Evening star., 1925-03-04
Mrs. Coolidge Sho,cs Charm
As Mistress of White House
Fills Difficult Position as the Nations
Hostess as FetU Haze Done Before.
Meets Task Gracefully.

than Is months in which to establish
herself as mistress OF the White
House and as the Nations hostess,
and each month of the time has given
her a stronger hold on the public.
Looking back to the reign OF Mar
tha Washington, Abigail Adams,
through to the days of Letitia Tyler
and down the line to latter-day mis-
tresses OF the mansion, one finds in
its present presiding spirit the grace
and dignity of each. combined with
wisdom and kindliness and big
joyousness that leaves her the peer
of any woman who has ever presided
there.
1t is difficult role to fill, that of
being a Nations hostess. meeting
thousands of demands from thousands
of people, and there is but one way
to do it successfully. Put yourself
in the other persons place Mrs
Coolidge does this. For the time be-
ing she Is one of the great outside
throng who has a curiosity to
assuage, a little request to be grant
ed, an honor to ask and in each indi
vidual case she puts herself in the
other persons place with the result
that she seems very near to people.
Two social seasons have passed in
the Coolidge administrations and those
who had not yet come to know. the
Chief Executive and his lovely lady,
joked about wearing their fur coats
down the line at state receptions to
shut out the chill of New England
dispositions.
1t Is not SO now. The Coolidge
smile is a well known quantity, while
the cordiality without effusiveness of
both the President and the First Lady
of the Land gives one a decided feel
ing of warmth toward them.
Her First Days Trying.
Her first days in the White House
were trying ones for Mrs. Coolidge.
treading as she did in the wake of
death of another President and feel
ing the responsibility Of carrying out
policies of hospitality as they had
been initiated by her predecessor.
There was fear of criticism lest she
seem too forward and fear of criti-
cism lest she appear too reserved and
thus give her friends and the public
at large the idea that her position
had changed her nature.
AS the wife of the Vice President
she had met newspaper women freely.
answered their calls in person over
the telephone, held long and friendly
chats with them, knew them each by
sight and called them by name and
was more or less at their disposal at
all times.
When she stepped suddenly into
her new position there was a rule
barring newspaper women from call
ing directly on the Presidents wife
for their information. She at once
established through her secretary
Miss Laura Harlan, a medium for
keeping them informed upon the lead
ing events of the day on the second
floor of the Mansion.
Senate women have always felt
more or less of an ownership of the
Vice Presidents wife, her husband
being the President OF the Senate and
she herself being president of The
Ladies of the Senate an exclusive
little organization belonging entirely
to that body. In the new position Is
First Lady of the Land. Mrs. Coolidge,
while having to give up her place as
president of the club yet held her
membership in II and especially held
her place in the hearts of the women.
OF course, she had to take even
greater care with official women at
large and with the stranger who
crossed her path.
Social rules laid down by ''The
Ladies of the Senate" gave a sta
bility to that body that even the
Quibble of an inexperienced or biased
social secretary could not put aside.
They even gave them decided
Should" advice as to their deport-
ment toward the wife of the Presi-
dent All of this, while frequent
matter of jest, was also a benefit on
both sides.
In many ways the new position
curtailed her activities socially as
well as her freedom, but not her de-
sire to do as much for the general
good as possible. She more freely
gave her name as patroness to worthy
enterprises, having no calls to make
she had more opportunity for con-
certs and perhaps even more time for
reading and study.
Mrs. Coolidge never fails to ap-
plaude an artist and frequently after
a concert or between numbers they
are taken to her box to meet her.
Always Well Dressed.
No woman who has ever presided
in the White House has appeared bet
ter dressed than does Mrs. Coolidge,
who has a particular sense of the
eternal fitness OF things, especially
in clothes. Gowns worn at the state
receptions and dinners have lost q
little of their lines of rigidity and
marked simplicity, so striking a fea-
ture during the days Mrs Coolidge
served as the wife of the Vice Presi-
dent and later during her first days
in the White House. They are
scarcely more elaborate, scarcely of
richer material, but they are a little
more stately in outline. Handsome
brocades of small pattern and adapt
ed to her girlish style, though now
she Is 46 years old, are generally
worn for very formal occa sions and
when wrap is needed, it is in per-
feet keeping with the rest of the
toilet
For her walks, and she is a pro-
digiouS walker, sometimes taking
several miles a day, Mrs. Coolidge
usually wears a coat suit, generally
of black, pair OF stout street gloves
and a hat of medium size. One suit
she has worn for walking and some
times to afternoon concerts, is OF
black with collar and a. sleeve trim
ming of white fur Again she wears
one of her long, fur-trimmed coats,
this depending much upon the
weather. Since the death of Calvin
Coolidge, her younger son, she has
worn less of the red or blue shades
of which she is so fond. but except
for the first few weeks after the fun
eral, she has worn but little mourn
ing and often substituted white for
black.
Mrs. Coolidge perhaps uses the
dainty garment called a negligee less
frequently than has any other mis-
tress of the White House, reserving
its use to the hours after she has re-
tired to the privacy Of her room or
, quite early in the morning. When
she appears at breakfast she Is
dressed as If for the street and ha-
none of the appearance OF ever hav-
ing lounged in her life.