Evening star., 1928-11-02

Eliza Johnson and her family were ir1
Nashville, where Andrew Johnson was
stationed as Military Governor of Ten
nesSee, when word came in 1864 that
he had been nominated for the. vice
presidency. A new prospect opened for
them, but even this shrewd product OF
the rugged East Tennessee country. bull
feted about by misfortune even as her
husband mounted from one triumph to
another, could not foresee that the way
had been opened for her entrance to
the White House.
For herself she did not care. 1t is
doubtful if a single thrill coursed
through her wasted frame on that April
day in 1865 when she realized that
Abraham Lincoln's death meant her
husbands accession to the presidency.
But in her musings she must have
wondered at the strange workings OF
events which had lifted this man, whom
she had taught to read from tailor's
bench to the chief magistracy OF the
Nation.
Eliza Johnson, like so many of her
predecessors, entered the White House
an invalid. Her health was so desper-
ately bad that never once did she ap-
pear in society. Her daughters, Mrs.
David T. Patterson and Mrs. Daniel
Stover, acted as hoSteSSeS at the EX-
ecutjve Mansion. Some people thought
that she was myth-that there was
no Mrs. Andrew Johnson.
But back in the days of her youth
she had been triumphant beauty, q
proper daughter of her mother, who
was held to be the handSomeSt woman
in all the country about Greenville,
Tenn. Then she was just Eliza McAr-
die, a mountain girl, well verSed in the
simple education of the time and place,
but far from fitting into the picture OF
life in great capital.
To Greenville, in 1926, came Andrew
Johnson. His apprenticeship to tailor
in Raleigh, N. c., had ended, and he
was setting up in business for himself.
He met Eliza McArdle and wooed and
won her. She was Is and he was 18
when they married.
Never a day of school had Andrew
Johnson had, yet he thirsted for learn
ing. That his wife could read and
write f1uently was at once a source of
pride and envy He had taught himself
the alphabet stumblingly by candle
light after his days work was done.
She was able to reveal for him the mys-
teries of books. She taught him all the
common school branches.
wifely duties were done, she labored
with her pupil. Presently she saw him
begin to rise in the community. He
was elected alderman, then mayor.
Membership in the State Legislature
followed. He became Representative,
governor, United States Senator
But fortune, kind to her in a worldly
way, dealt her hard blows in others. OF
the five children she raised she lost
two grown sons. Col. Robert Johnson,
one of these, passed away in his sleep
while apparently in the prime of life.
The other. DR.. Charles Johnson, sur
geon in the 1st Tennessee Infantry, was
thrown from his horse and killed in
Stantly.
Her health, which had been failing,
was almost shattered by the shock of
these events. She continued to be An
drew JohnSon's best adviser and coun-
selor, but thenceforward she stood OUT
side the ordinary activities of life.
Once, at the White House, she was
present, by great effort, at party given
to her grandchildren She was unable
to rise from her chair as the youthful
guests and their older guardians were
presented to her.
MY dears, am an invalid" she ex-