Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-04-20
Continued From Third Page.)

which she judges other persons, fol
that 'intelligence" of hers Is very
keen. But unlike weaker or q less
honest character, she first applies II
to herself.
During her campaign for Congress
at-large, in which she spoke In
nearly every one Of the more than a
hundred counties of Illinois, and In
which she won a victory as startling
nearly as this of today people in Wash
tngton expressed surprise to see her
on her way to Virginia to look over the
horses she planned to ride.
Part of Her Established System.
They did not know that it was only a
part Of that system directed by an in
telligence which knew that a political
campaign is one of the most grueline
of physical efforts and that to keep fit
for it is the first step toward achieving
victory.
They did not know, moreover, that
this intelligence of hers was well aware
of which moments could be spared to
physical exercise and which must be
burned up in long rides in train and
motor, in long conferences with polit-
ical chieftains, in strategical mapping
with the general staff in study of the
public issues involved, in speeches and
in more speeches.
At Kansas City I saw her emerge
from a smoke-filled room, where she
had been the only woman present, and
(since she had had the intelligence to
provide herself with a room in the hotel
In addition to the house where she
could be absent when she wished) In
half an hour of hot tubs and exercises
she appeared among the delegates as
fresh as If she had had nights sleep
I might go on enumerating examples
of the way in which she plans her life
in this respect. I do mention it par
ticularly because it has always seemed
TO me that she is lesson In this regard
TO many women. For women often,
think, seem to get a sort of hidden JOY
out of working when they are not well
enough to work; they refuse to care
for themselves in the same way they
care for others.
1t takes great control to achieve this
whether in man or woman.
Thus At for action, Ruth Mccormick
proceeds to what Is, surely, not only the
most successful but the most varied of
days.
Men have frequently shown that they
could be both good business men and
good husbands and fathers Ruth Nc
Cormick has shown that she can be
both a good business executive and a
good wife and mother.
Her Marriage Sequel to Romance.
Medill Mccormick, her husband.
charming. subtle-minded, gracious, once
distinguished Senator from Illinois. died
in 1924. Engaged to each other almost
from childhood, theirs was the perfect
love, the perfect romance.
To his career from the time he
entered the State Legislature in Illinois,
Ruth Mccormick gave that experienced
help which she had gained from her
own father
Their house in Washington was the
center to which gravitated every one in
terested in American politics and Jour-
naliSm, there to meet every interesting
European who came to this country
Mrs. McCormickS Sunday night supper
parties became celebrated, for they were
Q new thing in a city of marked social
distinctions. In her house society
might be present, but society" did not
dictate this gathering of men and
women who found here the only root
under which they were equally at home
And I mention them at all, not as
significant of the usual wifely aid 8
charming hostess may be to any hus.
band, but to hint that of an evening
when the days work is over, this woman
80 successful in the hard grind of poll
tics, appears lovely and beautiful as
one whose only end In life is loveliness
and beauty.
Their mutually Of interest, hers and
her husbands, extended into every as
pect of the life of our common human
ity. It was by her desire as well as his
that they went together to live in the
crowded reaches Of the "stockyardS Sec
ton" OF Chicago; and If her interest
in human beings was greater than her
interest In books it was often from his
more philosophical and purely scholarly
mind that she gained the Theoretical
determinations of the aStute, however
she might check them with her own
instinct for the practical.
Americanism Her Campaign Issue.
It was while her husband was among
the leaders in the momentous fight
against the entrance of the United
States into the League of Nations that
Ruth Mccormick also arrived at heI
position upon that question. which was
the dominating issue in her campaign
in Illinois
Americanism is in her blood and ir
her heart. Descendant of a long line
of Quaker forbears, she is a niece also
of that most sturdy and most interest.
ing of American historians, DR.. Rhodes
Her love of freedom is derived not from
any love of lawlessness-she is far toe
self-controlled for that-but from hei
deep individualism. &c. transferring
what actually resides in her as an in
stinct into action, she wishes the
League well in its work so far as thai
work be good and for the good of the
world, but she would keep her country's
hands politically united to adopt any
course of conduct which may in the
future seem good to it.
This attitude, developing, as it did
during her husbands lifetime, would
have been her attitude undoubtedly Ii
any case. For 1t is based again on tina
strong practical sense of hers. It ma,
be said that she distrusts not so much
European craftsmanship as all theoret
ical conduct. But most of all she dis
trusts a mentality which decides in adj
vance what it will think under an un
known set of circumstances.
She had been married IL years before
her first child, Katrina, was born. Medil
Mccormick, ir., followed and then Ruth
Elizabeth And, since their birth, thu
versatility Of this extraordinary woman
showed fuller play than ever.
Makes Study of Education.
She who had never been educated
began to study education. But tina
Americanism of which / spoke was no
to be shown merely in the concerns o
public questions. No French governesSes
nor special tutors, nor European schools
nor unmothered nurseries handed owe
TO the specialized care of fraulein o.
mademoiselle for her children. Instead
the personal thought and care, the in
innate relationship which only the RICH
kind of mother can give.
During the days of the suffrage fight
when Mrs. Mccormick was chairman o
the legislative committee, dropped II
one morning to see her on some matte
of business.
A stenographer was In the room
S&acks of filing cases were being ODer