination Of the physical condition
| of her son was being made by noted
! United States surgeons. At the end
of the three hours tho physicians came
out Of the consultation room and as
gently as they could told the mother
her son never would walk again.
Louise Home Fifty Years Old.
The Louise Home for Aged Women,
a noted Washington institution, is
now just half century old. The
building IS one Of the landmarks of the
capital, standing at the intersection OF
Massachusetts avenue and Fifteenth
street, with Thomas circle one block
away to the east and Scott circle one
block away to the west Massachu-
sets avenue is perhaps the finest resi-,
dence thorougfare in the city of Wash
ington. The aged women who occupy
the Louise Home are treated as
guests and not as Inmates" They
have their calling days, just as do 9th.
er Massachusetts avenue residents,
and in every way are made to feel that
each individual is "the mistress of the
manse"
The Louise home was founded by
William w. Corcoran fifty years ago.
The primary object of the home was
to provide for aged ger ewomen who
had lost their means of support by
reason of the war between the states.
The south suffered particularly in this
way, and virtually every inmate OF
the Louise home is southern woman.
Not long ago daughter of president
of the United States died at the
home. Her father was John Tyler.
She had been guest at the home for
many years. Occasionally she would
leave 1t to attend some social affair
at the White House, in which she once
lived.
May Be Enlarged Soon.
There is now room in the Louise
home for forty women, but it is pos
sible that in short time the building
will be enlarged, although it has been
proposed that another structure be
erected in another part Of the city.
It is infrequently that vacancy oc.
ours at the home, except, Of course,
through the coming Of death No
woman under fifty years of age is ad-
mitted and none who has advanced be-
yond the age of seventy years. There
is long list Of applications for en-
trance to the home. In fact the list
IL longer now than It has been at any
time since the home was founded. Mr..
Corcoran endowed it adequately. It is
considered an ideal form of social
service and the lines of management
laid down by Mr.. Corcoran have been
carried out faithfully.
The Daughters of the American Rev.
olution are gathered In Washington.
They always come few days in ad-
vance Of the day set for the annual
meeting, and they linger, as a rule,
for week after the meeting is ended.
The week Of the gathering always is
that which contains the day marking
the anniversary of the battles of Lex.
ington and Concord, which were
! fought on April 10, 1875.
There are nearly $4,000 members OF
| the Daughters of the Americas Pave