The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, September 13, 1903, Page 49

Pages 49 4052 x Thye + P SAN_FRANCISCO, SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1903. 5 \Pages 4910 52 SIMPLE COUNTRY WOMAN, BELOVED FOR HER CHARITY AND DOMESTIC VIRTUES, IS FIRST LADY IN FRANCE Entertains Kings With a Rare Grace. ARIS, Sept. 12—Just because some of the haughty old aristo- cratic families of France under- take to look down on President ioubet and his wife as being simple country folk it is usually forgotten that, officially, Mme. Loubet is “the first lady in France.” But the that she is almost never writtén ebout makes her all the more interesting, and, besides, the mistress of the Elysee is no ordinary sort of woman. She is a famous housewife, economical, simple and fond of her children; she real- 1y cares little for society and looks for- ward to the time when she and her be- loved Emile may retire from the Elysee, the French White House, to a quiet farm back in the country whence she came; yet she has entertained a long succession of kings under ber roof with a simple { \ \ i | | 2 dignity that pleased them well, and has done her duty by Paris socfety as easily and effectively as if all her life had been devoted to that sort of thing. Mme. Loubet belongs to one of the best bourgeois fami'’es of the Drome. Her maiden name w s Picard and untll her marriage in 1869 she lived with her pa- rents at Montelimar. M. Loubet was at that time a barrister there. Montelimar is quite a commercial town in these days, noted for its hats, coal and nougat. But it has a good bit of his- tory transcribed in the pages of its past and was the scene of much warfare at the time of the Huguenot troubles. In some parts of the old town are quaint build- ings and vestiges of the anclent walls and towers. In all the boxes of nougat on sale until gquite recently a few lines of peetry were always enclosed affirming that: Montelimar est Ja patrie Des bons coeurs et des bons nougats. And judging by the interest Mme. Loubet takes in all charitable works It seems as though she has the proverblal ‘“kind heart” of which her native town boasts. A SIMFLE PAIR. M. Loubet’s father owned a farm near Marsanne, some ten miles from Monteli- mar, end was Mayor of Marsanne for thirty-seven years. 3 Emile would have taken up farming willingly, but his father was ambitious for his two sons and wished one of them to study law and the other medicine, When the President of to-day was a young man preparing for his legal exam- inations he had a room on the sixth floor of a house in Paris just near the Luxem- bourg Palace, where, forty years later, he was destined to live for a time. M. Loubet, like his wife, is extremely simple in his habits and his dream ls to end his days in the country in the midst of his family, with his gun and pipe for recreations. It is generally known that he has bought a chateau, to which he intends to retire when his term of Presi- dency comes to an end, and that Madame looks forward to this chateau as much as her husband does. This simplicity runs in the Loubet blood. Parisians have not vet forgotten the way in which M. Lou- bet's aged mother took the news of the honors which had fallen to the lot of her son when he'was elected President. “Pogr fellow,” she evclaimed when she read the telegram announcing the event, . Madame Emile Loubet does not take Ty Finsr LAy L & A Q/;mf oo j’wvfyaw.a’a%‘y e YIETICEY PRLEZL: aen k— FIRST LADY IN FRANCE, AND AMERICAN BRIDE OF ENG- LISH AUTHOR. e ‘“‘what worries he will now have!” S i ad Mme. Loubet Longs for Quiet Life Which Will Follow Her Hus- band’s Retirement. + any active part in political matters, all her spare time and energies being devoted to charitable works. As soon as she was installed at the Elysee Palace she was elected president of the Society of the Red Cross, and only a few days later she was presiding at the meeting of that admir- able “Union of French Women” the ob- ject of which is to train women as sick nurses. Many ladles of the highest rank belong to this Union and ambulance work is speclally taught so that in case of war French women of every station in life will be ready to devote themselves to hospital service. Madame Loubet is above all things an exemplary wife and mother and she has made a special point of visiting most of the creches and dispensaries in all the various departments of Paris. She has also been indefatigable in her rounds of the hospitals, making generous gifts wher- ever she goes and Invariably carrying with her to the children’s asylums a sup- ply of toys and sweets for distribution. On New Year’s day she makes a pres- ent iIn money to a certain number of widows who are left with children to bring up and who, during the winter sea- son, find it difficult to make -two ends meet. It was due to Madame Loubet's petition to the Prefect of Police that the vendors of Christmas toys were able to keep their stalls upon the boulevard a week longer than formerly. It is general- ly acknowledged that no one who Is worthy appeals to the President’'s wife in vain, and her help is all the more val- uable from the.fact that she takes the trouble to learn something about the charities to which she subscribes so gen- erously. AN EXCELLENT HOSTESS. Madame Loubet is an excelient hostess despite the gibes of the old aristocracy, and has proven herself quite equal to the entertainment of royalties from other countries. At the time of the exhibition the kings of Sweden, Greece and Bel- glum, the Bey' of Tunis, the Khedive of Egypt and the Shah of Persta were aH received by 'the President and his wife, and during the Franco-Russian fetes the Czar and Czarina were delighted with their reception at the Elysee. Not only does Madame Loubet enter- tain well, but she always welcomes to the Elysee artists and scientific and lit- erary men. She always accompanies the President on his visits to the salons and to the studios of many of the well known artists. " She also takes a keen interest in women's work of all kinds, and al- though not by any means one of the “platform women" species, she is always willing to discuss the feminist question. Furthermore, she always accompanies the President to any manifestations in favor of the army and is to be seen at all military reviews and balls. In ordinary everyday M. and Mme. Loubet are by no means ostentatious. The President is an early riser. He usually gets up between § and §, takes a cup of chocolate and is with his family until’about § or §:30. He then goes out for a constitutional with his son, M. Paul Loubet, who is now about 30 years of age, a barrister at the Cour d"Appel, and also a conseiller general of the Drome Depart- ment. From about 9:3) to midday the President attends to state affairs and re- ceives the various embassadors, Prefects, Mayors, Deputles or Senators who have requested an audlence. At noon luncheon is served and at about 2 o’clock, if thers should be no official visit to pay, the President drives out, sometimes taking the reins himself, with the groom mount- ed behind, and sometimes accompanied by Mme. Loubet. He dines alone with his family whenever he can, preferring & meal of only three courses with a little light claret. Throughout the evening he usually reads and smokes steadily. Mile. Marguerite Loubet, the eldest of the President’s three children, married M. Soubeyran de Saint-Prise, who is now a judge at Marsellles. The youngest boy, Emile, is about 11 years old. —_————— ANTHONY HOPE VISITS LONDON WITH HIS BRIDE Author and His American Wife Will Take Up Their Residence in Town. LONDON, Sept. 12—Mr. and Mrs. An- thony Hope Hawkins, who have been in the country since their marriage, have now emerged from thec'r honeymoon suf- ficlently to come up to London occasion- ally. They were dining at the Carlton a night or two ago and expect to be at that hotel more or less until late In the au- tumn, when they will probably take a house in town. Mr. and Mrs. Sheldon, Mrs. Hawkins’ parents, who have done considerable en- tertaininig at the house they have been occupying near Regents Park, are em- joying a holiday after the gayeties at- tendant on their two daughters’ weddings. Mr. and Mrs. Henry Ainley have gone to Constantinople. This is thelr real wed- ding journey, as at the time of Mr. Ain- ley’s marriage with Miss Suzanne Shel- don his stage engagements would not per- mit of a Jong absence from Londen. The Alnley wedding, by the way, was celebrated at Chiddingfold, the little town where Mr. and Mrs. William Faversham (Julie Opp), who have taken Richard Le Gallienne’s house there, expect to live until after the visit of the stork, late in the autumn.