Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 239, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 October 1915 — PRESIDENT’S ROMANCE DESCRIBED BY REPORTER [ARTICLE]

PRESIDENT’S ROMANCE DESCRIBED BY REPORTER

Correspondent For Chicago Herald Grandeloquent In Telling of Steps In His Conquest. > , The courtship of a president is public property. Ordinary people can make love and get away with it on the q. L but the president must expect that eagle-eyed reporters will search the records to see if he made any mistakes during the progress of his conquest. So it was with President Wilson.. A reporter for The Chicago Herald described it so minutely that we feel we would not be doing our readers justice if we merely announced his engagement and let it go at that. We are reminded of the following adage: “When you court a maiden feighn, lie and flatter; When jrou court a widow, why, just’go right at her.” Evidently the president lost no time in his courtship and two months after Mrs. Wilson died, which was August 6th, of last year, Mrs. Galt crossed his pathway and Dan Cupid didn’t have a minute’s rest until the engagement was complete. The Herald’s correspondent says:

“For a time after the death of Mrs. Wilson the president was shrouded in loneliness. His three daughters, Mrs. McAdoo, Mrs. Sayre, and Miss Margaret, joined with Miss Helen Bones, a distant relative, in endeavoring to cheer the chief executive. “Mrs. McAdoo and Mrs. Sayre were naturally unable to remain at the white house; they had their own husbands and homes to look after. Miss Wilson was forced to interest herself in many matters remote from the president and Miss Bones had her white house duties to attend to. Thus the country had the picture of the austere and lonely president burdened by a multitude of vexatious national questions and lacking the comfort which a sweet woman by his side would afford. “With the passage of time the president’s grief over the death of Mrs. Wilson became dulled. The efforts made to take him out of himself 'became successful and Dr. Cary Grayson, his physician and close confidential friend, was acquainted with Miss Gertrude Gordon, a beautiful young woman of Richmond, Va. “Mrs. Galt is a close friend of Miss Gordon and also intimate with Miss Bones. Mrs. Galt met Miss Wilson and other members of the family. Insensibly, her charm exerted a larger and larger influence upon them, and they drew her into the white house circle. In this way, early last autumn, she met the president.“There was no doubt in the minds of any of those present at the first meeting that the arrow of love had pierced the president’s heart. Mrs. Galt charmed him by her beauty and wit, by her magnetism and manner. ”n the president’s eyes she has “unusual beauty and natural charm and unusual character and gifts.’ “The president began to shower Mrs. Galt with attention soon after ie mpt her. Flowers were sent from the white house conservatory to the delightful house which Mrs. Galt has in the fashionable quarter tof the city. The president made no ostentatious visits to the home of Mrs. Galt but he dropped in occasionally and on invitations from Miss Bones and Miss Wilson Mrs. s Galt called more and more frequently at the white house.” The story goes on and on, denoting each little movement of Dan Cupid as ie drew the charming widow to the onesome and heart sore president. Finally when Mr. Wilson went to his summer home in Cornish, N. H., Mrs. Galt went along and they had daily drives, walks and they played golf together and when the caddies were not looking they ihade eyes at each other and it is quite certain that the president proposed while they were yet at Cornish. The correspondent does one rash thing. He says Mrs. Galt is albout 40 years of age. He does not use the old expression “fair, fat and forty.” That would be entirely too rude to say to the president’s fiancee. He says she is beautiful, of medium leight, with rather a full figure and s in the neighborhood of forty. In another paragraph he says “her eyes are large and brown and shaded with long black eyelashes and they light with charming (brilliance when she is interested. She has rather a ong nose, good mouth and firm chin, and has what is described as an Irish complexion.” The description is about as complete and Col. Fred Phillips gives of a fine Alley he is about to of:'er at a public sale and after the correspondent’s fulsome word painting of ler charms you feel just like the auctioneer is about to say: “How much am I offered ” Mrs. Galt was born in Virginia, is

descended from Pocahontas, the Indiary maid whose romance with John Smith is familiar to all who have studied history. Her father was William H. Boling- one of the “foremost lawyers of Virginia.” At the age of 20 she was married to Norman Galt, of the -jewelry firm of Sterling & Galt. Her husband died nineteen years ago. The correspondent says she carries her years lightly and would not be guessed as old as forty. Th president will be 59 on Dec. 28th. The marriage when it takes place will parallel, if not surpass that of Grover Cleveland, who took Miss Frances Folsom to be his bride. Foreign ambassadors will shower the president with presents and well wishes and the heads of the governments of Europe and Asia will send presents to them. > The marriage of the president will mark the beginning of the social season in Washington and the new Mrs. Wilson will be able to pay attention to social duties that the former Mrs. Wilson could not give attention to owing to her poor health. Mrs. Galt, however, has quiet tastes and it is believed will prefer to remain at home, couched in the sunshine of his smiles, rather than to engage extensively in the frivolities of society. One paragraph of the correspondent’s article we must publish in conclusion. It reads: “-So for almost a year fate has been bringing closer and closer together this man and woman of Virginia. The president, when a young man, moved to Georgia, and I thence to New Jersey. He studied and practiced law and later became a college professor. He married and had children. He was elected governor of New Jersey and president of the United States. His wife died, and. then upon the horizon appeared Mrs. Galt.”

From now until after the marriage we can expect to see the Sunday papers full of pictures and descriptions of the approaching marriage but we do not expect to read any account that pictures more glowingly the courtship than that written by The Herald correspondent.