Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-06-29

married and went to live in the old
neighborhood, down on the East Side.
Still Cherishes Program.
Al Smith still cherishes the program
of that entertainment where, dressed
in a ruffly white gown with rose
coyly tucked in her brown hair, she
sang herself into the executive mansion
at Albany. The song interestingly
CHANGED to be II Dreamt I Dwelt in
Marble Halls" Evidently fate selected
II. She began married life, however, IN
q tenement, two flights up.
And here she set out upon the career
which she has followed ever since, and
which she will continue to follow no
matter to what high place she may be
cqlled-the career Of home woman"
Essentially, that is what she Is. Her
friends speak of her, too, as IAN old
fashioned mother"
This, understand, is not saying that
she fails to meet the official respon-
sbilities which have been thrust upon
her. Far from It. She has astonish-
ingly risen to them, making herself
known FOR her dignity and poise, her
graciousness and frank friendliness in
q position which is trying-out If ever
there was one. But her home and
homemaking are her first interest. She
cares far more about being a wife, a
mother and a home-maker than about
being the first lady of the State. Never
theless, she attends punctiliously to the
first lady's duties, and she Is nowadays
carrying them off with an ease and
graceful charm that are exciting admir-
ing comment.
Take the matter of being a wife Al
doesn't know, say their iIltimates, how
closely she looks after hin-he wouldn't
stand for it, He objects to being fused
over. He snorts at feminine solicitude.
Has Wound Dressed.
There was time. for instance, when
n new monkey had been presented to
them, just before the family party was
starting for the theater. and the
monkey, lees cuSve in disposition than
had been claimed BY MS donor, drove
his teeth slyly into the governors hand.
1t happened that nobody saw the act;
Gov Smith slipped off, ducked the hand
into hot water, poured iodine into the
wound and started for the play. Not
until they were all at home again did
Mrs. Smith find out what had hap
pened: and then she saw to it that the
wound was Surgically cared for.
Her tact, however, is limitlesS. She
has a way OF keeping an eye out con-
corning his food when he is not quite
well, way of steering colds in the
other direction when she sees them
making for him, that has much to do
with the even good health which he
almost always enjoys. When, in spite
of this, he has had some slight and
brief illness Che never has more) she
is his nurse. He seems to like to have
me better than anybody else" she says
with wise smile.
Mothering has been her job ever since
those early days in the little East Side
fiat. She had five children of her own,
all born in downtown New York-and
they have all lived to grow up into
staiwart men and women. There are
now three grandchildren Alfred, jr.
and Arthur are married and living in
New York, the latter having two boys;
Emily, the wife of Maj. John Adams
Warner, lives in Albany, and her little
daughter is daily with her grandmother,
quite as much at home in the executive
mansion as in the Warner house. Cath
crime was welded in June, the second
daughter to marry from the mansion:
and Walter the youngest. is still in coll
lege. All this means that the family,
| including in-laws number 10 when it
haeAAAAo % ~ AAoNo tARSAAf SFSAS SAS1e A@s
Cares for Children.
| Note these facts concerning Mrs,
| Smith as a mother. She never let any
| one but herself nurse her children in
| illness. She bathed. fed. cared for them
/ to the last detail. She dislikes smoking
| for women and never permitted her girls
! to indulge in it. The flask, of course, is
I taboo.
Now you may or may not approve Of
/ these ideas in the rearing Of offspring.
But the point is that Mrs. Smith be-
! lieyes in them, and. because she does,
she has stuck to them. Not grin1ly, I'M
| derstand: never was anybody more gen.
| tie in manner, more ready TO show an
| open mind. But what she believes 70 be
right she holds to undeviatingly, She
| has steered that little household ship
| on the same principles that Al has en-
| ployed on his larger sailing vessel Of
state
| And now sit UP and take notice, all
! We houSekeepers; she Is woman with
out servant problem! As I have
| thought this over, In the light of what
some of her friends have told me, have
wondered whether this has anything to
do with the fact that her servants have
no mistress problem.
"She always treats us like we was
real human beings" one Of the maids
said
TO be sure. the incompatible White
head. who left Albany when Al Smith
did and returned when he returned,
has immediate charge al the household
of maids and couples and japanese
chef. But somehow Mrs. Smith always
contrives to let the servants know that
she is there-as their friend. She
knows them personally. she is con-
cerned for them In sickness or trouble
or happiness She selects gifts with
personal understanding always choos-
ing individually. And they stay with
her. They stay on. year after year