Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-12-18
Son of Presidents Widow by
Former Marriage Had Son
and Daughter Now Living
in Marion

MARION, Ohio, Dec. 53.-This is
the story of the dream that never
came true.
IT is the dream Of two little young
sters about the day they would go
to visit their grandmother in the
White House.
Two years and half Mrs. Florence
king Harding reigned as its mis-
tress-but never once while she was
first lady, did her grandchildren
enter the sacred precincts of the
great old mansion where Lincoln
Mckinley and Roosevelt all lived.
Often they asked to be taken
there. But. always they were told
they were too young. In a little
while-yes, when they were older,
they could go.
And so George Nicely De Wolfe and
his sister, Jeanne, began building
their aircastles, as all children do.
They would sit long hours at
stretch talking of the fun they would
have when they went down to Wash
ington to see their grandmother who
lived in the White House.
Never Saw 'Laddie Boy"
They would picture themselves or
dering the buffers and serving maids
about in the big dining room, or
shouting commands to- the police
men at the doors.
They would see themselves out in
Iii, "
House flowers and rOmpiug about
with Laddie Boy on the rolling green
lawn.
And what fun it would be to
play tag up and down the great wide
staircases on rainy days; to explore
the rooms and the closets upstairs;
to scamper, at will. into the execu-
tive offices to sit at the presidents
own desk!
But their dreams, like so many
other childhood dreams, never were
fulfilled. Some day, perhaps, they
would have been, but
President Warren G.. Harding, the
only grandfather they eyer knew,
died when his term of office was only
a little more than half through, and
| their grandmother came back to
| Marion again.
They did not see much of her,
| though, for her health was poor, and
! she was confined to a sanitarium
most of the time. And then they
were Saddened by the news of her
death. She, like their grandfather,
was gone.
But even on her deathbed Mrs.
Harding, who used to send them toys,
nice clothes and candies from the
White House, remembered them.
She made a will leaving them the
| bulk of her estate.
Receive Half a Million
| Now George, at u, and Jeanne, Is,
! find themselves very wealth. They
will share equally in a fortune esti-
mated at half a million dollars, at
| least-the last bequest from their
grandmother
The thought of all the money,
| though hasn't affected either of the
children one bit,
George still has his paper route.
He is starting out in the newspaper
delivering the Marion Star, the news
paper his stepgrandfather, with
Mrs. Hardings help, made national
| ly famous.
And while he is delivering his pa
pers. Jeanne is at home helping her
mother with the homework. She is
learning, as all girls should, how to
manage a home.
I'm going to keep on carrying pa
pers," says George, while I'm going
to school. I haven't quite decided
what l shall do after that. but you
can be sure / intend finishing high
school and college.
And money isn't going to spoil
me, either. I don't ever intend to
take life easy"
Jeanne, too, is determined to OBJ
tain all the education she can. And
beside what she will learn in school,
she wants to learn to keep house
neatly, cook well and sew we'll.
Harding Fond of Them
And their step-father, Roscoe d.
| Merger, city salesman for a local
grocery house, also will assure you
that the children's new wealth will
make no difference in their lives
for the present, anyway.
School every day until they are
through high school and college.
After that, they may map out their
own careers.
The bequest is to be held in trust
until they are IS. at p, they will
begin to receive its net earnings in
equal shares annually. In the event
one dies. the entire estate will so TO
1.-THE surviving child.
The Mergers live in a comfort
able brick home-large and good
loolling-in the south end OF town.
On the front porch are a sled and a
bicycle that let you know there is
someone else besides grown folks re
siding there.
To the world at large. it was news
THAT Mrs. Harding was a grand
mother Few knew she had 4 son,
Marshall Eugene De Wolfe. by a
former marriage. He died in Denver