The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-03-21
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC J. HASKIN. Dhrecfor.
Washington, d. C.
KEEPER OF PRESIDENTIAL PETS


die Boy is a name which will figure
prominently in White House annals
during the Harding administration.
We have. therefore. seized an early
opportunity to call at the executive
young member of the Harding house
hold.
After following clues from the ex-
ecutive offices to the White House
basement and down the portrait lined
corridors in search of the elusive
Laddie Boy we finally located the
official keeper of the presidents pets,
Wilson Jackson.
Jackson smiled broadly at our mis-
sion and led the way to an inner hall
away from the crowds of tourists do
ing the White House basement. He
opened a door and called, 'Heah.
Laddie Boy" and a black and tan
Airedale galloped out and fell upon
us. After enthusiastic greetings and
an exchange of compliments the party
Gained down somewhat. Laddie Boy
shook hands after insistent demands
from Jackson, who has already taught
him to come, lie down, and shake
hands on command The White House
Airedale is only year and a half OLD
and is very much of puppy. On ac-
terruptions as White House maids and
clerks passed and hailed him, his valet
did most of the talking.
'Yessuh," said Jackson, this is the
first animal turned Ovah to me since
Mistah Hardin came. He's fine dog.
The man that gave him to Mistah
Hardin. back in Ohio, is goin' to SEN
his pedigree.
II been toll there's an alligator
comm. I'm glad the dog got heah
first.
oh Of ALLIGATOR I'll have to
keep him in the fountain / under
STAN Mistah Hardin's goin' to have
bulldog, too, but it hasn't come yet.
"Yessuh, like dogs-Heah, Laddie
Boy-come back heah. Everybody that
works round heah stops to talk to that
dog, and he is just SO friendly he wan
ders off with them.
ME? I been heah since President
Roosevelt's time. Yessuh, L had
enough experiences to fill geography
was a kid workin' at the census
bureau and when they wanted mes
senger at the White House in a rush
season 1 was sent up. An then Mr..
and Mrs. Roosevelt said they like me.
so they had me put on the regular roll
of White House employees.
A Colored Diplomat.
my title? I'm Special Messenger
to the First Lady in the Lam. Some
times I go sheppin' to get things in
hurry. An take messages. It's a
diplomatic kim of job.
but mostly the dogsll keep me
busy now. 1 take Laddie Boy up to
President Hardin's office every day,
and he stays with the president a
while, and then go call the dog out.
An Airedale is mostly a one-man dog,
and while he's friendly with every
body, Mistah Hardin is his mastah."
Jackson is more of an expert in
handling dogs and horses than some
Of that have
been given the freedom of the White
House grounds. Jackson says he never
was on intimate terms with Pauline,
the COW of Taft's regime. Nor did he
have much to do with Mr. Wilson
flock of sheep which grazed SO pic
turesauaIy on the White House lawns.
But in Roosevelts administration,
Jackson was q busy man. Not only
did the executive mansion possess
guinea pigs, a pony. trick mice,
kangaroo rat, and collection of dogs,
but Jackson was expected to help look
out for the Roosevelt children as well.
He played with them, and sometimes
accom- panied them when they rode,
and he had some of the care of the
Icelandic pony. Algonquin.
Jackson tells the story. which you
may remember. how when Archie
Roosevelt was sick in bed with the
measles, he missed his pony so much
that the servants decided to take Al
gonquin as a surprise up to his room.
THAT pony wasn't much bigger than
| a big dog" says Jackson, I'VE got
him in the elevator and elevated him
upstairs, and took him into Mistah
Arches bedroom. The pony trotted
fine time together. Mistah Archie GER
| tainly did love that Algonquin pony. -
Rooseyelt's Pets.
The Roosevelt children kept Jack
son on the jump but he enjoyed it.
| The pets were very much a part OF
the household and were accounted OF
considerable Importance. They were
a constant topic of family converse
tion. When one died it must be
buried with formal pomp in a re-
served corner of the White House
grounds. and a disappearance was a
cause for commotion.
! In one instance, a small black and
| tan dog was lost. 1t boosted no noble
| pedigree, but Quentin loved it de-
votedly, and mourned its loss with in
| creasing gloom as the days went by
| and it was not found. Finally some
| one reported a dog answering the
| widely advertised description was at
| the city pound. Scarcely stopping for
| hats, Mrs. Roosevelt and Quentin SET
| off on foot for the pound. The dog
proved to be a stranger, but Quentin
| held it and talked to it all the time
| that Mrs. Roosevelt was consulting
! with the official. She inquired the
| fate of the dog that looked SO much
like Quentin's, and when she was told
| that it would be killed soon, as it had
not been claimed, she paid for it and
| Quentin struggled home with it in his
arms
/ Any one who lives in the spotlight
| at the White House is a target for the
| gifts of the nation. The Roosevelt fam
| ily's love for animals brought them a
more conglomerate collection than any
1 other president has ever been called
| upon to accept with thanks. But not
| even the Roosevelts with their fond
i ness for pets could keep some of the
| gift animals.
| One man who heard that Mr.. R'oose.
velts dog was whipped in a fight sent
a huge, vicious looking bulldog. and
assured the president that while he
had this dog, the White House honol
| would never suffer at the hands OF
any rnOnQra5 outsider Mr. Rn0Souaii