Evening Star Newspaper, May 10, 1925, Page 71

2 ‘THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON., D. C., MAY 10, 1925_ PART 5. Luck Follows Prisoner Into the “Black Hole” of Constantinople Aviator Confined With Doomed Men in SeraskeratPrison Finds an Old Friend and (rlndertakes to Outwit Turkish Captors. Seizure by the Turks following the crash of an airplane, imprison- ment for two vears, a daring escape, a frustrated plan to be smuggied out of Constantinople, and recapture—such were the ex- periences of Maj. Yeats-Brown, as recounted in two preceding arti- cles. Before being arrested on the eve of his hopedfor departure from the Turkish capital, he had evaded detection by disguising himself, first as a German Kov- erness and later as a Hungarian mechanic. Maj. Yeats-Brown's life before the events narrated in this series of three articles had also been filled with adventure, with his service in the Indian Iry and later with the Royal Flying Corps in Mesopotamia. For his exploits in the air he was awarded the dis- tinguished flying cross. g A member of one of England's noted families, Maj. Yeats-Brown was born in Genoa, Italy, and then lived in Boston, M until he was 10 years old. He was educated in England and on the continent. BY MAJ. FRANCIS YEAT-BROWN. HE dark ages are still a mat ter of actuality in the dark dungeons of Constantinople. Condepned to imprisonment for attempting to escape, 1 was informed that I would not be treated as an officer prisoner. but would be sent underground among the criminals, because a forged passport had been found on my person. A dog-collar policeman took me down a gloomy stairw Dog-collar men are policemen, pussyfoots moral censors in one—very Important ¢ on which the w tis ritten, meaning law Summoning my courage (for it was a cold-blooded proposition to dicker with a man breast-plated in righteous- ness) I said to the minion of the law: 1 would pay ten Turkish pounds for another chance to see the com- mandant.” “Pekke, effendim, pekke,” said my guardian, which may be freely trans- lated “Well, what do you know about that?" “I might go to 15 pounds if T could get a note to the Netherlands legation.” I hazarded further. “Yok, yok,” said the minion of the law severel hey will put you in chains if you try that.” We were underground now. At the far end of the passage I heard the cries of a man being bastinadoed. Later, the sound and sight of this punishment did not worry me at all, but this first time I heard a man beaten in prison it surely did sound unpleasant. 1 was feeling faint (incidentally, I had not eaten since the night before and it was then 4 o'clock in the after- noon) when we arrived at a great iron gate, lit by a flickering cresset. The jailor fiddled with the padlock (no Turk can use a key easily) and I stood there forlorn and utterly spent outside the inferno of the damned. However, the gate soon clanged be- hind me, and I found myself in a room full of human beings, some of them almost indistinguishable in the semi-darkness, but easily perceptible to_the nose. Men crowded around, comprehensibly, gesticulating, ~ges- ticulating. Quickly I realized my pockets were being searched by about three people at once. I put my head down and dived through the crowd to a small barred window which admitted a shaft of light from the garden some 10 feet above. Not that I minded my pock- ets being picked, for property I had none in places accessible to the nimble fingers of my friends, but merely in order to get some fresh air. Yes, this was even worse than I Imagined captivity could be. After three days at the central criminal jail, where I had had a cubicle to my- self, this filthy den really frightened me. One can bear a lot if one keeps self-respect. But could I here? I suppose Daniel did, in the lion’s den. * % % % HAVE sung with sailors in the marble boats of the Mediterra- nean, who drink their Chianti without swallowing and know no use for water. I have swapped' stories with tribesmen of the northwest frontier of India while they smoked hemp through a long Spring night. I have spent pleasant hours-traveling third- class on the continent of Europe. But these fellows knew neither smiles nor soap. They were half-naked, half-starved, entirely sullen. Some were barefoot. The floor was slippery with unname- able things. Although not exactly “dolled up” myself, being still in my disguise as a mechanic, I felt as a Sunday school teéacher would feel in a monkey house, or a Pekinese among coyotes. Fat rats, the bisgest I have ever seéen and tame as the squirrels in Central Park, New York, were scurrying about among tomato skins and crusts. They looked better fed than the prisoners, and cleaner, too. “So you are in for forgery,” said an Armenian boy to me. He was a hooked-nose, effeminate lad, with no more morals than a monkey, by the way, and was rather shunned by the other prisoners because he stole their tematoes. “Now, is forgery an easy and | talking in- { business to learn? Wish you could give me a line on it. “We are mostly spies here. That fellow is a murderer. He beat his wife and she died. She was unfaith- ful, so they will let him out some day, if he has any rich friends. Those fellows in chains are under sentence of death.” Then I noticed that besides our- {selves there were other prisoners even more unfortunate. There had |been so much to see that 1 had not noticed the chained men. One side of the room opened out onto half a dozen cubicles, six feet long by four feet broad, each con- taining a human being shackled by the wrist and ankle to an iron ball. There was a Greek there who had been thus shackled and manacled for 11 months, dying a hundred deaths while waiting for his doom. An edu- cated man he had been. Now he was ravenous and verminous, crouching in a place no animal would have lain in. I walked about and talked through the night, sometimes lying down on three planks an old Jew had provided. But the planks were alive with bat- talions of bedbugs in battle array, who attacked me flercely whenever I tried to snatch some sleep, s0 my rest was rather fitful. In the morning I went to the bars | that kept us from the comparative | freedom of the common prison. A sentry stood on the cleaner side of them. To him I gibbered in Persian, Pashtu, Urdu, German, French, Ital- ian and the baser idioms of the mother | tongue. ~His only answer was “Haidy, git,” which s Turkish for what it sounds. Some barbers suddenly appeared outside, clipping and clopping with their strops. Instantly every one rushed the gate as if angels of the | Lord were beating wings of deliver- |ance by the prison bars. This. was the occasion of the weekly shave, when we were all allowed into the outside passage, the barbers very sen- sibly preferring not to come in. * % x % WENT out with the others and seized a dog-collar man.. Not my own brassbound boy, but another. “There has been a mistake,” I said excitedly, “and I want to be taken to see the prison commandant.” “So they all say,” he laughed. Now, one can insist on a full stom- ach, especially when inhaling the argma of a Corona Perfecto. One feels persuasive then. But when one is scrubby, unshorn, ilifed, one pro- duces all one's available cash—four pounds and some loose change—and one transfers it in a crumpled lump into the other fellow's hand without any fallals at all. it worked. Why it worked, T don't know, except that in Turkey it is the unexpected which happens. The door of the commandant’s office opened for me, after a bad spell of waiting. There he sat, polished boots, long amber cigarette holder, Kalser mous- tache—what in the name of Heaven was I to say? He did the talking, however. “There has been a mistake,” said Djevad Bey. “I did not mean for you to be put in a room with common malefactors. Henceforward you shall be alone. Quite alone. In a good room. One of the best we have.” That was that. Of course, I didn't believe the commandant when he said, with a twinkle in his cat’s eyes, that I was to have one of the best rooms in the prison. Strange to say, it was true. 1 was put into an upper floor cham- ber, next to the Turkish officer prisoners, and provided with a bed and blanket. This room had a window | overlooking a corner of the prison square. Outside lay the Golden Horn, sapphire in the sunlight and sparkling with the beauty of the world of free men. Next day they took me to the prison restaurant for dinner. I seized the opportunity to steal a knife. That evening I received a visit. I was sitting with my new toy, considering whether I should try to cut through the window jamb with it or carve out the @oor lock, when some one knocked. ‘Wondering who this polite visitor could be, who did not arrive unmask- ed, I slipped the knife under the mat- tress and bade him enter. It was a Turkish officer, stripped of his epau- lets—a prisoner therefore—beardless, little more than a boy, handsome, speaking perfect French. “I saw you wore an eyeglass down at the restaurant tonight,” he said. “Might I borrow it?” 1 explained that I used it to see with, and that there wasn’t much else to do at the moment, situated the way 1 was. “Solitary _ confinement? That's tough. But I'll send you some French novels if you lend me the monocle. My slave will bring you what you want—hush!” A sentry looked in, saw my inter- locutor, pretended mnot to see him, went on with his beat. “They are good to me here,” explained my new friend. “I'm a soninlaw of the Sultan, you know. Shot my tutor for improper behavior. Very sad. They practically had to put me in here for a year. Bat I am allowed out every Friday for the Sultan’s Selamlik. Next week, on my day out, I want to wear your eveglass at court. Itll give those embassy fellows a big it down and take a cigarette,” said I. "I haven't talked to any one for a week.” “Take mine. brand. Better take the box. can't stay, you see. It presuming on the sentrfes. But my servant will look after you. He goes anywhere and does anything.” S O here. out of a clear sky, dropped a member of the im- perial court and his black slave. Yext day the slave came with a basket of delicious grapes from the Seraglio gardens and a Colette-Willy novel. 1 learned all sorts of things from this funny little African. Sir Robert Paul, my partner in the first escape, was in another part of the prison. Bread was mounting to famine prices. And so on. The slave, a child in years but old in intrigue, from constant living in the imperial harem, smuggled out notes for me, smuggled in books, paper and pencils, and, best of all, a red fez, which I said I required to keep my head warm. This didn't sound so foolish when I said it as it looks written down. Turks are ac- customed to wearing fezzes indoors: the slave, therefore, had no idea I wanted it to escape with. Neither he nor his master would have helped me to escape. But fooling the prison guards was just a game with them. The foilowing Friday evening the imperial son-in-law . dropped in to return ray eveglass. We had a friendly chat’ and I pulled the old gag about the dentist, which first allowed me to plan to escape from the military prison. Surely the com- mandant would allow me some respite from my neuralgia? The imperial son-inlaw promised to mention the matter at the next favorable opportunity. A few days after, the commandant stopped at my room during his inspection of the prison. He was in excellent humor, in fact, all lit up like Galata Bridge on a gala night. He told me that if T promised not to escape while in the streets I might £0 to the dentist. He was a merciful man, he said, and a father to the widow, the orphan and the prisoner. He added that my sentries would have orders to shoot if they .detected any suspicious movements on my part. I gave my promise not to escape, but this didn’t include the purchase of es- caping gear. Two men went with me next day to the dentist. A private carried a rifle with fixed bayonet. A corporal had a Mauser pistol, loaded, in his hand. This was an insult after I had given my word to keep to his side. How- ever, it was no time to stick at trifles and I compromised by making him put the safety catch back, to avoid accidents. The Armenian dentist, They're the sultan's Well, T would be unaccus- . “FHERE WE VERE, HANGIYG OVER mgmmcg IT vumlgwm 5 had | tomed to the sight of weapons more lethal than his own, cowered at the sight of the tough trio who called on him and trembled so violently that I expected him to bore a hole through cheek, in which case I should cer- tainly have made a suspicious move- ment and been shot, while the dentist would probably have been bayoneted. This tragedy averted, light refresh ments seemed entirely in order. The sentries were kind enough each to ac- cept a present for their trouble in looking after me. After that they let me buy a saucepan to coek coffee in. It was a small thing to ask. Well the hardware merchant was a wil man. It was the old story. I re- turned with a saucepan, a stopped tooth and five fathoms of rope under my waistcoat. So now the stage was set for another vanishing act. But extreme caution was necessary. No one had ever escaped from the Seraekerat prison in all its several hundred years of history and the feat was considered impossible. All sorts of sples, conspirators and political suspects were confined here and the place swarmed with armed guards. Surrounding it was a high wall and this was also guarded. Prospects weren't any teo good, therefore. * x x % MY first walk In the prison yard was a day of jubllee. I found that the yard was a garden, with a charming view of the cupolas and minarets of Stamboul. Better still, Sir Robert Paul, my companion in a venture, was allowed out also and we met for the first time in two months. That garden seemed fair, indeed. What talks we had! What storles we told of our adventures sincé we had escaped together, in July, from the suburb of Psamattia. What splei did plans for the future we made! Friendship and hope—is there any- thing better in this world? Paul, like myself, had also man- aged to acquire a rope and a fez, al- though by different methods. On the far side of the garden, 50 yards away from the prison, there was a drop of about 100 feet to an unfrequented street. The garden railings were spaced at just about the width of a man’s head. We tested them while admiring the view and decided we could just squeeze through them, fof where a man’s head can go his body vsually can follow. The trouble was, we had only about 60 feet of rope between us, and the drop looked double that, although height is notoriously hard to judge This was not a matter that we could afford to guess about, however. Six sentries were stationed in the garden. They were carelsss, like all Turks, and conceivably we might slip through the railings and down the rope before they had gotten wise to our movements. No one knew we had ropes, nor would the average sentry conceive that any one would attempt to nego- tiate the precipice. But if the rope was short, we would be left dangling over an abyss with six sentries prac- ticing musketry on us from above, Khlch would have been uncomforta- e. We thought agaln and again, finally deciding to discard our hardly won ropes and try a different plan. Hav- ing. squeezed through the rallings, we realized it would be possible to climb along outside them, out of the garden, along an adjoining wall and then back into the main square of the Seraske- rat. Here we would still be within the ucnnxrl limits of the prison, but away from our immediate ras. Opportunity 8ame one ight even- ing about a week later. We were the only prisoners out for exercisé at the moment, for, being the blackest of black sheep, we were not allowed to mix with more innocent inmates of the jail. The six stupid sentries strolled about, looking at.the stream ot Greek clerks going into the restau- rant near the entrance gate of the deri—looking at them rather sadly, F'think, for Greek clerks were coming in for a square meal, a thing they themselves hadn’t had in months. ‘We were on the far side of thé gar- den away from the restaurant and the jafl, admiring the view, according to plan. Remember, for six or. seven days our guards had seen us standing there, or strolling slowly about, mild- mannered, listléss, agreeable young gentlemen. The moment seemed too good to_be true—and too good to be lost. Robin put his head through the rails. I did the same, and my flinching flesh fol- lowed next instant, anticipating a bul- let sting behind. Silence. Safety. We were on the right side of the railings. The six stupid sentries conversed together, heedless of our doings. It was twl light. We had 10 yards to climb (for we had found no nearer convenient m) before we reached the sheltering 1. After a moment's pause for breath, we clambered rapidly to free- dom—as we thought. But it was not to i ng a lobster, a bottle and the .'f.‘:.u zthe sumbery of hie J | | ; It would have been impossible to inter- | precipice, with three Turks in front pose ourselves between them and the | view. ‘There we were, hanging over th of us and six sentries behind. It was pleasant moment. We crawled a wall and squeezed ourselves through | the rallings into the garden again, and thanked God the sentries hadn't seen us and taken a pot-shot at us s we were getting back into prison. That would have been adding insult to in- Jury. And so we continued our walk around the garden, while unreason- ably, but gloriously, hope mounted again with us. When we came past the sentries again, they were all standing together in a group. Twenty yards away, a dozen or moure Greek clerks were leaving the restaurant and walking out of the garden gate into the main square. Instantly, mutually, severally, we saw our chance. How does one get that way? For hours one plans and hopes. Reason finds a long way out. And reakon's way is wrong. Some- thing within us speaks. “Let there be light!” says the Divinity that is al- ways close to us. And there is light. The path is clear. Our sudden and simple idea was to ‘mix with the Greek clerks coming from their supper and pass out of our prison with them. This ix all we had to do—all we did. There was a patch of deep shadow near the restaurant, made by a mag- nolla bush. Here we threw away Eu- ropean hats and drew out the fezzes which we always kept about our per- sons for such occasions. The fezzes, without further disguise, turned us into passable imitations of Greeks. We were, of course, in civilian clothes. My hair and mustache had been dyed black when I was disguised as a mechanic, and the dye had now yet worked out. Robert, although too tall for a eek, had the Irish faculty for impersonation. ‘We strolled very, very slowly to the gate. Each clerk was supposed to pro- duce a pass, and check out with the sentriexs. But no one did. The sentry leaned against the gate post and let the human stream flow by. We went with the flood tide—a tide that led on to fortune. * % % quicken one’s pace was an almost irresistible impulse, as we drew near the sentry. The main square looked good to us. To bolt into it was feasible, now, but we had to remember that, once there, r troubles were only half over. gate was guarded, and a battalion of Turks w barracked in the square itself. We were out of the garden now, and would have a “run for our money,” whatever happened. The clamor from the garden behind us, which we mo- mentarily expected to hear, didn’t break out. Yet each second was of deathly urgency, for it could only be a matter of moments, surely, before our guardians missed us and gave the alarm. miserably, like wingless flies on walked away whom we had made our exit. Another half dozen Greeks were behind us, but some way off. We edged off to the right and made a detour, as if we had business the farther side of the square. Having gotten thus far, we intended to take no risks in passing unnecessary sentries at the main gate. Putting ‘some trees between our selves and the sergeant of the guard who stood now in the center of the gateway, peering into the gatherims darkness, we chose the darkest patch of railings we could find, tried squeeze through them, failed, and thén climbed up them. They were 10 feet high, and spiked on top. The street below, although normally a busy place, contained only two little girls and a sweetmeat seller. We dropped down into the street toward Sirkedji and then up the Horn, to the old bridge, where we separated for great- er safety. In the small hours of the morning we foregathered agalin at the house of a Greek friend and heard the news of the world Of the maze of plot and counter- plot in the city and of the death throes of the Committee of Union and Progress that led Turkey to its ruin I will not write. Some of it still is | secret history; the rest already has been better written by others. When the sentries found we were | missing they were sure we had gone indoors of our own accord, like the 200d boys they had come to helieve us to be. They went up to our rooms couldn’t find us there, looked under the beds, in the lavatories, every where, Then thev questioned the | other ‘British prisoners and counted and recounted heads in a pathetic ef- fort to make two and two make six. | At that time we were far awa: | ehuckling at their discomfiture. A “goat” there was. 1 have a ready mentioned him. A special liceman was found to have in h possession a tin of mustard, which was traced to me. I had given it him, telling him to mix a t with hot water and drink every morning early. Before he had time to try this interesting dietetic experiment the escape took place. The commandant thought the mus tard was a bribe and that he was privy to our movements. He ordered him to be triced up. No doubt when the broomstick was applied to th soles of the poor wretch's feet h “confessed” somethin e doesn remain dumb under the hastinado. I never saw this man again, some time afterward I did meet th sergeant in command of the sentries at the time of our escape. We shook hands, that sergeant and I, and mu- congratulated ourselves on having avoided unpleasantness as far as possible espoon a glass ‘We dropped behind the couples with (Copyright. 1 White House Social Requirements Always Big Expense for President BY OLIVER P. NEWMAN. HE recent action of Congress in breaking the economy program long enough to set aside $50,- 000 extra for White House re- pairs and refurnishings stands out in striking contrast to the early policy of Capitol Hill towards the Ex: ecutive Mansion. Not a single cent wae appropriated for bullding the original White House and for many years afterward Congress was 8o nig- gardly that the first few Presidents went out of office bankrupt because of the expense of keeping up. the es. tablishment. When the site of the Capital City was finally determined, in 1780, Con- gress merely said to President Wash- ington: “Go build a Capital. For 10 years it failed to provide any money to do it with. He raised money by selling lots in the proposed city and he induced Maryland and Virginia, through thelr legislatures, to give a total of $200,000. With such funds he bullt the White House and most of the first Capitol building, con- sisting of two stone wings, connected by a frame structure. The greatest struggles, since the early days, however, have not been in the upkeep of the physical White House but in the malintenance of its social character. Even today, when the President receives a salary of $75,000 a year, the cost of entertain- ing eats a big hole in his income. Receptions anad state dinners cost the President and his wife about $1,000 apiece. At the receptions there are alwayg from 2,000 to 3,000 guests. Re- freshments are always served, consist- ing of & buffet supper of cold meats, salads, Ice cream, cakes and coffee. Even such simple fare, when pro- vided for an army of 2,000 or 3,000, runs into money. State dinners usu- ally number from 50 to 90 guests. In addition to these large affairs there is a constant series of smaller dinners, musicals, teas and garden parties. ‘White House families also have guests- almost continuousl Rela- tives aré keen to visit in the White House, and distinguished personages must frequently be put up. Then, the crew of twenty-five ot thirty servants must have their regular meals. All of this means that from thirty to fifty people usually eat three meals a day in the White House—at the expense of the President. Attendants and servants are paid by the Government, but most families find it necessary to employ three or four personal serv- ants in addition. All grocery, meat and provision bills of every character must come out of the President’s (or the Madam President’s) purse. ER UNL[RE the average housewife in the average town, the mistress of the White House séldom derives any relief through what “the neighbors send in.” A Thanksgiving turkey, a barrel of applés or (in the present administration) a bucket of maple sugar. is about the annual limit of xlg: in the shapé of food. It has beén many years sifice any President has enjoyed such a sul ntial offer- ing as the “mammoth cheese” pre- sented to Thomas Jéfferson on- the morning of January 1, 1802, his first New Year day in the White House, and the first occasion upon which a New Year reception was held. Both the reception and the famous cheese are described by the Rev. Dr. Manas- proposed to celebrate the event by making and presenting to the new President the largest cheese ever known to the history of cheese mongery. Every man and woman who owhed a cow was invited to give for the cheese all the milk produced in.a aingle day—but no Federal cow was allowed .to contribute. “A great cider press was secured for the chdese's manufacture and on the appointed day a multitude of men, women and girls, clad in their best, came to the appointed place, laden with pails, pots and tubs of curd. The cheese was. put to press with prayer and singing of hymns. When dried and eatable it weighed 1,600 pounds. It was loaded onto a sleigh which, bedecked with ribbons and flags, was driven by Elder Leland all the way from Cheshire to Washing- ton, his pathway being lined with mul- titudes who came out to see and hail the mammoth cheese. “Driving down Pennsylvania avenue this New Year morning he met with a perfect ovation, while the President received the gift with a fitt{ng tribute to the honest, sturdy and patriotic class which had produced it.” * * x % 'HE cheese was still on exhibition on February 6, for on that date Dr. Cutler again refers to it, giving, at the same time, a comprehensive description of a ‘Jefferson dinner,” that almost daily institution which sent the Sage of Monticello home fi broke at the end of his eight-year ministration. “Dined at the President’s,” records Dr. Cutler, “Messrs. Foster, Hillhouse and Ross of the Senate, General Bond, ‘Wadsworth, Woods, Hastings, Tenney, Read and myself. Dinner not as ele- gant as when we dined before. Rice soup, round of beef, turkey, mutton, ham, loin of veal, cutlets of mutton or veal, fried eggs, fried beef, a ple called macaroni, which appeared to be a rich crust filled with strillions of onions or shallots, which I took it to be; tasted very strong; not agreeable. Mr. Lewis told me there was none in it; that it was an Italian dish, and what appeared like onions was made of flour and butter with a particu- larly strong liquor mixed. with them. Ice cream very good, crust wholl dried, crumbled into thin flakes, a dish somewhat like a pudding, inside white as milk or curd, very porous and light, covered with cream sauce very fine; many other jimcracks; a great variety of fruits; plenty of wines, and good. President social. We drank again viewed the great Another great cheese was sent to the White House as a New Year present to Gen. Andrew Jackson, at whose receptions everybody was admitted. Jackson evidently thought the chéese was to be eaten as well as Been. Accordingly he had great knivés made from cross-cut saws, the chéest was carved with them and passed out to the guests. Punch was served in tubs. The crowd was %0 seh Cutler, a staunch Federalist mem- |- ber of Congress from Massachusetts. “Although the President has no levees,” he recorded in his diary, * number of Federalists agreed to go from the Capitol in coaches to the President’s house, and wait upon him with the compliments of the season. ‘We were recelved with politeness and entertained with cake and wine. The mammoth cheese having been pre- sented this morning, the President in- viteg us to go, as he expressed it, “to the mammoth room and see the mam- moth cheese.’. There we viewed this monument of human weakness and folly as long as we pleased, then re- mmehuse was exhibited in the sast room and was a curiosity for many. days. -m’ ummmy m ehu:d." e:nunu‘ond the account, * caul more com- favorablé and unfavorable, than Elder John tist Chureh at Cheshire, Mass,, called big and enthusiastic over “Old Hick- cry” and partook so copiously of the punch that cheese crumbs were scat- tered all over the house and were ground into the carpets and into the upholstering of the furniture. When the reception was over the White House Jooked as if it had been at- tacked by an enemy armed with cheese and as bent upon destroying the place as the British had been 15 years before. Thousands of dollars of damage was done and the place had to be done over. Even in these modern, dry times, when White House invitation lists are closely scrutinized, inspection of the great reception and dining rooms after a big social affair produces a rude shock. In lesser de- gree the Jackson cheese party is re- peated at the semi-public functions where refreshments are served. * x % % 'HE President is spared one great expense in maintaining the social prestige of the White House. The flowers cost him nothing. If, in addi- tion to paying for all the food eaten in the Executive Mansion, he had to buy flowers, palms, ferns he would need a substani in salary, Uncle Sam, however, pro- vides floral decorations with a lavish hand. BSixteen large greenhouses, lo- cated near the Monument, in Potomac Park, are devoted exclusively to grow- ing flowers and plants for the White House and providing for the White House gardens. Experts look after the gar@ens themselves, in the se- cluded part of the White House grounds south of the Mansion. The greenhouses and gardens are always under the eye of the mistress of the ‘Whits House herself. The Army en- gineer officers in charge make it a point to bring them to the attention of the President’s wife as something over which ‘she has pecullarly per- sonal control. Without exception each mistress of the Whité House has given them particular attention. As a con- sequence the floral decorations of the ‘White House and the private gardens in its rear always reflect the person- ality of the first lady of thé land. ‘The White House is kept constantly supplied with flowers. Every room is profusely furnished, and upon big so- cial occasions the interior of the bulld- ing is a great bower of floral beauty. The mistress of the White House also uses flowers with which to pay spe- clal courtesy to her friends. A huge box of flowers from the White House, delivered by liveried messenger, with the personal card of the President’s wife attached is a mark of distinction highly prised. 8uch manifestations of White House favor are not scattered abeut promiscudusly. They are kept sufficiently exclusive to make them appreciated. Another expense borne by the Gov- ernment is for music. For a hundred mn the famous Marine Band has n the personal musical organiza- tion of the presidency. Upon every greéat staté occasion where music was required the Marine Band, in glitter- ing red and gold uniforms, has played, furnishing a brilliant. colorful touch to the surroundings, as well as music of a character unsurpassed by any band in the country. e S the present mistress of the ‘White House moves about through the historic structure, with a servant running ahead to open doors and fly to obey her slightest wish, she must often be reminded of her first visit to Washington and to the White House The events must come back with par ticular vividness when she encounters a, party of tourists being shown through the lower floors by a guide. for it was under such circumstances that she first saw the famous house over which she now presides. Before her marriage Mrs. Coolldge. with other New England school teachers, journeyed to Washington on a teachers’ excursion. Like all other visitors, she was especially interested in the White House, little dreaming she would ever move into it as first lady of the land. She held her breath in awe as she viewed the majestic sweep of the East Room and, being musically inclined, paused to examine the magnificent grand piano in the northeast corner. So absorbed was she that the rest of the party moved onc leaving her behind, ‘whereupon & White House guard stepped up to het and said: “Step up, lady, step up. 5 Recently a friend to whom M. Coolidge related the incident, remark: ed, “Wel you sure stepped up.” The White House was the first Gov- ernment building erected in Washingz- ton. President Washington Jaid th corner stone on October 13, 1792, ani watched the construction with the keenest interest, frequently ridifig down from Philadelphia to - confer with James Hoban of Charleston, §. C., the brilliant Irish architect, who drew the plans, which were founded on the design of the Duke of Lein: ster’'s house in Dublin. The struc- ture was built of Virginia sandstone; taken from a quarry on Aquia Creek, just south of Washington. Until after the building was burned by the British in 1814 the stone was the nat: ural color, gray, but it was painted white when reconstructed .and - has been kept so ever. since. Hoban alse supetvised the rebullding after the fire. ? The name, “White House,” was given the Executive Mansion from the name of the ancestral home of Martha Washington, which was gq designated. The south portico w not added until 1822 and the: fiort! portico until 1829. The building stood practically unchanged from that time untll 1902, when it was remodeled under the Roosevelt administration into its present form, which embodies the executive offices to the west, and to the east the “hat box" entrance for social functions, when guests leave their hats and coats in booths along the corridors. The total cost of the building has been something less than a million dollars. (Copyright, 1925.) PICTURE OF WHITE I%USE. MADE FROM SKETCH DRAWN IN 1799, Ao