The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-12-21

4ol OF grownUp brothers and sisters
mere was also a handful Of merry
Erandchildren in this presidential fam.
ny, ann 10 one of these little Mary
fairlie Tyler. the chief magistrate one
Christmas week gave Il grand fancy
dress ball in the great Eas, Room
where the tiny hostess. as Tianin
queen OF the fairies, with gauzv wings
ana silver sceptre, sat upon a NINA
ture throne. while her Lilliputian cour-
tiers bowed before her.
Atter these joyous days there befcll
me longest and dreariest stretch OF
chiidIess White House wears that old
Kris kringle can remember For there
mad been. all in q row. President POLK.
who had only an adopted chld-a
grown nephew; Presidents TAYLOR and
Fillmore. whose children were all
grown up: President Pierce whose ONLY
surviving child. a lad of thirteen. had
been killed in Il railway accident three
months before his fathers Inaugural
ton, and James buchanan. the old
bachelor President. who brought with
him only grown niece.
President Found IL Goat in sons Bed
But following those twenty quiet
Nuietides came the great President
Abraham Lincoln. with TWO little bovs
These lads. Willie and Tad" were. re-
spectvely. ten and eight years old
when their father moved into the OIL
cial home OF our chief magistrates. But
poor little Willie was destined to en-
JOY only one Christmas in the big
house. for he died after living there
Just 4 little over II year. Then Tad"
after his sorrow had somewhat healed.
used TO amuse his playmates in thea
tire which ne iitted up in an unoccupied
room. And this elfish Tad" had Il pet
goat, which his father was once as
tonished To find complacently ruInt-
mating III the middle OF that youngsters
bed. How this lad one Christmas sue
cessfully appealed To his father to over
rule the White House cooks object lon
10 his roasting Il lot OF ragged street
urchins on turkey and cranberry sauce
in the Kitchen has long been told in
Washington Tads elder brother
'Rob'-who later became minister TO
EnRland-was in those days "a student
viving child OF the !.incolns. for poor
Tad. when but eiGhteen Joined his
father and brother Willie in the Great
Beyond.
Lincoln's Toy shop stu Open.
Kris Kringlc still stocks up his pac.
partly with surprises bought from the
old New York Avenue TOY shop"--now
immortalizcd in hction-where Tad's
sad and gaunt father. his shawl across
his shoulders. used. personally to pur-
chase Christmas playthings for his
boys and their little playmates In
this old store a foster-child Of the
original German proprietor is still sup
plying the capitals Youngsters with
those things which delight their little
hearts on Christmas morning.
Johnsons Iulctide Dali.
Next after the Lincoln boys there
came to dwell in the White House the
three little Andes of President John
sons time-Andy Johnson, Jr., just en-
tering his teens. and tho Presidents
two little grandsons. Andy Slower ana
Andy Patterson, the last OF whom had
little sister, Belle. Indeed, one OF
the most sprightly Christmas parties
ever enjoyed by children of the White
House was that OF 1865, when Presi-
dent Johnson gav0 n dance to 400 BOYS
and girls, who, in the East Room
executed tho waltzes. polltas and
lancers which they had learned al the
then famous and fashionable Marinas
Dancing Academy. Two little girls on