The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1928-12-05
The WOman's Day
BY ALLENE SUMNER

Z One of the most interesting and
thought-provoking pictures printed
in long time, so far as I am con-
cerned, is the picture Of the frame
house at Fl Massasoit street, North.
ampton, Mass, which has been
rented by President and Mrs. Cool
idge, occupancy to take effect after
March 4, 1929.
Already boxes and bales packed
in excelsior and paper have been
sent to the big frame house-the
possessions which the Coolidges took
with them to Washington, and the
momentoes which they have collected
Of the time when they were First
Man and First Lady Of great land.
The house is big, but most un-
pretentious. It looks rather old and
sprawly and inconvenient, and
though its many shattered windows,
porches and vines that clambor up
its side spell sunlight and air and
homeiness, one knows that the man
and woman who would choose such
9 home put little premium upon the
modern conveniences" which lure
those of us who can, into apartments
where somebody else tends to such
prOsaic matters as stocking furnaces
and hauling forth ashes and light
ing the hot water tank and ra!,iEg
up dead leaves and shoveling snow
from the walks.
Somehow the picture of the
sprawling frame house does not speak
Of many servants. It distinctly an
nounccs that Mr.. and Mrs. Calvin
Coolidge, now the president and the
wife Of the president of these United
States of America, will return to
pretty much that scale Of living
which they accepted before they be-
came tenants of the nations most
famous house.
Like Old Home
True, this new home probably
rents for a little more than $50 a
month as did the one from which
they came. But they return to small
town, middle-class, without frills,
living.
When the Coolidges went to the
White House there were many
stories about Mrs. Coolidge's thrift
and housewifely abilities. We were
told how she made her own shirt
waists and, so a neighbor confided,
cut down her husbands shirts for
the two boys. We were told of her
cooking and preserving skill, her
cookie recipes, her complete adher-
cnce to all the traditions Of the <kom-
anly woman.
Then she went to Washington,
first as Second Lady, then, as First.
While it is almost automatic that
the reigning First Lady is always the
most gracious and charming and
tactful Of any who has ever graced
the house on Pennsylvania avenue,
the fact remains that Mrs. Coolidge
is admitted by even political oppo-
sites to be just that very thing.
Their plans for their lives as
private citizens are not at all un-
expected for them. But stop and
consider how many of those in the
high places are willing to return
to the old and humber standard of
liv;- after graduation from their
pinnacle.
We have a tradition which says
that the cares of public life are So
onerous that the man and his family
who have known the limelight are
only too glad to sink into oblivion.
But turn the pages of history and
ce how many Of the great and near
great you can find who, after tast-
ing the sweet Of power and fame,
and living by an accordingly high
standard, ever really returned to the
sphere Of living and thinking from
which they started.
The house on Massasoit street
makes many Of Us wonder, too. II
the substitutes which we have been
able to fiEd for the old-fashioned,
prosaic, house.livin9 which makes us
ell rush to modern apartments, 70
: &C.! destitute at all O. far -
personal happiness goes.
The Coolidges seem to think that
bic inconvenient house to tend is
worth their while even If they must
have many rore inner capacities for
more diversified interests than most
of us!
The 10th is The last day OF.
discount on Gas bills.