Evening star., 1924-11-05
IDEAL FIRST LADY,
j. is MRS. COOLIDGE
Vivacity, GraciouSness and
Competency Endear Her
to the Public.
BY SALLIE v. ii. PICKETT.

August 3. 1923. Mrs. Coolidge has
realized her position the Nations
hostess, and has made good.
In her official social life as the mis-
;ress Of the White House she has full
filled each duty with grace and dig
nifty, adding a touch of effervescent
Joy in the Very love Of living almost
unknown in her position. She car
ried out the prescribed official pro-
gram of dinners and receptions last
season. aud in the Spring added a
series Of garden parties. Notwith-
standing the fact that she came into
the White Hou on the trail of death
and the grim visitor came later and
took from her her youngest boy, she
has smiled on. asking but little from
the public in the way of privacy and
Going her way in a manner to least
dnprGSS those with whom she came in
contact.
Long in Public Eye.
Mrs. Coolidge had endured the glare
of public life before she came to
Washington as the wife of the Vice
president when, az the first lady of
Massachusetts, she reigned over the
social affairs of the Governor. OF
"ourSe, that was at a period in the
history of the country when great
social display would have been in
poor taste on account of the scars of
the World War, but whatever fell to
her lot to do she did it, and with
grace and dignity.
Coming to Washington as the wife
of the Vice President. she assumed
the difficult role of forming the
bridge between the public and the
mistress of the White House, giving
dinners, entertaining luncheon and
tea parties. mingling closely with the
outer world. as the First Lady of the
Land is not permitted to do.
Mrs Coolidge easily impreSses one
With her personality--her strongest
point--and she brought to the White
House a spontaneous atmoS Sphere, q
big joyousness which it had not
known since the day President Cleve-
land took his bride there as the First
Lady of the Land.
'Her GIadness Is Enough"
Mrs. Coolidge is, of course older
than was Mrs. Cleveland, who was
scarce %, and bears the crown of
motherhood and some years spent in
the glare of the official world, but
her splendid spirit is so manifest that
when at an indoor garden party at
the White House last Spring an Eng
disappearing diplomat asked another
who is stranger to our language if
he understood what Mrs. Coolidge
said, the response was, THAT is not
neces Tary--to look upon her gladness
Is enough"
Mrs. Coolidge was born January 8,
1879. in a simple old house on Maple j
street, Burlington, VT, and that was
the homo from which she married.
October 4, 1905. Capt Andrew l.
Goodhue, who died after Mr.. Coolidge
became Vice President, gave his
daughter away, and the mother, now
d confirmed invalid in the home of
hA Nd Nfr-
northampton. lent a gentle grace and
hospitality to the simply arranged
event.
Capt. Goodhue was a Democrat and
received his appointment as steam
boat inspector from Grover Cleve-
land, filling the position for 81 years.
Mrs. Coolidge was graduated from the
University OF Vermont, a co-educa-
honal institution, and is a Pf Beta
Phi. After her graduation Mrs.
Coolidge went to Northampton to
teach in the Clark School for the
Deaf, a career soon cut short by her
romance with the President.
Courtship Not CONCEAL"
There are droll, sweet tales told of
the courtship. but the President and
Mrs. Coolidge are smiling but silent
on the subject, and gently enough |
give the world to understand that at
oSS IhoI poi VI tHelE lives is NOI
official. |
Hundreds OF thousands OF women |
the world over are wondering about !
the First Lady of the Land, for she |
must stand out boldly, typifying |
everything that Is best in American |
womanhood. To answer any ques-
tion about her honesty one would |
have to grow little too enthusiastic |
for lovely woman of IS years, pos
sessed of poise, eraciousness to a |
marked degree, keen, intelligent |
understanding Of those around her
teeming with vitality, gently SYM
pathetic. Industrious, painstaking,
meticulously neat, fond OF music, |
fond of children and flowers and |
everything that makes tho world |
lovelier-that is Mrs. Coolidge. Nor |
IS the picture overdrawn.
You know what kind of woman |
loves birds and flowers and little
children--that gentler sort who has |
a. continuous rift of gladness in her
nature? That is Mrs. Coolidge. One !
thinks of her as a mere slip Of a girl |
if you come on her suddenly. stand
ing on tiptoe peering into the cage
of her lovely troupial, handsomest of |
all her Gagged birds, native Of north
ern South America with a terrible
lot OF jabbering going on between |
them as she holds grape between |
iCE tcclu " lSLHpI
Prexident Also Bird Lover.
This wonderful bird Is of the black
bird variety, and while his notes are |
not as sweet as those Of the two |
canaries hard by, there is something !
lifting in his whistle that lends the |
same quality of tone when they all |
sing at once as if given by the bugle |
n an orchestra. Both the President !
and Mrs. Coolidge love him.
Daintiest of these singers Is the |
siskin Brist, a tiny fellow, littlier |
than canary, and termed the real |
baby of all the singers. The birds |!
and squirrels on the great White |
House lawn. with it's 10 acres set |
with forest trees and shrubs, are no |
and Mrs. Coolidge, and one often sees |
her raking a nut out from the leaves |
with the toe of her shoe to entice a |
bushytailed squirrel a little nearer. |
The birds, their nests, their houses, |
are a never-ending joy to Mrs. |
Coolidge.
Asked what is her first morning
task following breakfast with the
President and arranging with the
housekeeper, Mrs. Jeffries. the menu
for the three meals of the day, Mrs. |
Coolidge will tell you it is to look
over her mail. One Presidents wife
letter addressed to her. Perhaps one
might better have written that she
personally opened every letter placed
on her desk. In Mrs. Coolidge's mail
there are several hundred letters each
morning, ranging from polite little
notes from friends, family letters, ad-
vcrtisements from importers and To-