Evening star., 1932-05-15
BY FLORENCE DAVIES.

Back in the nineties the ground
around the grammar school in Whit
tier, Calf, was 30 overrun with wire
| grass that there was no place for the
school base ball team.
You might hit the ball, but II 1t ever
touched the ground 1t was hopelessly
lost In the grass. :
| It took o girl to decide that the
ground could be cleared If everyone
would work. That girl was Lou Henry,
later to be the wife OF the President
Of the United States.
Clearing the ground was no easy job,
f, but Lou Henry organized the school
| into three squads, captained one her
self to clear the diamond and pitted
! the two others against each other to
see which would clear the largest area
/ Of the field.
When any one Jagged or complained
/ Of bliSters, Lou Henry coaxed or PROD
ded him on with the work. with, a
promise of q treat from the losing side.
But finally, having finished the dia-
mond, she took her squad over to heip
the ranks on the soutneld. and when
it was done, gave the supper herself;
Mrs. Herbert Hoover, wife OF the
only Republican candidate for the
Presidency. like the home talent on the
evenings program, Is too weu-knoWh
to this audience to need an introduc-
| ton"
But though the main facts OF her
! life are well known and her virtues
| have been extolled to the skies, sne
remains in a way strangely alool
figure. This Is not because she is un-
/ democratic or cold. 1t is more probable,
nara doxical as 1t may seem, because
she is exactly right. Being Just right.
there is nothing to criticize and nothing
to forgive. And so she has not taken
hold Of the popular imagination, at
least in washington, as strongly as
some women less perfectly prepared Tor
the part they had to play.
It was not wholly by chance that the
girl who cleared the field for the oio
Whittier School base ball team; VINO
organized and directed fan drill when
that picturesque form of entertainment
was rife In the land; who, when the
luncheon was getting cold at school
dedication, herself buttonholed the
Governor and brought him to the table
lest his meal be spoiled, was later TO
organize relief work for the refugees
during the war, carry tea to the men
behind the barricade IN the Boxer up
rising, and teach her husband to expect
that home was wherever they were,
whether the place happened to be IN
China, Africa, London or California.
or the big White House on Pennsyl-
vania avenue.
It was not by chance that she did
any of these things, because she has
the habit of using her head and getting
things done. s
A Gracious Mistress.
The White House runs like clock
work. Its mistress is poised, gracious.
cordial to the never-ending stream OF
guests who are entertained at the
cesions and equally spontaneous and
adaptive in camp Here Is q woman
whose clothes are invariably suitable,
for she is never indifferently dressed
at dinner or overdressed for the street.
She Is a fluent talker, but never says
the wrong thing or speaks out OF turn.
In short, Mrs. Hoover, first and fore
most, has brains and knows how to use
them.
Perhaps just because she Is so exactly
what she should be, with practically
no shortcomings or idiosyncrasies. she
goes about Washington, drives her own
car, sometimes even goes on foot, with
out causing any commotion. or furry.
Mrs. Hoover mixes brains with her
clothes, never uses cosmetics and, save
for a, heavy gold or silver chain, dis
penses with jewelry.
And whereas Mrs. Coolidge. lovable
as she was as mistress of the White
House. was so natural that she might
have been the wife of the pastor or
chairman Of the reception committee
in well-to-do church, Mrs. Hoover Is
a much travelled woman Of the world.
Her Fathers Chum.
just how much of her capacity for
taking responsibility without getting
all a-twitter, this almost masculine habit
of straight thinking, Is due to her early
association with her father no one viii
ever know But 1t is well known that
her love of the outdoors was fostered
by her father, who as a banker in the
small town of Whittier used often to
leave his ofice IN the late afternoon
and take long walk in the country
with his daughter. Together they
studies, and it was with her father that
she learned to ride horseback and
handle O gun. It was then that she
doubtless acquired much Of the wood
land lore that has stood her in good
stead In her work with the Girl Scouts
Of America.
When Mrs. Hoover went to the White
House she determined to tighten her
husbands load in every way she could
with propriety. And so she took over
the enormous task Of greeting delegates,
oficiating at tree paintings and pre-
senting prizes.
1t Is an unusual day indeed when
she does not receive the school dele
cation from Eagle Cliff, or shake hands
with the Ladies Fifth Order of the
Yellow Da1odil, or make a pleasant
and appropriate speech, an art In which
she Is well versed, at some ceremony or
convention where women are the pre-
dominating guests.
This saves the President endless de-
tail and fatigue.
Fond Of Flowers.
Mrs. Hoover Is 50 fonnd Of flowers
that whenever 1t is possible she brings
a good deal of the outdoors inside. The
White House is therefore always bright
with flowers, and Mrs. Hoover has
transformed an upstairs drawing room
with a sunny exposure into a kind of
sun room filled with flowers, birds,
greenery and easy chairs to remind
them of California's sunny beauty.
But it Is at the camp at the Rapidan
that Mrs Hoover is as much to herself