The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1936-02-14
BY MARY MARGARET M'BRIDE

ID INAfA1t AVE- DAeADA
NEA Service STAFF Correspondent
NEW YORK, Feb. 14.-Of ali
~ the women who are men
toned as possible mistresses of
the White House after the next
presidential election, Mrs. Will
liam E. Borah, except for those
who have already occupied the
post, probably best knows its
problems and pleasures, it's per-
plexities and privileges. For Mrs.
Borah has been observing the
Washington scene and First La
dies in action for % years as a
United States Senator's wife.
''It is difficult at best" Mrs.
Borah told me, great seriousness
in her eyes, land Mrs. Roosevelt
has been so amazing in the White
House that I think any woman
who follows her will have an I'M
usually hard task"
Not but that Mrs. Borah her
self has had plenty of practice in
meeting diplomatic and official
emergencies. The wife of the
ranking United States Senator
has plenty of those-and lots OF
hard work, too.
Paying calls, if you really did
all that is expected of you, would
be a full-time job in itself" Mrs.
Borah confded. eff you called
every day of the session as hard
as you could all day long, you still
would never finish.
THAT, at least, is one duty OF
which the Presidents wife is re-
lieved. But there are plenty Of
chores to make up for being let
off that one"
NNE thing sure, no political de-
" mand could surprise Mrs.
Borah. She was born, as she says,
into politics. She even met and
fell in love with her husband
when he was making a speech to
further the candidacy of her
father, William J. Mcconnell, for
Governor of Idaho. The Senator
has held public Office continuously
since their marriage.
1--WE came to Washington when
Theodore Roosevelt was in the
White House" Mrs. Borah recalled,
her blue eyes misty with mem
cries, her mind obviously far
away from the room in which we
sat-her Oriental drawing room
with its rare Chinese lacquer and
Jade and embroideries.
ct shall never forget my first
invitation to the White House. 1t
came 10 days after our arrival
and I found it just the other day
when was overhauling an old
mahogany desk full of keepsakes
of the years here. The card was
delivered by special messenger in
livery and was so impressive with
its seal that at first I held 1t in
my hands and thought I was
dreaming"
TN spite of the demands on her
i time, Mrs. Borah has no social
secretary and her entertaining is,
she says, of the simplest-a few
people at dinner or luncheon. Her
apartment, done throughout in
Chinese hangings, furniture and
ornaments collected through the
years, has several spare bedrooms
in which on week-ends are usually
to be found boys and girls from
back home who are attending col
lege or working in the East and
who might be homesick.
Her greatest interest in life is
the work she has done since the
war for veterans at st. Elizabeth's
Hospital for Mental Cases. Soon
after the Armistice a mother in
Idaho wrote Mrs. Borah a pa
thetic letter about her boy who
was reported lost. The mother
would not give up hope and asked
the Senator's wife to help find the
missing youth. Mrs. Borah made
the rounds of the hospitals and
discovered the boy, who after
ward got well and was sent
home. What she saw and heard
in her search aroused her SYM
pathy. and ever since she has
adopted for her own many CT the
shell and nerve-shocked survivors
of the World War. She visits them
every week. reads and talks to
theEa, takes them cigarets and
magazines, reports to friends and
relatives on their condition.
Small. blonde and modest. Mrs.
Bo-ah is reluctant to speak of
herself.
IT PLAY little bridge and am
j. little musical-that is. I can
strunl the piano and banjo" she
admits. Il am amused by clothes
but do not make them q Life in