Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 198, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 August 1913 — INTERESTING WIVES of NEW SENATORS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

INTERESTING WIVES of NEW SENATORS

before have there been so I many new names on the roster of ’ the senate nor so many new faces I in congress as this session- Democ* racy In all the strength of her reL v juvenated energy has swept through the halls, of congress and mowed down the ranks to make room for Ogk- her loyal sons. The new arrivals in the senate assume the proportion of a small dele* gdtion, for fully fifteen brand-new solons were In line for the oath on the 4th of March. Of this number five merely stepped Over from the house of representatives, while three others have in recent years also served in that body and are thereby remembered. Accordingly, society greets new faces in the wives of these men. Like their husbands, a number of them are coming back to the welcoming

arina of old friends and have merely to take up the social threads where they dropped them before at the expiration of their official residence In the capital. No senatorial election, it seems, could give a greater measure of satisfaction to such a large circle of people In Washington as that which Returned to congress the former governor of Colorado, John Franklin Shafroth, who has held every office within the gift of the people of his state. During his congressional service some years ago Mr. and Mrs. Shafroth made a host of warm personal friends, who will hail their return with delight. Mrs. Shafroth is described by her friends nil a model mother, and; to bear out this assertion, they point to the three sturdy grown-up aons, all of whom Idolize their parents. Mrs. Shafroth Is a genuine home lover and a domestic genius, delighting in her home and all Its details, especially in cookery, for she loves to try her hand at all sorts of new recipes and experiments. She Is an artist in the culinary line, but she is also a woman of varied accomplishments and wide Interests. She belongs to a number of clubs in Denver, of which the Round Table has perhaps held her membenshlp the longest, since she has been enrolled as an active member for more than nineteen years. This club meets every Friday morning and Its members actually study. History, literature, the classics, philosophy and all of the current topics of the day are embraced in their research. No drones or Inactive members are encouraged to remain. Mrs. Shafroth was born and reared In Fayette. Howard county, Mo., and, after completing her high school course became a student of and afterward a graduate of the Howard Payne college of Fayette, Mo. For several years prior to her marriage she taught In the high school of her home town. Mr. Shafroth is also a native of Fayette, Mo., and their marriage occurred there. She is eligible to D. A. R. membership, through Virginia and Tennessee ancestry. Like Mrs. Shafroth, Mrs. Ollie James is no stranger to Washington society, for she has spent several years at the capital during her husband’s congressional service. Mrs. James was Miss Ruth Thomas of Marlon, Ky., the borne town of Senator James, and was born at Franklin, Ky. She Is the daughter of a Methodist minister. Her earlier education was obtained in private schools, after which she attended the Kentucky college, a co-educational institution, now out of existence. Her marriage to Senator James occurred about ten years ago. In December, at her home in Marlon, Ky. Mrs. James Is in every sense of the tvord a thorough home Idver. Shp belongs to no clubs nor societies of any description and devotes practically all of her time to domestic life. Mrs. James Is greatly Interested in charitable projects, particularly those which deal with the sick and afflicted, and she hopes to engage In philanthropic work among the Institutions of the capital. She Is a woman whose life is well rounded out, for she does many things well and knows whereof she speaks with regard to a diversity of accomplishments of a practical as well as an ornamental nature. She has made apitudy of scientific homekeeping, could make her own dresses, If she chose, and, In fact, has the science of housekeeping reduced to an art. When asked about club work she exclaimed: “Not a one! Why, I don’t even play bridge! I suppose I am the only woman in Washington who* has not learned to do so, but you really would not expect a minister’s daughter to be expert in that line, would you T" Mrs. James Is also devoted to children and a close student of various movements in progress for theli welfare. She Is an advocate of higher

education for girls, but says that if she were planning the education of a girl she would assuredly advise a technical course in addition to the academic, if the girl had sufficient mental endowment to take It, thus supplying the knowledge to meet any emergency which life might unfold. The more varied the knowledge and training the better fitted the girl is for domestic life, as well as for the social and business world. Mrs. Harry Lane, wife of the new senator from Oregon, has the distinction of being one of the few women of Washington who are registered voters. She Is an enthusiastic suffragist, though in an unobtrusive way, and is particularly jubilant over the fact that her home state has joined the band which allows women the privilege of the ballot. 4 Mrs. Lane came to Washington as an absolute stranger, and Is becoming more and more delighted with the city and Its people as she gets better acquainted with them. She Is a typical American home-maker; but, while the details of housekeeping and the care of her family have absorbed the greater part of her life, she has always been deeply Interested In the uplift and social welfare of girls and women. Indeed, it was the great advantages which woman suffrage hopes to confer upon the forking classes that first drew her attention to that movement. While never an active club member, Mrs. Lane has been much absorbed In club work as well as charitable work, and will In all probability take up some of it In the capital. She is a woman whose life has been devoted ,to worth-while projects. In her home city every movement that has had the betterment of women and children for Its primal object has enjoyed her Indorsement and support. And no little of the success which attended Dr. Lane’s occupancy of his varoius public offices Is due to his wife’s interest and cooperation. As proof of her success as wife and mother, her family are her stanchest admirers. Mrs. Lane was Miss Lola Bailey, and was born !i Milwaukee, Ore., about six miles 'from Portland. She and Dr. Lane were childhood sweethearts, and were married In Portland about thirty years ago. They have two grown daughters, one of whom, Mrs. N. MacSride, resides In New Orleans, while Miss Harriet is with her parents. She blds fair to become very popular, particularly among the college girls of society. Being a "Tri Delta” she Iv already finding hosts of congenial fraternal spirits tn Washington and Baltimore. Dr. Lane Is classed as one of the "baby senators.” In addition to belonging to the same family as the secretary of the Interior, he to a grandson of Gen. Joseph Lane, who ran on the presidential ticket with Breckenridge and who also wore a senatorial toga, besides being territorial governor of Oregon and the delegate to congress. Dr. Lane has filled the office of mayor of Portland and also that of superintendent of the state insane asylum. He succeeds Jonathan Bourne and shares the honors of the medical profession with Senator Gallinger, who for years has been the only doctor with a seat in the upper house. The girlish wife of the successor to Joseph W. Bailey of Texas has the distinction of being the youngest of all of the wives In the senatorial circle. Though the very dignified and sedate mother of a lively little daughter of two years, Mrs. Morris Sheppard to but twenty-two years old. She to the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. N. P. Sanderson of Texarkana, the home town of her husband, where she was born. Texarkana, as every one knows, to a dual township, as Is expressed In its name. Mrs. Sheppard was born on the Arkansas side. While she had always known her busband, since he was a friend of her father, their romance had its beginning In Washington while

she was completing her studies in a seminary here. Her earlier education was obtained In the local schools at home, for the higher branches she entered the Randolph Macon Woman’s College of Lynchburg, Va., where she spent two years, after which she came to the Washington seminary. Despite her extreme youth Mrs. Sheppard possesses a lengthy list of accomplishments. She is expert In fine needlework and hand embroidery, as her baby’s little garments, bear positive testimony. She is a pianist of no small ability, and also a vocalist, planning to continue the study of voice culture in the future. She is also a constant reader and a profound student of politics, which, she declare?, she finds most fascinating. Her Interest in political matters was naturally much enlarged in the senator’s recent campaign, during a goodly part of which she accompanied him. Besides being sufficiently interested to Investigate the new methods advocated for Improvement In hqmekeeping, pure food and home management, Mrs. Sheppard has recently become a member of the D. A. R. She Is a member of the Congressional club and also* of the Democratic league. Another senatorial hostess who to no stranger to Washington to Mrs. Joseph E. Ransdell of Louisiana, whose husband has been In congress for the past fourteen years. Mrs. Ransdell comes of a distinguished southern family, and was Miss Olive Irene Powell before her marriage, which occurred November 15, 1885, at her birthplace, Lake Providence, La. She is a member of the D. A. R. through the records of her great-great-grandfather, Gen. Evan Shelby, and his. son, Capt Moses Shelby. Her grandfather, M. de Lafayette Shelby, fought in the battle of New Orleans in 1814 and five of his sons served through the Civil war. M. de Lafayette Shelby was named for the famous French general by his Intimate friend and companion, Capt Moses Shelby, one of the heroes of Kings Mountain. She to an ardent advocate of unlvei* sal peace and a member of the D. A. R. international peace arbitration committee of her native state. Mrs. William’ Howard Thompson of Kansas brings to Washington a personality which radiates the wholesome energy and animation of the west. She to virtually a stranger, though she has visited the capital before In her travels. Though protesting that she has never been much of a "Joiner,” Mrs. Thompson has a rather generous collection of club organization memberships. Mrs. Thompson was Mtos Bertha Felt, daughter of the lieutenant governor of Kansas. She was born in Wasbawa, lowa, and was married almost out of high school, for she was graduated to June and married In August Since then Mr. and Mrs. Thompson have resided In Topeka and Garden City, Kan. They have three children, Thelma Bertha, aged eighteen; Wilbert Felt aged fourteen, both of whom are at school In Topeka, and a baby boy of two years, William Howard, Jr., who 1s with his parents and who, with tf»e little daughter of Senator Sheppard, to the young est of the senatorial children,