Evening star., 1941-12-30

/
Henry MeLemore. ings-cn to get a
straight, honest, unvarnished reply
as to what the No. | host and hostess
of the country have in the way of
accommodations for those who drop
in for the night, week end or,
Heaven forbid, longer.
My choice of a question may seem
ridiculous in the light of what is
happening in the world and how
much Mr.. Churchill knows about it
all. But it isn't. Long after this
war is over guest rooms will still be
going on. AS a matter of fact, long
after the next war after this one is
over the guest room will rise up to
haunt host and visitor.
Based strictly, mind you, on my
personal experience as a guest land
I am one of the worlds most fire.
quent visitors here is what Mr..
Churchill probably ran into when
he started investigating the room
assigned him in the White House,
unless the White House is mighty
different from most Of the homes in
this country:
A clothes closet and old evening
dresses that the First Lady knew
she never was going TO wear again,
but which she couldn't get up
enough courage to throw away. The
chances are that when Mr.. Churchill
tried to find a hook or a hanger
upon which to hang his pea jacket,
he undoubtedly had to wedge it in
between an old set of Groton knick-
erS belonging to the President and
a Spanish shawl that Daughter Anna
had sent home from Seattle with a
note saying, Mother, store this
away for me somewhere. I don't
need it out here, but sometime in
Washington 1t might come in handy
for costume ball"
Oh, the atticS and storerooms, as
well as the guest rooms Of this coun-
-
might come in handy!
But, to get back to Mr.. Churchill,
I'll bet that when he Gid find
place for his pea-jacket the fumes
of moth balls that permeated the
guest room closet made him wish for
his gas mask that he had left in
Downing street. A good 90 per cent
Of the moth balls bought and con-
sumed in this country are used in
guest room closets.
Drawing further from my owl
experience in guest rooms, Mr.
Churchill probably did not find |
inch of drawer space in his bureau.
To open a drawer in a guest room
is more exciting than to open a
Pandoras box. I can just see what
greeted the British Prime Minister
when he opened the drawers in the
White House guest room.
One drawerful Of family pictures,
= some of them on the old gray card
i board that pictures used to be
mounted on. In another was lot
of old stiff collars, slightly yellow
with age and so packed that they
:. coiled like a snake and sprang Just
like snake when released.
+ Unless the White House is better
run than most of our houses. its
2 even money that the guest room
/ reading lamp didn't work. When
ever an electric light bulb goes
phooey in a house, the first lamp
robbed of a good one is the one in
the guest room. No one ever re-
members TO replace it,
f 1t goes almost without saying
that the medicine cabinet in the
guest bathroom was filled with cures
= for ailments that the presidential
family hasn't had in many. many
a year. Old Group medicines, long
dried up, undoubtedly stood where
Mr.. Churchill wanted to put his
razor. Faded boxes of pills and
powders stood guard where he
would like to have established a.
beach head for his shaving soap.
Few are the men and women who
have what it takes to throw out a
half empty bottle of medicine.
I'll bet even money Mr.. Churchill
had trouble with the ashes on his
cigar Guest room ash trays. for
some reason or other, are about the
size of an oyster shell whose feet
were bound while young. And there
never is but one. People buy ash
trays for guest rooms as if they
were only going to entertain light
smoking midgets for the rest of
their lives.
| OF course, I may be dead wrong
on the White House guest room.
Confidentially, have never spent
night in it in my life.
/ If you have, why straighten me
out. will you?
Distributed by McNaught Syndicate. Inc