Evening star., 1943-12-12
Capital Sidelights
By Will P. Kennedu.

Teheran, capital Of Persia, in the
worlds eye today because Of the history
making conference there of President
Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill and
Premier Stain, was very much the CEN
ter Of American interest just short of 20
years ago as the result of the Staying
there of United States Vice Consul Rob-
ert 1mbrie. He was killed by fanatics,
and later his wife was insulted and done
bodily harm by rabble Of wild youth.
This affair concerned Congress for quite
some time while the legislative body of
Persia was endeavoring to make amends
for the outrade. Mrs. Robert I'M
brie, the widow, still is a resident OF
Washington. The American colony of
some so or go persons in Teheran at that
time included 20 engaged in missionary
educational and health work; at least
four cultured American women, one Of
whom only year before had travelled
$4,000 miles to marry her former boss"
in the State Department, DR.. A. B. Mills
paugh, then on leave, to take charge Of
reorganization of the financial affairs of
the Persian government. Mrs. Mary
Macdonald Millspaugh again is a resi-
dent OF Washington, and has been for
many years. A third American woman
links the interest of Washington to the
Persian capital The former Persian
Charge d'Af1aires in Washington All
Kuli Kahn, married the beautiful and
cultured Miss Breed of Lynn, Mass.
whose father was an important New
England manufacturer.
Mrs. Eliza Ballou Garfield, mother Of
President James A. Garfield, the last Of
the cabin breed to reach the White
House, was the first mother Of a Presi-
dent to hear her son deliver his inaugu-
raj address. She had raised the food for
her four fatherless children, and voye
and sewed the wool that clothed them.
When he had taken the oath, President
Garfield turned and kissed his mother
and then his wife, whom he had wooed
IN co-educational academy. Garfield
had earned his keep from the age of 10.
chopping wood, driving mules on the
tow-path OF canal, serving as deckhand
on canal boat, haying harvesting, car
pentering and teaching school. He put
himself through Williams College.
Mrs. William Howard Taft was the
first and only wife of President to ride
With him on Inauguration Day, March 4.
1909. For many years it had been the
custom for the retiring President to
ride back with his successor from the
exercises at the Capitol to the White
House. Col. Theodore Roosevelt. how
ever, thought the new President should
hold the undivided center Of the scene
so he went directly from the CAPITOL to
board train for New York. That was
the bleakest inaugural on record. A
nerce storm OF wind and sleet made out
door exercises at the Capitol impossible
and Mr.. Taft took the oath in the Senate
chamber, the first time the inaugural
was held there in 10 years.
Washington had period Of very ac-
tive LADY lobbyists" while Congress WAS
hectic because Of the fratricidal sectional
strife. Widows of Army and Navy ON
GERS, daughters of Congressman, and
some who had run afoul of the gossips
back home" were numerous among
those who for good pay nursed schemes
to plunder the Treasury and Of evenings
had distinguished clientele in their
hospitable parlors These spider lobby
lists" cunningly wove their parlor and
dining room nets, wining and dining
lonesome legislators, eager to get a
change from unattractive boarding
houses with poor food.
Humphrey Marshall, kin Of the great
Chief Justice and Secretary of State,
appointed Minister to China by President
Pierce, in 1852, literally "lost his shirt"
in the famous Pennsylvania avenue
House Of Pendleton," styled by its pro-
prietor "The Palace Of Fortune" by its
victims THE Hall of the Bleeding
Heart" Pendleton was a sprout from
one Of the FIRST families of Virginia."
whose wife (highly respecteO was the
daughter Of Robert Mills, architect Of
the Treasury. His establishment was
frrnished llxuriously with works Of art,