South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1920-05-16
RY EDNA HUBER CHURCH.

WASHINGTON, May LIVERY
body and her sister are house hunt
ing Real estate agents are en-
throned benefactOrs to the mad
home seekers Folks have even
stopped asking, What's the rent?'
The problem is 10 find a home.
Yet In the midst Of this merry
scramble there IS a fine house; In
fact. the nations best, that probably
viii change tenants early next
spring, and only a very few mousse
wives are casting their eyes toward
it. II is the white house
On a strictly domestic science
b1sis the white house is not the best
real estate offering the nation has.
vet the honor and prestige that go
with residence at the white house
make il the prize hope of all can
didate wives.
The white house brings trouble
and care 10 the housewife, and she
who directs the housekeeping there
next spring Will find that. after all.
the executive mansion isn't the ideal
home. In the first place. IL is too
large. Who can hope for a honey"
sort OF home with dozens Of rooms
not the little boN-like rooms that
apartment architects contrive, but
great expensive rooms. The white
house has been too large for the
Wilson family. and. in fact, they
have made a home for themselves
in Il corner of the great mansion
and rarely ever visit the rooms
which have made the white house
famous.
The white house IS the nations
home. in normal times 10 IS semi
public Tourists by the hundreds
swarm through parts of the white
house when tho conditions are such
that Il is not necessary TO take strict
precautions for the safety OF the
presidential family. And tourists
somehow never seem 20 wipe their
feet on entering.
History i'm Every Room.
Then there is history 20 he re-
vcrscd in every room in the white
house The ErCdt oak panelled
state dining room must be a fearful
place 10 dine Ia If one believes in
II one believes in the spirit world.
Just imagine eating your dinner in
the room where Thomas Jefferson
had the village butcher for his guest.
and where Theodore Roosevelt
dined cowboys, prize lighters and
distinguished men OF letters and
here also woodrow Wilson enter
rsfned Sir Arthur James Ealfour and
Marshall Jonre. Again there IS the
awe-inspiring bedroom with the
southern exposure where Pres't VII
son received the king and queen OF
Belgium and the prince Of Wales.
The library, too, where John Quincy
Adams read his three chapters OF
the Bible every morning while early
callers waited in the ante room, and
The little back parlor where Abra-
ham, Lincoln slipped tea with Mrs.
Lincoln late each afternoon and
tried 10 fOrget the horrors OF the
war that was raging almost at tho
white house gates. Il seems IL must
he terribly hard 10 be honey" amid
such surroundings.
The social demands OF residence
az the white are great. The state
functions must be a burden TO ev-
cry first lady" and now that the
war has passed these receptions
and balls must be resumed. The
GREAT east room is the scene Of these
brilliant social events. but glorious
as they are, they are more sugges-
tive OF some great spectacle than OF
home.
The cares of treasures weigh
heavily on the FIRST lady" for the
white house is the nations store
house OF priceless knick-knacks. The
blue room contains the famous gold
r1antei clock which Lafayette pre-
scented 10 washington. and Lafayette
received Il from Napoleon. The
GobeIin tapestry OF the green room