Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-11-24

dancing in a quadrille, Mrs. Aston
in "a Worth costume of delicate
tints, an exceedingly long train and
the famous Aston diamonds"
Another high light of this period
in a life crowded with enjoyable
experiences was the trip abroad
which Mary Harrison Mckee and
Mary Saunders Harrison had to-
gether, the two of them leaving their
children in the care of their grand
mothers, Mrs. Benjamin Harrison
and Mrs. Alvin Saunders.
In London, they we're the guests
of Mr.. and Mrs. Robert Todd Lin
Mrs. Russell Harrisons mother, and
this son of President Lincoln's an
appointee of President Harrison as
Minister to the Court of st. James's.
Their visit to Paris was under
equally fortuitous circumstances.
Here they were the guests of our
Minister, Mr.. Whitelaw Reid, and
Mrs. Reid. Mr.. Reid was President
Harrison's appointee to this post.
Perhaps Mrs. Russell Harrison's
rarest experience in the White
House was that of being quaran-
tined there for scarlet fever, toward
the end of her father-in-law's adj
ministration, with her then 2-year-
old daughter Marthena, now Mrs.
William A. Williams. This daughter,
Marthena, now has a daughter,
Marthena, recently married to Mr..
Paul Franklin Traynham, I'd.
The Horse and Buggy Days.
'"Those were the horse and buggy
days" says Mrs Harrison, who re-
called during those weeks of quaran-
tine, listening for the hoof beats
of the attending physicians horse,
as he would drive up in his buggy
under the White House portico.
Mrs. Harrison, although she came
to spend her first winter as bride
in the White House, was by no means
a novice to Washington's social and
political life. During her school
days when she attended the famous
Georgetown Visitation Convent, her
father, Alvin Saunders, was Sena-
tor from Iowa, he and the ten Sem
ator Harrison being friends in this
legislative body.
After her debut, she was a belle
in official circles, the family staying
at the Riggs House during the con-
gressional season. It's site is now
occupied by Keith's Theater.
Among the pleasures OF that happy
time she remembers attending WASH
ington's Bachelor Cotillions.
Recalls Lincoln Episode.
Upon the walls of her apartment
hangs a document, dated "the 18th
day of April, 1865"
1t is the commission reappointing
her father Governor of the Terri
tory of Nebraska. Mr. Saunders had
been in conference with President
Lincoln previous to Lincolns assas-
sination in Ford's Theater that fate
full night.
Concerning her fathers account of
the conversation between them, Mrs.
Harrison remembers her father say
ing, THE President spoke Of his dis
inclination to go forward with the
plan of having him attend the the
alter that evening, sighed and said,
Since the people are expecting me,
I must keep faith with them"
In her fathers handwriting be-
low President Lincoln's signature is
this statement: 1.-THE signature of |
President Lincoln attached to this
commission was evidently the last |
official signature made by him. He
signed it just before leaving for the
theater where he was assassinated |
and left the commission on his desk |
without stopping to fold it-and
when it was found when the room |
was opened after his death-these
facts were communicated to me by
one of his clerks" The signature
ALVIN Saunders" follows.