Evening star., 1935-04-21
CHAPTER Ii.
BY FRANK G. CARPENTER.


CHAPTER Ii.
BY FRANK G. CARPENTER.
FRANCES FOLSOM CLEVELAND
- stands at the head of the
White House ladies of history.
L She has the good nature and
tact Of Dolly Madison, the cul-
ture of Abigail Adams, the style and
vivacity of Harriet Lane and beauty
greater than that of any of the ladies
OF the White House still remembered
by the old stagers of Washington. She
stands at the front of the New York
women who have been Presidents
wives, and she has taken a larger part
in our social history than any New
Yorker who presided over the Execu-
tive Mansion in the past
Mrs. Cleveland Is the youngest
woman who has ever entered the
figure 80" seems to be her luckiest
numeral. She was % years of age
when she became Grover Cleveland's
bride; the wedding took place on June
z, nearly two years ago. She has had
a wonderful success. Her social career
has been as surprising as has been the
political one of her husband.
Coming to the White House fresh
from school she ran the gantlet Of
the Washington society critics and her
natural tact and beauty made her at
once the most popular woman of the
Capital. Old stagers of the Army and
Navy, who had made their bows be-
fore the court ladies of Europe, went
wild over her virtues; the statesmen
and stateSmen'S wives as well carried
her praises to the remoteSt parts of
the United States. The interest taken
In her by the people was shown in
the sale of tens of thousands Of
photographs, and today you will find
her picture In nearly every home in
the United States.
She looks tired now, for the season
has been a hard one. She has done
much throughout to save the Presi-
dent, standing by his side at four
great receptions and making tens of
thousands of people happy with her
beautiful smile and the cordial shake
OF her hand. She has instituted a
popular innovation in her noon recep-
tions. which are held on certain days
of the week for the benefit of the
tens OF thousands of strangers who
wish to meet the Presidents wife.
Advertising Methods.
The National Woman's Temperance
Convention, which met at Nashville
the other day. adopted resolutions
protesting against the immoral ex-
hibition of the faces and forms of
women as trademarks and advertise
lnents." 1t sent out an appeal ear
nestly requesting young women to re-
fra1n from wearing the decollete style
Of dress as immodest and fraught with
dangerous and immoral influences. A
telegram was sent to Mrs. President
Cleveland regarding the convention,
and a copy of these resolutions will
possibly be forwarded to her.
The action calls attention to a very
annoying persecution of Mrs. Cleve-
land by the patent medicine men, pill
peddlers, soap makers and other un-
scrupulous advertisers of the coun-
try, who send out circulars apparently
sanctioned by her, and who scruple
not to violate every courtesy with
which the wife of the President should
be treated.
Many people over the country SUD-
pose that these circulars are indeed
sent out with Mrs. Cleveland's sane
ton, and she Is powerless to prevent
1t. Copies Of such advertisements
are received daily at the White House,
with indignant letters from the send
ers protesting against them. Preach
ers write about them, mothers object
to them, and some Christian commu-
mites are quite excited over the mat
ter.
A copy OF one of the most atrocious
OF these circulars was handed me by
Col. Lamont, the Presidents secre-
tary, this afternoon. It charges Mrs.
Cleveland with a constant eating of
arsenic. 1T iS," said Lamont, false
from beginning to end, and it Is only
q sample of its kind. Such things
are exceedingly annoying to Mrs.
Cleveland, and it is unnecessary to
say that she has nothing to do with
advertisements of any kind She feels
the responsibilities of her position
as the Presidents wife, but she be-
deves at the same time that she
should be allowed some of the rights
Of private womanhood.
The advertisement referred to cov-
ers the whole Of one Of the pages of
the periodical In which it is printed.
1t Is headed in bold letters, "The
Presidents Trip" and below this:
Mrs. Cleveland's Remarkable and
Beautiful Complexion - How Such
Lovely Compilations Are Best Re-
tanned"
Below these are number of para
graphs about the President and his
journey and, following them, these
words:
Many have been the remarks
during the trip of the loveliness of
Mrs. Cleveland's complexion. In fact,
some Of her warm personal friends
have gone so far as to inSinuate that
some forces other than those supplied
by nature were brought into use by
the Lady Of the White House. But
Of course all this was only conjecture
and play. The secret, though, of
Mrs. Cleveland's beautiful complex
ion was at last given to the wife of
general famous during the late war
while the presidential party was in
st. Louis
It was simply the use of arsenic
that can safely be taken in a certain
form, and that Is procurable from a
doctor in New York, whose name is
signed to the advertisement. The
whole pretends to be an extract from
an obscure New York newspaper, and
1t Is one Of the most libelous lies that
has ever been published.
But what can Mrs. Cleveland do?
She cannot enter suit and put her
self on the witness stand. She evi-
IDENTIFY feels that the noticing of such
slander would be beneath her official
dignity, SO she is compelled to suffer
in silence. She cannot reply to such
attacks In the newspapers, and she
makes 1t q principle not to submit
to interviewing. She has, perhaps, as
high an ideal of the dignity of women
and of the privacy which should be