The Washington times., 1920-05-15
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He was sure that his old frisua
must have Tefished moro than any
one else the delightful story. of the
public dinner given In New ofk 10
Ambassador Strtus upon his retire
ment when Mr.. Roosevelt praised
his public service and stated that
before appointing him, TO his Cabs
met he looked the country over for
the nttest man, permitting no cir-
cumstanee OF race or creeas calling
or location, TO restrict or tnnuencs
his selection Mr. Straus. the col
onel declared, was the outstanding
man. and called to the Cabinet for
that reason. A. little later. so the
story goes. Mr.. Jacob II. Schin got
up TO make a speech. But his hear
ing was not very acute. and not
having caught what Mr.. Roosevelt
had said. he calmly announced that
the President had written him that
he had a vacancy In his Cabinet and
would like to have him suggest
some prominent Jew for the place,
so he had proposed Oscar Strsus.
whose appointment had quickly fol-
lowed. Taft knew that the Presi-
dent would find the situation more
laughsble than embarrassing.
On March 8, the day after the In
auguraI, went to leave cards at
the White House, and on reaching
the steps, the President and his
brother came out and greeted US.
Insisting that we should go indoors
and have tea with Mrs. Taft. l..
and ! found her in the Red Room;
II was the flrst time she had served
tea In the White House, and II was
quite amusing, for THE First Lady
In the Land did not know where
k.I ha IL la
worked.
Mrs. Taft told me that she hadn't
closed an eye the night before.
They had occupied the room where
the Prince of Wsics--Edward VII
had slept. Besides the magnificent
! four-poster bed already there, she
had had a brass bed put in for her
self. and consequently the room did
I not look very well. In the middle
OF the night, as she lay there awake
she fell to thinking about II.
"Will, you know you are sleeping
in the King OF England's royal
couch she said at last; but the
room looks so badly--with different
sized beds-shall we take out the
Kings and put in two small ones?'
''Oh, darn the beds" the Presii
dent answered sleepily; take them
/ or leave them, as you like. but go to
| sleep now"
We had planned two receptions,
one to be given the night OF the 5th
Of March. the other on the 9Th Be
cause of the. storm. the telephone
wires were down and notes were
coming TO me by the hundred-it
! seemed as if every one l had asked
wanted to bring friends. 1t was a
wonder the floors didn't collapse,
for about four hundred people came
to each reception.
Victims Of Climate.
As had feared, most of the Fill
pinos had fallen i'll with colds as a
result of their exposure in the
storm. but thirty of the eighty
members of the band turned up and
did the best they could, playing Gu
rious tunes that were weird, but
captivating.
received in the Key room at the
head of the stairs. The marble
staircase was lined on either side
with pots ,of bright flowers, echoing
the colors of Villegas' Triumph OF
the Dogaressa" at the landing. The
Key room-named from the Greek
design of the marble fioor-wss es-
pecially appropriate for us to use
on this occasion, because a panel
between the windows shows a
fresco of the pleasant Ohio valley
and the city of Cincinnati, from
which President Taft's family, as
well as LIS had come.
The guests wandered about, had
supper, and INDUCED in bridge.
among others the Italian ambassa-
dor came. and the British ambassa-
dor. the Danish minister, and the
Secretary of State, and the COVER
nors of Massachusetts, and New
Hampshire with their STATS.
Alice Longworth, who likes to
joke, went round saying: why, you
here? This is the goat party-the
swells are asked for tomorrow
night" She pretended to to be
! piqued at not having been asked
! for the second reception. "If i had
been the Presidents daughter" she
told L., "you would have invited
me to both parties!' But 1t was
really a brilliant sight that night
with the many uniforms, even IL
| Cousin Alice did call it the goat
party, and / think people enjoyed
| it.
| To vary the second reception we
had singing instead of the Philip
! pine band. The singer. Nine. Ger
! Vile Reachc, arrived early, and
! startled mc a little by her appear
ance as we'll as her powerful. deep
| voice; she was very dark, much
powdered, and her flowers and
| curls nearly fell Off in her dramatic
! interpretations. Janpolski sang
some gay, strange Russian folk
songs. Among the guests on this
.r II ft
/ family, and the President sent us a
| message thanking as for the enter
| tainments we were giving in
honor of the Inauguration.
Season - Many Events.
The dinners in Washington that
season were not only mar and un-