Evening star., 1925-03-04

WorK ana, sitting Dy one OF tHe sunny
south front windows Of the man
sion. darn, sew, knit or embroider.
She loves the work and she loves all
the dainty lite appurtenances OF
woman's sewing table, such as gold
thimble. fancy scissors. quaint emery
bags, dainty needle books and the
like She sews well and has the old
fashioned knack of doing a dainty
darn, such as grandmothers of by
gone days put in their best table
linens and even their linen pocket
handkerchiefs. Going a little fur
ther. Mrs. Coolidge can make quite
acceptable garment outright, but. OF
course, she now has only time for
bit of pickup work and not much OF
that. With the sewing as with every
thing else, Mrs. Coolidge has an inor-
dinate desire to allow nothing that
once existed in her dainty life to es-
cape simply because she is the Presi-
lent's wife. the first lady of the land,
and has a big social responsibility.
Future writer's of White House his
tory will find that no other mistress
of the mansion wrote as many auto
graph letters as Mrs. Coolidge-not
even Abigail Adams, whose friendly
letters to intimates give much inside
information about the mansion at
that time. though they were at times
a bit Querulous.
Writes Many Letters.
At her desk placed near one OF the
big south front windows in her room,
overlooking the beautiful sloping
lawn and away to the Washington
Monument and the Potomac beyond,
the first lady sits to write these
little personal notes. She makes no
effort at literary style. yet 1t is there
a simple, friendly yet elegant ex-
pression-and gives one the impression
when the missive is read of an ex-
quisitely graceful note. 1t seems so
easy to Mrs. Coolidge to take up her
pen at this we'll equipped desk and
compose a note. Where former White
House ladies have dictated notes to
their secretaries and perhaps signed
them, though even this was not often
done, Mrs Coolidge drops into the
ld-fashioned way of lending her in
dividuality to the correspondence and
quickly writes. addresses and seals
her letters Only the routine mail is
answered otherwise.
After the death of young Calvin
Coolidge hundreds of letters of con-
dolence were sent to the White House.
and though it has taken several
months. Mrs. Coolidge has personally
answered each note. In some there
were only few lines, while others
were much longer, but each was a
real response to the missive received
and not a stereotyped form.
The great barrier between a Presi-
dents family and the outer world
exists in the electric elevator or
grand stairway leading from the first
to the second floor of the mansion.
Below stairs they are more or less a
part of the public. Upstairs their
lives are their own. 1t is then, in
this more or less mysterious realm
of their existence that the public
likes best to delve.
The hundreds of thousands of tour
lists who pass through the ground
floor corridor and up into the east
room of the White House feel that
Providence has especially smiled upon
them II they by any chance may slip
through with a specially privileged
party and peep into the state dining
room or the red. blue or green room
whose vivid names are almost as
far-famed as the colors Of the rain
bow itself.
Tourists Taken Inside.
What, then. must be their delight
when they peer up the grand stair
way, down which the President and
the first lady of the land and men,
bers Of the cabinet come on state
occasions or get a close glimpse Of
Mrs. Coolidge as she passes In
through the big front door returning
from a walk and as she hurries
IL, - III - ~ 80, 1In
vator. They feel almost like they
know her, after that, even though
they did not realize for the brief mo-
ment that 1t was really she who was
passing.
Sometimes tourists from remote
corners Of the United States or per-
haps from the far corners Of the
earth stand for minutes before the
White House on the north side,
watching the windows to see If by
any chance Mrs. Coolidge or some
member of the household may push
back a curtain and look out.
This is almost hopeless and they
might stand there for the rest of
their lives and never see such a
thing and for the simple reason that
the second floor Of the north side of
the White House is seldom used by
the family unless for sleeping pur-
poses. Mrs. Mckinley chose a room
on that side of the mansion, but since
then the President and his lady have
invariably occupied rooms on the
south or sunny side of the mansion.
1t is on this sunny side OF the house
that Mrs. Coolidge arranged a room
for her mother, Mrs. Andrew I. Good
hue, who arrived a week ago. and in
which she will spend her time while
a. White House guest
Does Own shopping.
Mrs. Coolidge does her own shop
ping, preferring that method as be-
ing less expensive than having
dozens of things sent to the White
House from which she could select,
as has been the method of some
former mistresses of the mansion.
She visits the downtown shops when
ever necessity demands and tries on
hats, gloves or anything that needs
fitting or adjusting and, in fact, al
most everything she wears comes
from Washington merchants.
Perhaps no one set of men in Wash
ington know Mrs. Coolidge better
than the photographers. Inside and
outside the White House they are
forever leveling cameras at her. She
prefers a posed picture to a snapshot
and 1t has not been very long since
she visited the r street studio of a
well known photographer and posed
for dozens of plates. Without the
slightest affectation she follows the
advice of the man taking the picture
and Is remarkably patient with even
the unreasonable idiosyncrasies of
this class Of artists. Both the Presi-
dent and Mrs. Coolidge realize that this
Is a picture age, period when the
camera will carry far more idea of
the period than will written pages.
The President and Mrs Coolidge