Evening star., 1953-02-15
Life Is Dedicated
To Husband,
Family, Church
tcontinued From Page DID

being 70 my nuSDanQ, my 1am-
lily and my church.
I'VE would not have prob
lens in the world If people
were close to their children.
/ think it is a mothers job to
build leaders"
She is intensely proud Of
the fact that all of her chill
dren have been leaders in their
schools. She also has seen
that they had music and dane
ing lessons, and is pleased
that Barbara is "quite an OUT
standing singer"
1.-THE best way to train and
guide children is to be with
them as much as possible" she
adds. unless absolutely neceS-
Sary I don't believe in having
hired help in the home. Chill
dren should learn to do for
themselves and feel that they
are part of the home organiza-
ton"
Washington friends who
knew the BenSons when they
lived in Bethesda from 1899
to 1945 say the new Cabinet
wife lived up to her ideas. The
Benson house was run on a CO.
operative basis, with every
child, even the smallest, as
signed some task.
Il can remember one little
tot who was hardly high
! enough to reach it who was
assigned the job of keeping the
bathroom soap dish clean," one
friend relates.
"Other little ones did the
washing and ironing. Mrs.
Benson wanted them to know
the value of work, and what
it takes to run a home"
The tasks were not unduly
arduous, she added, because
they had all the modern elec-
trical devices, like a washing
machine and a mangle.
A Coy Household
Despite the emphasis on hard
work. the Benson household
was anything but grim, friends
report. ut was one of the
liveliest happiest places I have
ever known" one says. There
were all sorts of sport and rec
reational features, both inside
and in the big yard-dart
games, fdeboard, pingpong
and things like that. You know
the church puts great empha-
sis on all sorts of good, whole
some recreation.
Mrs. Benson, who in her
youth was a girls singles ten
mis- champion, a prize win
ming Shakespearean actress
and a natural musician who
could play almost any instru-
ment by ear, now skates,
dances. plays tennis and
swims with her children.
"I have had to be both
father and mother to them.
their father has been away so
much on business. farm and
church work." she says. HE
takes time for them, too, when
he can. They each have a
notebook, and write down
things to ask him when he gets
home. And he takes one Of
them at a time on trips with
him"
Mrs. Benson keeps seven
scrapbookS-one for each Of
the children, and one for her
self and her husband. In them
she pastes every newspaper
mention of the new Secre-
tary of Agriculture ("I guess
I'll be kept pretty busy
clipping now" she says. plus
little talks. poems, inspira-
tional thoughts that it would
be elevating for the children
to read. With their busy
lives I know they don't have
time to collect all the things
that I know would be good
for their characters"
That means. of course, that
she has to get seven copies
of any newspaper or magazine
from which she wants to
take clippings. A few days
after the Inauguration she sat
in their WestcheSter apart
ment amid stacks of papers,
desperately trying to winnow
through them before she re-
turned to Utah.
She has gone back to Salt
Lake City until June-except
for occasional committing" to
Washington-so that the four
girls can complete their school
terms.
They hope to buy a house
here again-f1rst selling their
Salt Lake City home because
I'VE can't afford to own two
homes. My husband gave full
time to his church work on
Just an humble allowance. ALI
we have is our home, our
church and our children"
They hope to bring back
with them the latest addition
to their recreational life-a