The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-11-10
BY WILLIAM ENGLE
Times staff Writer


IN 10.-Calvin Coolidge, back
from summering in the Vermont
homestead, was sitting today in
his time worn second-floor Office
over the Puritan clothing store in
Main street.-"Coolidge & Hem
enway. Walk In" and Grace
Coolidge was getting things dust
ed off in their new home, The
Beeches," a fine, long cry from
the little half-house in stored
Messasoit street.
First citizens of the town,
though they live now more
quietly than any others in the
valley below Mt. Tom, their re-
turn made a little stir from the
Academy of Music to the .Clapp
& Clapp market.
at mind,' said James Lucey,
cobbler emiritus of the Berkshires
and their friend, ''the time that
maybe I had a bit to do in match
ing them up. Yes, it has a bear
ing on the present.
"Mr. Cewlidge came into my
shop one day looking kind Of
glum, and I knew what was the
matter. He was going up to the
Hill then and, I thought, without
much success. So I said to him:
"WeII, Mr.. Cewlidge, how's
things on the HIP
"'Not so good, Mr.. Lucey,' he
said. Not so good
"ATOW, I'll advise you,' said.
IN Next time you go up don't
talk law to her or how you're 60
ing to get the school board nomi-
nation. Just sit up close to her
and tell her her shoes look pretty.
Then her her dress looks pretty.
"Then tell her her dress looks
pretty. Then look into her face
and say, "Grace Goodhue, you are
beautiful. Lucky the man who
wins you for a wife"
Wait minute before you say,
"And wish that I we're he"
Mr.. Lucey's elderly blue eyes
were beginning to sparkle, with
the old time alive in them again.
well, he went out. Didn't say
anything. The next time he came
in I put it to him again:
"'Mr. Cewlidge, how's things on
the Hip
Much better, Mr.. Lucey,' he
said. Very much better
The point is, said Mr.. Lucey,
that he wanted Mr.. Coolidge. his
friend to make good catch, and
Grace Goodhue was the best on
the hill, where she was teaching
school.
An additional point, he said, is
that today, as Mrs. Coolidge, back
from the White House, she is just
as lovely person, just as gra-
ciouS, just as wise and kind and
unpretentious.
Since she came back from the
White House unaltered, they said
today along Paradise road and
South street they are not sur
prised that the Beeches is work.
ing no change in her either.
Yet that is an estate so comely
assessed to Calvin and Grace
Coolidge"-that their tax on it
this fall was $1,135.
But quite as of old, Mrs. Cool
idge rides out of a morning with
her friend, Mrs. Rubin S. Hills of
Havenville, in Mrs. Hills La Sale;
Mr.. Coolidge and Johnny, the
chauffeur, have the Coolidge Lin
coin.
QUITE as of old, Mrs. Coolidge
~ and Mrs. Hills drop in at
Wells grocery or Filene's shop in
Main street. They swing up
around Childs park and Round
Hill road. They wave to friends
they have known since Mrs. Cool
idge was a girl and Mr.. Coolidge
no more than a mayor.
Sometimes, though rarely, they
go to the Calvin motion picture
house. But not Mr.. Coolidge.
The pleasant. unassuming towns
woman who used to be first lady,
though, seems not to get around
the city-it is up to $4,000 now
as much as she used to.
Since the White House tenancy
ended, and particularly since they
have gone to the BeecheS, the
Coolidge social life has been re-
stricted to communion with only
a few intimate friends.
TheSe-notably the Hills and
Judge Henry P. Field, in whose
office Mr.. Coolidge studied law
have standing invitation just
ito drop in"
Even IN the infrequent moments
when Mrs. Coolidge is engaged
socially. without Mr.. Coolidge, his
personality sometimes bridges the
distance. He called her up at
party one night, and this was said
at his end of the telephone:
Hello, Grace?"
This IS Cal. Hop home"
She does not mind this, they
said in Northampton today. She
so thoroughly knows the hard
bitten New Highlander, sees back
of laconic words and brusque
manner such integrity of purpose,
that their quiet life is rich in sat-
isfaction. They are a study in
opposites who get along.
" a MODEST place with lit
IA tie land" Mr.. Coolidge said
of THE Beeches," when he bought
the house built by DR.. Henry
Noble MacCracken, now preSi-
dent Of vassar college. But that
was underStatement.
Half hidden by great beech
trees. mile from the Massasolt
street duplex, where they left DR..
F. w. Plummer. their old neigh
Dor behind, The Beeches" stands
far back from the street, APP
preaching by a wide driveway
that curves up past the front