Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-03-03

YHEN mrs. Hoover makes the
M White House her oficial
wv home she will not have to
accept the crude conditions
endured by the first Lady
Of the Land who occupied the Execu-
tive Mansion. Hearken to this wall
from the wilderness.
There are no bells with which to
summon a servant in this great house
Of 81 rooms" wrote Mrs. John Adams,
wife Of the second President, little
firewood and vast number Of unified
promises. Surrounded by forests, can
you believe that wood cannot be Esx.
because people cannot be found to cut
and cart it?"
But Mrs. Hoover viii enjoy all mod
ern improvements, heating, lighting and
electric bells. She viii probably also
admire the colonial furniture Just re-
Gently purchased from antique dealers
Of New York as a result Of q plan car
ried out by Mrs. Coolidge. The green
parlor has been made the focus Of this
colonial renaissance - spindle legged
chairs, tables with pie-crust borders,
low stand with spreading legs and
low curving bench. This Is the last
act to date in the controversy waged for
three years among certain artists who
object to the Rooseveltian era of mixed
period furnishings, being for interior
architecture while others protest
against disturbance of the Roosevelt
ideals. So it remains to be seen what
the Hoover regime will make Of the
situation.
But Mistress Abigail Adams first had
to concern herself with fires and other
primitive necessities, after which she
began to beautify, choosing the upper
oval room for her drawing room, and
furnishing it with red plush brought
from Philadelphia, more advanced IN
civilization than the swamp wilderness
afterward known as Washington.
The east room, then unfinished and
unfinished, was used by Mrs. Adams
as a drying room for her laundry, al
though its designation In the original
plans was public audience chamber. To
what base uses may we descend Today
1t is the music room and ballroom
with q FURNISHED gold piano and satin
divans.
It had been almost the first public
act Of George Washington after quail
flying as President to choose the site
of the Federal City, as he called 1t. So
in company with Mai. LEnfant, the
three Commissioners and two surveyors
he proceeded with his plans, the first
feature being choice Of site for the i'm
portant buildings at the ends OF the
proposed main thoroughfare, the legis-
lative building to be on hill and the
executive overlooking the river.
But will 1t shock some Of our super
democratic souls out Of their overallS to
know that the plan for the executive
building was an adaptation OF the plan
for the palace Of the Duke Of Leinster?
In those days our native architecture
consisted Of log cabins and Indian wig
warns So 1t came about that the ex-
ecutive building was considered habit
able by the time Adams was elected
President. In l797-but with mental
reservations by Mrs. Adams.
Thomas Jefferson, his successor. being
o widower, there was no first LADY to be
Inconvenience. However. we must Cis-
appoint some more Democratic souls
regarding his simple inaugural. It Is
said that he rode horseback and hitched
his horse to O fence. But the fact Is,
he walked, but for the reason that he
was boarding Just half block distant
at "Conrad's Place" And as he re-
turned to Conrad's Place after the cere-
mony, remaining for about two weeks,
there was not much occasion for 4 pa
rade. Jefferson being indisposed 70 oc-
cupy the bleak. unfinished building In
q swamp two miles away. 30 avaunt
specter Of Jefiersonian slmplicityl
noLLY MApInQN. wife Of ths next
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