Evening Star Newspaper, March 4, 1925, Page 21

Mrs. Coolidge Shows Charm As Mistress of White House Fills Difficult Position as the Nation’s Hostess as Few Have Done Before. Meets Task Mrs. Coolidge has had a little more than 18 months in which to establish herself as mistress of the White House and as the Nation's hostess, and each month of the time has given her a stronger hold on the public. Looking back to the reign of Mar- Washington, Ablgall Adam through to the days of Letitia Tyler and down the line to latter-day mis- tresses of the mansion, one finds in its present presiding spirit the grace and dignity of each, combined with wisdom and kindliness and a big joyousness that leaves her the peer of any woman who has ever presided there. It is a difficult role to fill, that of being & Nation's hostess, meeting thousands of demands from thousands of people, and there is but one way to do it successfully. Put yourself in the other person's place. Mrs Coolidge does this. For the time be- ing she Is one of the great outside throng who has a curlosity to assuage, a little request to be grant- ed, an hoxor to ask and in each indi- vidual case she puts herself in the other person's place with the result that she seems very near to people. Two social seasons have passed in the Coolidge administration and those who had not yet come to know. the Chief Executive and his lovely lady, joked about wearing thelr fur coats down the line at state receptions to shut out the chill of New England dispositions, It Is not so now. The Coolidge smile is a well known quantity, while the cordiality without effusiveness of both the President and the First Lady of the Land gives one a decided feel- ing of warmth toward them. tha Her First Days Trying. Her first days in the White House were trying ones for Mrs. Coolidge, treading as she did in the wake of death of another President and feel- ng the responsibility of carrying out volicies of hospitality as they had been initiated by her predecessor. There was fear of criticism lest she seem too forward and fear of criti- cism lest she appear too reserved and thus give her friends and the public &t large the idea that her position had changed her nature. As the wife of the Vice President she had met newspaper women freely, answered their calls in person over the telephone, held long and friendly chats with them, knew them each by sight and called them by name and was more or less at their disposal at all times. When she stepped suddenly into her new position there was a rule barring newspaper women from call- ing directly on the Presldent's wife for thelr information. She at once established through her secretary, Miss Laura Harlan, a medium for keeping them informed upon the lead- ing events of the day on the second floor of the Manslon. Senate women have always felt more or less of an ownership of the Vice President's wife, her husband being the President of the Senate and she herself being president of “The Ladies of the Senate an exclusive little organization belonging entirely to that body. In the new position as First Lady of the Land, Mrs. Coolidge, while having to give up her place as president of the club yet held her membership in it and especially held her place in the hearts of the women. Of course, she had to take even greater care with official women at large and with the stranger who crossed her path. Soclal rules laid down by “The Ladies of the Senate” gave a sta- bility to that body that even the quibble of an inexperienced or biased social secretary could not put aside. They even gave them decided “should” advice as to their deport- ment toward the wife of the Presi- dent. All of this, while a frequent matter of jest, was also a benefit on both sides. In many ways the new position curtailed her activities soclally as well as her freedom, but not her de- sire to do as much for the general good as possible. She more freely gave her name as patroness to worthy enterprises, having no calls to make she had more opportunity for con- certs and perhaps even more time for reading and study. Mrs. Coolidge never fails to ap- plaude an artist and frequently after a concert or between numbers they are taken to her box to meet her. Always Well Dressed. No woman who has ever presided in the White House has appeared bet- ter dressed than does Mrs. Coolidge, who has a particular sense of the aternal fitness of things, especially in clothes. Gowns worn at the state receptions and dinners have lost a ittle of their lines of rigidity and marked simplicity, so striking a fea- ture during the days Mrs, Coolidge served as the wife'of the Vice Presi- dent and Jater during her first days the White House. .They are scarcely more elaborate, scarcely of richer material, but they are a little more stately in outline. Handsome brocades of small pattern and adapt- ed to her girlish style, though now she is 46 years old, are generally worn for very formal occaslons and when a wrap Is needed, it is in per- keeping with the rest of the fect toilet For her walks, and she is a pro- digious walker, sometimes taking several miles a day, Mrs. Coolidge usually wears a coat sult, generally of black, a palr of stout street gloves and a hat of medium size. One suit she has worn for walking and some- times to afternoon concerts, is of black with a collar and a sleeve trim- ming of white fur. Again she wears one of her long, fur-trimmed coats, this depending much upon the weather. Since the death of Calvin Coolidge, her younger son, she has worn less of the red or blue shades of which she is so fond, but except for the first few weeks after the fun- eral, she has worn but little mourn- ing and often substituted white for black. Mrs. Coolidge perhaps uses the dainty garment called a negligee less frequently than has any other mis- tress of the White House, reserving its use to the hours after she has re- tired to “the_privacy of her room or quite early in the morning. When she appears at breakfast she is dressed as if for the street and ha~ none of the appearance of ever hav- ing lounged in her life. Wears Little Jewelry, She wears little or no jewelry, pre- fering that of the costume type, that §s, to correspond with the dress worn, and at the receptions during the season just passed she Wore no ornaments unless she pinned on her bodice the little emblem of the Na- tion worked out in diamonds, sap- phires and rubles. Sometimes one sces her wearing a bead chain such as the wounded veterans at one of the local hospitals make and she has baskets, purses and other articles from this same source. She Loves to Sew. Some of the happiest moments in the life of Mrs. Coolidge are when she can take her sewing basket, her | thelr | this class of artist: Gracefully. knitting bag or just a loose bit of work and, sitting by one of the sunny south-front windows of the man- slon, darn, sew, knit or embroider. | She loves the work and she loves all the dainty litte appurtenances of a woman's sewing table, such as a gold thimble. fancy scfssors, quaint emery bags, dalnty needle books and the Iike. She sews well and has the old- fashioned knack of doing a dainty darn, such as grandmothers of by- gone days put In their best table linens and even their linen pocket handkerchlefs. Going a little fur- ther, Mrs. Coolldge can make & quite acceptable garment outright, but, of course, she now has only time for a bit of pick-up work and not much of that. With the sewing as with every- thing else, Mrs. Coolldge has an inor- dinate desire to allow nothing that once existed in her dainly life to es- :ape simply because she is the Presi- lent's wife, the first lady of the land, ind has a big soclal responsibility. Future writers of White House his tory will find that no other mistress of the mansion wrote as many auto- graph letters, as Mrs. Coolidge—not even Abigall Adams, whose friendly letters to Intimates give much inside information about the mansion at that time, though they were at times a bit querulous. Writes Many Letters. At her desk placed near one of the big south-front windows in her room, overlooking the beautiful sloping lawn and away to the Washington Monument and the Potomac beyond, the first ladv sits to write these little personal notes. She makes no effort at literary style, vet it is there— a_simple, friendly yet elegant ex- pression—and gives one the impression when the missive is read of an ex- quisitely graceful note. It seems so easy to Mrs. Coolldge to take up her pen at this well equipped desk and compose a note. Where former White House ladies have dictated hotes to their secretaries and perhaps signed them, though even this was not often done, Mrs. Coolidge drops into the old-fashloned way of lending her in- dividuality to the correspondence and quickly writes, addresses and seals her letters. Only the routine mail is answered otherwise. After the death of young Calvin Coolidge hundreds of letters of con- dolence were sent to the White House, and though it has taken several months, Mrs. Coolidge has personaliy answered each note. In some there were only a few lines, while others were much longer, but each was a real response to the missive received and not a stereotyped form. The great barrier between a Presi- dent's family and the outer world exists In the electric elevator or grand stairway leading from the first to the second floor of the mansion. Below stairs they are more or less a part of the public. Upstairs their lives are their own. It is then, in this more or less mysterious realm of their existence that the public likes best to delve. The hundreds of thousands of tour- ists who pass through the ground floor corridor and up into the east room of the White House feel that Providence has especlally smiled upon them if they by any chance may slip through with a speclally privileged | party and peep into the state dining room or the red, blue or green room —whose vivid names are almost as far-famed as the colors of the rain- bow itself. Tourists Taken Inside. ‘What, then, must be their delight when they peer up the grand stair- way, down which the President and the first lady of the land and mem- bers of the cabinet come on state occasions or get a close glimpse of | Mrs. Coolidge 2s she passes in through the big front door returning from a walk and as she hurries laughingly along to the electric ele- vator. They feel almost llke they know her, after that, even though they did not realize for the brief mo- ment that it was really she who was passing. Sometimes tourists from remote cornérs of the United States or per- haps from the far corners of the earth stand for minutes before the White House on the north side, watching the windows to see if by any chance Mrs. Coolldge or some member of the household may push back a curtain and look out. This {s almost hopeless and they might stand there for the rest of lives and never see such a thing and for the simple reason that the second floor of the north side of the White House {5 seldom used by the family unless for sleeping pur- poses. Mrs. McKinley chose a room on that side of the mansion, but since then the President and hig lady have invariably occupied rooms on the south or sunny side of the mansion. It is on this sunny side of the house that Mrs. Coolidge arranged a room for her mother, Mrs. Andrew I. Good- hue, who arrived a week ago, and in which she will spend her time while a White House guest. Does Own Shopping. Mrs. Coolidge does her own shop- ping, preferring that method as be- ing less expensive than having dozens of things sent to the White House from which she could select, as has been the method of some former mistresses of the mansion. She visits the downtown shops when- ever necessity demands and tries on hats, gloves or anything that needs fitting or adjusting and, in fact, al- most _everything she wears comes. from Washington merchant, Perhaps no one set of men in Wash- ington know Mrs, Coolidge better than the photographers. Inside and outside the White House they are forever leveling cameras at her. She prefers a posed picture to a snapshot and it has not been very long since she visited the F street studio of a well known photographer and posed for dozens of plates. Without the slightest affectation she follows the advice of the man taking the picture and {s remarkably patient with even the unreasonable idlosyncrasies of Both the Presi- dent and Mrs. Coolidge realize that this is a picture age, a period when the camera will carry far more idea of the period than ‘will written pages. The President and Mrs. Coolldge attend theaters much less frequently than have other White House occupants in some years past, Mrs. Coolidge at- tending concerts and but few other programs in a playhouse. Sometimes a new film is shown in the East Room before it is given to the public and sometimes thelr trips on the Ma; flower are thus enlivened. Nothing rests the President more than a few hours' trip on the May- flower and Mrs. Coolidge enjoys the change just as much, but no’ matter how strong the lure, they always wait to start on the journey until they have attended service Sunday morn- ing in the First Congregational Church, usually going direct from worship to the navy yard to board the Mayflower and taking their mid- day meal on board, THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, WEDNESDAY, DWIGHT WiLBUR GROUP OF NEW CABINET WOMEN SHOWS NO UNFAMILIAR FACES Members of Mrs. Coolidge’s ‘‘Boudoir Cabinet,” With Mrs. Kellogg at Head, - Need Introduction to Washington Society. There are no unfamiliar faces in the group of women who form the executitve circle and who In the lighter phrase of description make up the “boudoir cabinet” of Mrs. Cool- idge. Mrs. Frank Billings Kellogg. who becomes the leader in that coterie, as the successor of Mrs. Charles Evans Hughes, was wife of the Sena- tor from Minnesota four years ago when the Harding-Coolidge regime was ushered in and had an estab- lished repute for social gifts and for the utmost in tact. Mrs. Kellogg has traveled far and wide since those days of comparative leisure, and, added to the ease of man- ner and calm adaptability which the daughters of the West seem to pos- sess as a natural heritage, she has the invaluable experience gained in lofty diplomatic station. Mr. Kellogg was appointed In March, 1923, imme- dlately after his term in the Senate had expired, one of the delegates sent to the fifth international pan-Ameri- can conference in Santiago de Chile. Mrs. Kellogg found that journey one of the memorable events of her life. But her sojourn in London has mellowed her experiences and pre- pared her to fill her place in Wash- ington with consummate grace. The former Ambassador and Mrs. Kellogg went their way joyously and, seemingly, filled every obligation with dignity and thoroughness, and left London in a whirlwind of felitita- tions. Both share equally the social instinct and the power of mingling with every sort of people, which is another gift inherent to the West. Mr. and Mrs. Kellogg really enjoy meet- ing people, ‘and it makes all the dif- terence in the world when such con- tact is apt to become a bore. First From Minnesota. Mrs, Kellogg is a native of Minne- sota, and was the first from that ro- mantic land to enter the charmed in- ner circles of London. One of the joys of her early sojourn was to ob- serve the cautious approach some- times made to the land of her nativ- ity. But the great social world of London knows far more about every part of the United States now than it did before its bonny prince began to travel. A~fine type of the cultured home-loving woman, well educated, perfectly poised, and broad anmd toler- ant in all her views tersely describes Mrs. Kellogg. She received most of her scholastic training in the schools of Rochester, though she took ad- vanced courses in St. Paul. After her marriage, in 1896, when she became a resident of St. Paul, she at once en- tered heartily into the literary club life, which is so well developed all through the Northwest. A remark- ably well read woman, Mrs. Kellogg is also an astute politician, and can discuss knotty problems, National and international, with convincing effect. She was Miss Clara M. Cook before her marriage, and her parents, though of New England stock, nad penetrated to Minnesota from Illinois in the early '50s and before the iron horse had made such journeys comfortable. Mrs. Kellogg is of medium height, but stately in appearance, and her hair is slightly gray. She has always been gowned in excellent style, and for some years has shown a prefer- ence for velvet ceremonial robes. She and the Secretary have a distinct his- torical trend, and both are members of the Mayflower Descendants’ Asso- ciation, They are also members of the Chevy Chase Club, and Mr. Kel- logg is & golfer of no mean ability. Mrs. Kellogg was one of the most active members of the Senate Ladies' Club. The Secretary of State and Mrs. Kellogg will restore the dynasty of pewholders inySt. John’s Church, probably. When they lived on Nine- teenth street, in their senatorial days, they attended St. Margaret's Church, which is nearby. The Secretary of State and Mrs. Kellogg have no children. but they frequently entertain their nieces, nephews and other relatives. Mins Mellon's Success. Miss Ailsa Mellon, daughter of the Secretary of the Treasury and the official hostess in his home, has en- tered her fifth year in that role. She was very voung and inexperienced when her father accented his onerous post. under President Harding. Nat- urally she shrank from such seem- ingly prosaic duties and from a con- stant intercourse with elderly women. But Miss Mellon has long ago dis- carded that theory and she appears to enjoy her part, and she fills it with grace and considerable success. She enjoys a twofold advantage In being a cabinet hostess and also the handsome and accomplished young daughter of so important a presiden- tial councilor as the Secretary of the | Treasury. This dignitary has specfal obligations and gives many formal dinners. At first Miss Mellon, panic stricken, would fily off to Pittsburgh and the wife of a cabinet colleague would act as Mr. Mellon's hostess. Miss Mellon now presides over her father's board with charming grace and has taken her full share of the duties which fall hostess The daughter of the Secretary of the Treasury possesses many accom- plishments and is in demand in ama- teur theatricals, in solo dances and on the athletic fleld. With her brother Paul, now preparing for col- lege, Miss Mellon was educated en- tirely by private teachers at home. She made her debut when she was less than 17 in her father's splendid home, Oak Ridge, Pittsburgh. She came to Washington before she was quite 18. She is tall, slender and fair and, wearing her favorite fabric, cloth ‘of gold, she has the air of a medieval maid, which is enhanced by the great white wolf hound which sometimes appears at her side in the drawing room. Miss Alice Sylvester, who has been for four years Miss Mellon's com- panion and chaperone, has made her own little niche in these years in to every cabinet which she has been a member of the,| Mellon household. Army Soctal Circles. Mrs. John Wingate Weeks, like Miss Mellon, has filled her place in the cab- Before she became the wife of the Secretary of inet coterfe since March, 1921. ‘War she had lived in Washington for many vears, first as the wife of a mem- ber of Congress and then as that of a Senator from Massachusetts. Her role is an arduous one, for she has all obliga- tions toward general soclety that other cabinet hostesses have and special ones in relation to the large Army contingent resident here. The Weeks home on Sixteenth street has been the scene of much hospitality, MARCH 4, 1925. STEVARTNEW and the Secretary of War and his wife havé entertained and been entertained in accordance with the prevailing custom. Mra Weeks, however, has been in fragile health for two years, and her daughter, Mrs. John Washington Davidge, has fre- quently acted in her place. Mrs. Weeks was before her marriage to the young ex-naval officer in 1885 Miss Martha Sinclair of Boston. Their son is John Wingate, jr., a lawyer, mar- ried, has two children and lives in New York City. The Secretary of War and Mrs. Weeks have. attended All Souls' Unitarian Church eince coming to Wash- ington, at first when the church was in the unfashionable section at Fourteenth and L streets, and later in its present fashionable envionment on Sixteenth street, near the big embassy and lega- tion settlement. Wife of Attorney Gemeral. Mrs. Charles Beecher Warren, wife of the Attorney General, has been welcomed back to old scenes and finds many friends in the immediate circle to which she now belongs. The ecretary of Commerce and Mrs. Hoover were near neighbofs of Mr. and Mrs. Warren during the Attor- ney General's service under Gen. Crowder during the World War. Like Mrs. Kellogg, Mrs. Warren has ex- perience in a formal court life to ald in her present tasks, for her husband served for two vears in Tokio and before that was on special duty in Mexico City. There are three sons in the Warren family, the oldest, John Buell War- ren, a freshman at Yale; Robert, who is In the Taft Preparatory School and will soon go to Princeton, and Charles Beecher, jr., just 10 years old, and who will no doubt go to the Cathe- dral School for Boys, in ‘Woodley lane, which his elder brothers attend- ed during their former Washington residence. Mrs. New a Writer. Mrs. Harry Stewart New., wife of the Postmaster General, from 1917-23 was a_member of the senatorial circle. She joined her present colleagues in the cabinet on March 5, 1923, when Presi- dent Harding appointed the retiring Indiana Postmaster General, and when Dr. Hubert Work, | was Senator from who succeeded Will H. Hays, transferred to the Interior Depart- ment. Mrs. New is a native of St. Cath- erine, in Ontatrio, and was before her marriage Miss Catherine McLean. She was educated at a well known con- vent near Niagara, Canada, but after- ward studied art and letters in New She_had definitely decided on a literary §tareer, and had already he Woman Relgns,” to her credit when she mar- York. one successful novel, ried Mr. New, an editor and news- paper publisher of Indianapolis. Since the marriage Mrs. New has submerged her ambition in aiding her husband. ‘The Postmaster General and Mrs. New have, during their Washington A Teacher lington, Vt., January 3, 1879, a guest at the White House. B%ston University December 12. Jol Mrs. Coolidge Coll-ge Woman, and Doctor of Laws Mrs. Grace Goodhue Coolidge was born on Maple street, Bur- . She is the daughter of the late Capt. Andrew I. Goodhue, who died while Mr. Coolidge was Vice President, and Mrs. Goodhue, now She is a graduate of the University of Vermont and is a Pi Beta Phi. Shortly after graduation she went to Northampton to teach in the Clark School for the Deaf and Dumb. Northampton she met Calvin Coolidge, then a young lawyer, and her career as a teacher was cut short home in Burlington, October 4, 1905. She received the honorary degree of doctor of laws from the While in y her marriage to him at her She is the mother of two sons, n Coolidge, the elder, a student at Amherst College, and Calvin Coolidge, jr., whose death occurred in Washington in June, is a well known figure in the official world, and boudoir life, lived in an apartment on Wyom- ing avenue. They ha¥e no children. In Mrs. Curtis Dwight Wilbur, wife of the Secretary of the Navy, Minne- sota claims anotbet daughter in august cirele of cabfet women. Mrs. Wilbur was bofore her marriage Miss Olive Doolittle of St. Paul, | which is Mrs. Kellogg's present home. But she visits there only occasion- ally now and ceased to make that her permanent home immediately after her marriage to the then prose- cuting attorney of Los Angeles in 189S. The Secretary of the Navy and Mrs. Wilbur have been residents of the Capital a little more than a year | and they have become quite familiar with its many-sided life. Mrs. Wilbur, like Mrs. Kellogg, Mrs. Weeks and Mrs. Warren, has all the general obligations of the cabinet hostess, with additional special duties toward the naval contingent. 'This Winter she has received the graceful aid of the only daughter, Miss Edna ‘Wilbur, who gave up her ambition for a collegiate career and has assumed part of the social burden. Miss Wil- bur salled for Europe a month ago and will spend six months abroad. The Secretary of the Navy at pres- ent resides on N street near Eight- eenth, and he and all his family at- tend the Congregational Church on Tenth and G streets, which is also the -place of worship both of the President and the Vice President. Be- sides Miss Edna Wilbur, there are four sons in the family of the Secre- tary of the Navy. Dr. Hubert Work, the Secretary of the Interior, has been more than three years in the Cabinet, and for two of these Mrs. Work was a much- appreciated member of the executive social circle. She died In Washing- ton in May, 1924, and was buried in state from the east room of the White House. The Postmaster General has two married sons, both physiclans like himself, but in active practice. It seemed impossible for either daughter-in-law to come to Washing- ton, so this division of the executive set is unrepresented In the social way. The head of the Interior De- partment is a Presbyteri: and at- tends the Church of the Covenant. Mrs. Jardine Not a Stramger Here. Mrs. William M. Jardine, wife of the retiring head of the Kansas State College of Agriculture, who has be- come the successor of Mr. Howard Gore, Governor of West Virginia, though known to a smaller circle than Mrs. Kellogg and Mrs. Warren, has, nevertheless, many friends in Washington. Dr. Jardine was a mem- ber of the National Research Coun- cil during the World War and the meetings of its executive committee j frequently brought him to Washing- jton. Quite frequently Mrs. Jardine was with him and, of course, both became well acquainted with the Food Administrator and Mrs. Herbert Hoover. Both Dr. Jardine and his wife passed their early life |in Utah, and Mrs. Jardine claims it as the place of her nativity. Dr. Jardine was born in Oneida County, in Senator Borah's State, but his par- ents, William and Rebecca Johnson Jardine, went to Utah in his child- hood. Mrs. Jardine was Miss Effie Nebeker and she was a student at the Agricultural College at Logan, Utah, at the same time as was her husband, the distinguished cerealist, or agronomist, as he writes himself in official biographies. « The romance thus happily begun over farm problems was continued through the State Normal School, where they graduated. The marriage followed at once, in 1905, and young Jardine received an appointment on the staff of teachers in his alma mater in Logan. Two vears later his foot was planted securely on the ladder of advancement when he was made United States cerealist for dry land investigation for that secton. Mean- time he moved to Kansas, of which State he is now a citizen, and from minor posts.on the professorial staff he had become its president. Mra. Jardine was & censpicueusly gracious i the | will There are two congenial women in the administration in the persons of Mrs. Coolidge and Mrs, Dawes. They will work well and amiably together in the executive family and in social harness. Mrs. Coolidge and Mrs. Dawes agree in religion, both be- longing to the Congregational Church, and they have many other similar tastes. Their being in Washington now is almost like a home coming to the Vice President and Mrs. Dawes, who have twice before made the Capital their home, once when in the Roose- velt administration he was con- troller of currency and agaln as di- rector of the budget under President Harding, As the Vice President Mr. Dawes will presids over the Senate, and ves- terday Mrs. Dawes was given her first peep behind the scenes pf the soclal structure of which she is the head and which she must hereafter sponsor and direct. This was when she became the guest at the luncheon glven weekly by “The Ladies of the Senate,” the presidency of which is synonymous with her position as the wife of the Vice President. Afd at Soeial Functions. Mrs. Coolidge and Mrs. Dawes must frequently stand in line together at the White House, especially while the prescribed state entertainments are {n progress. It is not dikely that the Vice President and Mrs. Dawes will long make their home in a hotel, but they will rather establish a home suited to their rank and wealth and there they will sometimes entertain the President and Mrs. Coolidge. Mrs. Dawes comes to the Capital with an established reputation for achieving stupendous results in ev- erything under her direction. Washington knew quite a young matron. Fortune just beginning to smile then, the controller of the currency was and was home in Washington, that tall brick house adjoining the Hotel Hamilton. on the K street side, was maintained entirely on his salary. was one of the Most popular of that era. Must Have Good Digestion. facetious writers that the principal gentleman and his lady cast-iron digestion to the banquets at which assist and the requisite return in kind amenities. = are, survive they must income have a well defined schedule of din. ners they must accept and quite as lengthy a list of those which they must give. Thus, after figuring at the cabinet dinner at the White House, they entertain at different times all the presidential councilors the Speaker of the House, the Chief Justice and the dean of the diplomatic corps and others of the foreign con- tingent. Mrs. Dawes muét hold general pub- lic receptions on Wednesdays as often during the season as occasion demands and she must also take over the reception of distinguished strangers, who, for some urgent cause, cannot be invited to the White House. And, of course, she is much at the mercy of the senatorial coterie. WIll Meet Duties Easily. A study of the personal side of the Vice President and Mrs. Dawes show that all this routine will be faithfully followed and ‘i ease. They are as accustomed tc vix things as the Secretary of Commerce and Mrs. Hoover. When this eminent couple lost their only son, Rufus Fearing Dawes, in the Summer of 1912, it marked a turning point in both: their lives. Always imbued with a sense of obligation to the less fortunate, both turned to solve the problem in different ways. The Vice President began a series of hotels aimed to help the “down and out” and give them a chance to come back in whatever way they were most fitted. The several hotels maintained for destitute men in Chi- cago and Detroit and in other citles have borne a golden harvest in help- ing these derelicts to help themselves. Mrs. Dawes took over the problem of dependent and ailing children, but she 1s so retiring and averse to any kind of publicity regarding her pri- vate charitles that no sort of sta- tistics may be obtained. However, her light is far too brilliant to shine under a bushel, and her success in and popular hostess in the campus and will take over her new duties with a sure hand. There are three children, young Willlam, who is a sophomore in the institution of which his father was recently the head, who is 16; Marian, a pretty young miss of 14, and Ruth, who is almost 10, Dr. Jardine and family will attend the Congregationalist Church at Tenth and G street: Mrs. Hoover Is Charming Hostess. Mrs. Herbert Hoover, wife of the Secretary of Commerce, was well known in Washington prior to her husband’'s acceptance of a cabinet post under President Harding. But she has been viewed at closer range during the past four years, and with complete satisfaction to the thou- sands who have been welcomed to her home. As head of the Girl Scouts, Mrs., Hoover has been asso- clated with many with whom a cab- inet official's wife is not generally on such chummy terms. She has also feted the most exalted of strangers within the gate, and has been ex- ceptionally energetic in dispensing all routine hospitalities. The beau- tiful home of the Hoovers, near that of the late President Wilson and of the Chief Justice and Mrs. Taft, has become one of the best known resi- dences in Washington. Mrs. Hoover has, during the past season, given a practical lesson In interior decoration and proved that rooms may be placed in gala attire without Incurring enormous bills with the florists. She has used dried leaves, berries and colorful vegetables with tremendous effect on her dining table and in the spaces usually occupled by cut flow- ers in corridors and drawing rooms. Représentative of Iowa. The Secretary of Commerce and his wife are natives of lowa, and both were born in small country towns, the first in West Branch and Mrs. Hoover in Waterloo. But it was re- served by fate for them to meet on the campus at Leland Stanford Uni- versity, near San Fvancisco. Mr. Hoover came of struggling parents, and he went West to secure an edu- catidn and to advance his fortune. He :made a wise choice, for he met Miss Lou Henry almost his first day at college. This young lady had gone to California with her parents be- 'vo es. cause the hard, cold Winters of Towa were disastrous for her delicate young sister Jean. The Henrys, who were what is termed well-to-do, set- tled first at Monterey, and then moved to San Francisco for educational pur- There is no question that Miss Henry and young. Hoover settled thelr future very early tn their acquain- tance, for the voung lady studied | tering trom When | her first she was | employing all his spare cash in his| business enterprises, and the modest | kxng him That home | Society. 21 Mrs. Dawes Will Be Congenial Addition to First Lady’s Circle Like Mrs. Coolidge, Vice President’s Wife Is Congregationalisi—Has Devoted Life to Child Welfare. this line may be gauged by the testi- mony of her neighbors in Evanston, Iil. These ladies say that it is about 12 years since Mrs. Dawes, two of her sisters-in-law, Mrs. Beeman and Mrs. Henry M. Dawes, and her daughter, Mrs. Melvin Burt Ericson, and a group of her closest friends on the Child Welfare Board, of which she was chairman, began to explore the country about Chicago to find homes for dependent juveniles among the childless and ,well-to-do families. Movement Grew Raplaly. Afling children were kept in firmaries and only the robust and healthy were offered for adoption. In a short time the movement grew and extended into every part fo Illinois and into Ohio. Mrs. Dawes took over a handsome boy when he was less than two months old, and this is Dana, the manly young son, now 14, and about to enter college, who has accompanied the Vice President and Mrs, Dawes to Washington. Virginia, the little daughter, came into the home after her mother died, and when she was less than 6 weeks old. She is now 12 and is a winsome little lady. Both of these children have been taught that wealth and opportu- nity are only means to an end and must invariably be shared with the in- {unfortunate. Not content with the opportunities offered to aid children through ac- cepted channels of civic charity, Mrs. Dawes, like good Caliph Alchid H. round had the habit of slumming herself. Found Unclaimed Child. Thus one day she found a lovely abandoned boy about 2 vears old suf- expasure, undernourish- ment and lack of proper clothes. took this unfortunate to the infl mary, instituted a vain search to dis- cover his relatives or even his name. | After six months of expert treatment the boy became the picture of health and was adopted Into the home of a substantial citizen of Chicago, who gave him his name and is now rear- to be a useful member of Many such stories are told of Mrs. Dawes, but this is typical of her work for 12 years past. A fas { nating | Bree of success the wife of the Vice It has frequently been asserted by | President will preach her gospel of qualifications required by the second | The Vice President and Mrs. Dawes | vista arises as to what de- love in Washington. less rich, childless There are coun families hers first, a |among the exalted officials as well all {as among the millionaire Winter | cotonists to | these multitudinous | one acknowledgment of her efforts in “The Mother of the Regiment’ is war times that Mrs. Dawes has re- ceived with pride, and her record 2s head of the knitting unit of Chicago is officlally written down and she can by no means evade this glory. When her husband entered the training camp as a “rookie” in the 11th Illinois Engineers, Mrs. Dawes at once adopted the 1,000 men. She began her knitting unit among her aides in various charities, but discovering at once how inadequate this force would prove, she organized the entire steno- graphic and clerical force of girls in the Central Trust Company of Chi- cago, of which her husband was vice | president. Both Fond of Reading. Both the Vice President and Dawes love to read. He likes ta of adventure and has found no mod- ern novel which can give him the thrill that “The Count of Monte Cris- to” does. Mrs. Dawes likes juvenils stories and she reads a_number of them in order to guide the trend of Dana and Virginia and the numerous little girls and boys who come to talk things over. She likes music, too, the better kind, for she has been brought up on it Her own family, the Blymers of Marietta, Ohio, were all good musicians. She cannot recall her first acquaint- ance with the “Dawes boys,” or at what age Charlie singled her out for his own, but it was in what is known as the irresponsible years though they have proved that they knew their own minds perfectly and needed no direction from thelr elders. Mrs. Dawes, though named Carolyn, was always c¢alled Caro, and her daughte being called for her, is known as Carolyn to distinguish her from her mother. The Vice President and Mrs. Dawes were married January 24, 1889, and went at once to Evanston, 111, their present home, where Mr. Dawes had become interested in the gas busi- ness. Their life presents a rare ex- ample of perfect love and confidence, going arm-in-arm with growing suc- cess. es ————————— e everything her sweetheart did, even metallurgy and principles of mining engineering. After graduation they married, and one of the first genuine successes of the aspiring mining en- gineer was that he and Mrs. Hoover jointly translated “Agricola de re Metallica,” one of the standard Latin works on this valuable sclence, which all students had to consult, but which before that time had not appeared in English. Leland Stanford and other institutions purchased the English text book, and its popularity made the first comfortable sum of money which Mr. Hoover accumulated to- ward the vast projects he had in mind. Both the sons of the Secretary and Mrs. Hoover, Herbert, jr, and Allen, have used in Leland Stanford, which both attend, this text book, which 1 the corner stone of the family for tune. Youngest Matron in the Group. Mrs. James John Davis, wife of the Secretary of Labor, is at the end of the list of cabinet hostesses, and quite appropriately, she is the young- est matron in the group. Momentous occurrences have happened in the four years since she entered the ex- alted circle, principally the birth of that lovely little mald Jean, now in her second year. There are two other children—Jimmie, who is 10, and accompanied his parents in the Sum- mer of 1923 to Europe and visited the old home of his father in Wales, and Jane, who is 6. Jean, who is called for her mother, who was Miss Jean Rodenbaugh of Pittsburgh, was an infant when she came to Wash- ington first. Mrs. Davis has a spon- taneous, joyous manner, and is among the best liked members of the offi- clal set. She lives in Wardman Park Hotel. She attends to all her home dutles easily and then has time for the soclal frivols with which she is surrounded in the big hostelry. The Secretary of Labor and Mrs. Davis are the last of the cabinet left at Wardman's, which in the early days of the Harding administration housed one-half of the presidential coun- cllors. Most Presidents Lawyers. Most of our Presidents, like Mr. Coolidge, have been lawyers. Many other occupations were represented in the list of Executives, however. Washington was & soldler and farm- er. Fillmore and Johnson were tai- lors. W. H. Harrison, Taylor and Grant were soldlers; John Adams, Garfield, Arthur and Wilson were teachers, and Harding was an editor and publisher.