The Washington times., 1929-03-25

uO lSuuS, IL VIII UC uloClOSeu
of Business President" by
number Of Nation s Business.
Lambert Is newspaper CORE.
spondent and one of the men Mr..
Coolidge publicly described as a per.
sonal friend.
Shortly before leaving the White
House, Lambert writes, Mr.: Coolidge
summed us the net of his experi.
ences and emotions in office as
follows
II believe l am leaving the Gov.
ernment OF my country In good
condition.
Regrets Leaving Friends
II have made no feuds. l have
made many new friends. My only
regret now Is severing myself from
the companionship Of my friends
here" ..
In the opinion of Lambert, Wash
ington never quite understood the
President, never quite got" him.
If Calvin Coolidge" he writes,
had lived in Washington so in.
stead of eight years he would still
have been an enigma to Washing
tonians."
Coolidge's natural caution and
reticence, 1t is pointed out, were
handy supplements for weaving a
myth around him. And Washing
ton failed to penetrate it.
Two OF Mr.. Coolidge's earliest
friends in politics." Lambert says,
were the late Senator w. Murray
Crane and Martin NJ. Lomasney, a
Boston Democratic leader of Irish
extraction. These two men were
far apart in their viewpoints on
issues and principles, but they had
common philosophy in the troublous
field OF politics, a philosophy which
Mr.. Coolidge found expedient to
observe. 1t was thus expressed,
never talk in the presence of two
persons; never write it, il you can
say it," ..
Warm Toward Friends
The Coolidge described by Mr..
Lambert is not the austere Cooli ige
so often discussed, but rather a
man with a warm attachment for
his friends and a good sense of
humor. He quotes the former Pres
ident as saying:
Friendship is great thing.
IT is a fine compensation. l am
happy to have had the privilege
of so many friendships in Wash.
ington and especially happy thar
none of these friendships. so far
as l know. have been broken.
II have been thinking of some
OF the old friends that i have had
during my lifetime. l wish |
could return to Northampton and
find the same body of stalwart
citizenship that l found when !
first went there in 1895. 1t doesn't
seem as though there could be
the same splendid men and women
living in the old town that ! found
in those days. They are gone,
most of them. New faces have
come. New thoughts, new activi-
ties and new interests have taken
their place. I hope when l re
turn there again to become a
part Of the life Of that town."
DevOtee Of History
Mr. Coolidge is a devotee Of his
torical works. He seiZes opportu.
mites to make pilsrimases to the
shrines hallowed by the nations
founders Washington and Lin
coin are his favorites. and anyone
who can supply him with a new
work upon the latter is certain
to furnish him with an evening
Of enjoyable reading. But he has
a strong regard for all the Presi-
dents.
There may be glimpsed another
and poignantly human side of Mr..
Coolidge's lesser known self in n
hook that now rests on the library
shelf of Dick Halls House at
Dartmouth College. Dick Halls
House is a convalescent home and
infirmary for Dartmouth boys. built
by Mr. and Mrs. Z. X. Hall. of
Montclair, n. j.. as a memorial to
their son. a member OF the class
OF 1927. who died in his sopho.
more year. In the library are some
thousand books, each one con.
tributed by a friend OF Dick Hail
or some member of his family. Each
book carries on the fly leaf an
inscription by the donor and on
the following page Mr.. Hall in
troduces the donor to the reader.
Mr.. Coolidge wrote this in the vol.
ume he gave:
ITO Edward X. Hall:
I'm recollection of his son and my
son. who have the privilege by the
grace of God, to be boys through all
eternity.