The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1920-10-22
Welded IN WHITE HOUSE

A S THE Democrats had lost power
n under bachelor president. James
Buchanan, they regained it after a
quarter of a century under another
bachelor president That strange CO.
incidence was brought to an end by
Clevelands marriage in the second
year of his administration.
From the day Cleveland entered the
executive mansion at Albany, gossip
buSily made matches for him with one
after another of the eligible women
who appeared at his receptions. A spe-
cial favOrite of those persistent ru-
mors was the pretty widow of one Of
his old law partners, Oscar Folsom.
whose home was one of the few homes
in Buffalo where this unsocial person
had been in the habit of visiting. It
was not suspected that all along his
own choice had been the daughter
rather than the mother.
Mrs. Folsom and her daughter were
guests of the president and Miss Cleve
land in their first month at the White
House. Even the wiseacres of Wash
ingtOn did not guess that the beautiful
young girl who was present at a re-
ception-all in white-wOuld in anoth-
er year be the bride Of her host.
Miss Folsom had graduated and was
travelling in Europe when the country
was set in a futter by the announce
ment of her engagement. She return
ed home to meet such an ordeal as no
other American girl of twenty-five ever
has faced. Her name was on every
tongue in America; her portrait was
in every paper. and the press boats
crowded about her ship from which
she was struggled aboard a revenue
cutter to avoid the curious crowd at
New York dock.
There had been only one marriage
of a president, and John Tyler was a
widower. which took some of the ro-
nance out of the occasion. For the
first time a president was to marry
in the White House. AS Miss Folsom's
mother had given up her home and as
her grandfather's house was in mourn
ing for his recent death, like the
affianced of a sovereign she went to
her husbands home to be married.
TIL wedding in the blue room was
extremely simple, the only guests be-
ing a few relatives of the bride and
groom and the members of the cabi-
net. After the cake had been cut in
the state dining room, the bridal pair
succeeded in stealing out the back door
under cover of darkness TO a waiting
train in a switch yard. They had
eluded the curious crowds gathered in
front of the White House and at the
station. but not the ubiquitous press,
whose locomotive was under steam and
in readiness to pursue them, with a
trainlOad of reporters. to their honey
moon retreat in the Maryland noun
tains.
The continued attention Of a vigil
liant press wherever the presidential
couple went was Indignantly resented
by the bridegroom, who holly de-
nounced the "ghoulish glee" with which
his family affairs were discussed. More
malicious. more cruel were the imprint
ed tales which were persistently circu-
lated as long as he remained in public
life.
Mrs. Cleveland is said on one occa-
sion to have given a pathetic hint Of
what the strokes aimed at the presi-
dent through her little ones meant TO
a mother. With childlike bashfulness
daughter was holding back from the
greetings of a small company at the
White House, when Mrs. Cleveland
said, Speak up, dear, or the people
will be told that you are deaf and
dumb"
Mrs. Cleveland herself was spared,
At first her girlish charms, afterward
her womanly dignity and her maternal
devotion made this most youthful the
most beloved mistress of the White
House.
Copyright. 1920. by James Morssnl