Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-09-20

chief pastime was to walk along Penn
sylvania avenue. through street and &C.
casionally to the Capitol. He frequently
drove over to Georgetown, where the
elite of the capital then lived.
Within the larger circle of social life
In the Polk administration was smaller
one of intimates who always had free &C
cess to the Executive Mansion, and we
have the word of cotemporary writer's
! for 1t that while Mrs. Polk was enter
tanning the women the President was In
another part OF the house engaging In
good fellowship and an occasional game
of cards. His recreations outside, accord
ing to the fashion OF the times. were
walking and riding on horseback, with
frequent carriage rides with Mrs. Polk or
some male friend.
President Tyler affected the simplicity
of his own plantation in his life at the
White House. Social intercourse became
actually informal in character, and the
| hospitality of the President and his fam
lily was that of the southern gentleman
on his ancestral domain. The Tylers
were attended at the White House in
part by their own slaves. HIS recrea-
tons were walks about the city or to the
Capitol. and a game of poker for small
stakes at night with some Of his friends
President William Henry Harrison was
in the White House so short Tune tnat
little can be said OF his diversions he
went to market each morning before
breakfast. and it was on rainy day a
few weeks after inauguration that ne
got wet and added to the heavy colo,
contracted on Inauguration day, when
brought on the attack of pneumonia
from which he died.
The chief diversions OF President van
Buren, appear to have been riding, Walk
ing and playing checkers, game or
which he was master.
If we are to believe a cotemporary
story of life in the White House, the
chief soiace of Andrew Jackson was
smoking a corncob pipe. He declared
that no other manner Of using tobacco
was SO comforting and wholesome. HIS
favorite sport was cocknghtinS. ne
owned q breed of birds invincible In his
own state, and it is said he brought
pair Of them to Washington only to see
them badly defeated.
John Quincy Adams believed in outdoor
exercise and participated in 1t freely. He
was a great walker and swimmer of
note. He took long walks into the coun-
try, and, except in the coolest weather
OF the year, took a daily bath and swim
In the Potomac river. He would rise with
the dawn. walk out TO q seciuoeo noon
into the waters OF the river. returning
when he had covered half g. mile to a mile
in his swim. He Is said to have done
this long after the small boys had aban-
No more devoted horseman could be
found than was Thomas Jefferson, who
occupied the presidential Office in the
days when that was the chief form or
TRANSPORTATION from one point to another. |!
But Jefferson found much enjoyment in
music, painting and drawing, In all or
which accomplishments he was at least
an amateur. The fiddle was his favorte
instrument. and the strains Of backwoods |
melodies as we'll as more ambitious mu- |
sic. were often heard emanating from
the presidential mansion while Jefferson
was President
James Madison seems to have had few
recreations outside OF the walking and
horseback riding Of his day. He was
fond Of society, as was also his beautiful
wife, and most of their leisure time was
spent in receiving visitors. entertaining
them and being entertained in the homes
Of Washington people.
John Adams did not seek recreation in
the open. He was a reticent man ap-
preaching moroseness, and the troubles
Of the campaign and the early days of his
administration soured his disposition still
more; so the first inhabitant of the White
House was almost a recluse, the mansion
not yet having been completely finished
and put in condition for entertaining, and
hardly fit for the ordinary comforts Of
the President and his family.
active man who loved riding and life in
the open. In his younger days he not only
surveyed vast tracts of land In his ma
tive state, but hunted over every foot Of
the soil of Virginia within thirty miles of
his boyhood home and his estate at Mount
Vernon. He became President after the
close Of the revolutionary war when he 1