The Daily Alaska empire., 1928-09-22

They admitted he was mice fefsx > but they tucked their daughter under their Aarenta1 arms and moved to the Bronx. Al says tat in those days he didn't know where Albany sas. but he did know where the Bronx was and as Al Smith wife Catherine back to live in a hird floor tenement Madison Street, Mrs. Smith did her own work. She and Al took care of the children. She says he could bathe and dress the babies just well she could. They gave all their time and all their money-whieh wasn't muo=I to bringing up their five children.
 "A good many people" explained Mrs. Smit1
 would have called poor"
 Perhaps there is more light to be shed on Mrs. Smiths fitness for high place from an understanding of what she is than there can possibly be from delving into what she was
 She is today a very fne-looking woman poised, dignifed, serene She dresses exceedingly well She meets people gracefully She speaks in low musical trained voice. She smiles easily; laughs infectiously. She manages Whitehead her butler and her household of maid servants as if she had always had them. She is watch fully solicitious for the mental and physical con- fort of her guests She e''teams" well with her husband at social functions She has his gift of making all sorts of people like her She is always natural, alway herself.
 These social qualities of no mean order They carried her successfully through the chang ing conditions of her life so far And in the past few years she has added certain mental qualities which go far to round out her eauip- ment Mrs Smiths position in the Smith house. hold has never been one to bring her intellectual accomplishments into the limelight She may be the Chairman of the family. In all strictly do- nestle matters she is. But Alfred E. Smith is no silent partner in the family enterprise Her husband knows more about more subjects than the average man who aspires to be President or the United States. He knows more about some subjects than any other human being I ever met. It is no idle phrase to say that living with Al Smith is college education Spending an evening with him is a whole university course.
 Moreover Alfred has filled his home. especially in his last two years Governor with many of the leading figures in progressive social thought These associates have deeply marked effect on his own already highly developed mind They have served as we'll to stimulate his wifes The result is that Mrs. Smith finds herself very much at ease in just the kind of dinner-table conversation which occupies the statesmanly mind She knows affairs. And she can talk about them without talking too much
 She has travelled good bit too. She knows London and Paris and Rome. That's more than most Presidents wives have known, or Presidents either. She saw things and made up her own mind about them. She liked London better than Paris. She would
 few years ago she fitted over the old executive mansion in Albany. With the help of New York decorators she did a mighty good iob The place is difficult anyhow But lately Mrs smith has developed a discriminating love for American antiques which is gradually transforms ing the formal barn-like rooms into home of great charm.
 Albany society begins where Washington so- eiety leaves off: at the top. And the Mrs Alfred Y. smith whose daughter is a member of the 'ahlor League in New York States most exclusive city is quite able to cope with the wives of senators and Congressmen and diplomats
 There is no use pretending that Mrs Smith IS grande dame There is no use pretending anything with the Smiths They are so eenuine themselves tn that they make the suggestion oi snobbery seem abhorrent That's the way Al mas always confounded his would-be "high-hatu opponents His genuineness has been a magnify Ing glass Tor his ability, And that is the way WITS. A. Smltn mas won her way from the Saturday nisnl hops or Saint James Union to the place oi honor at the Inaugural Ball Her lack of manner Is the manner in which she charms