Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 January 1917 — As a foreigner Sees the White House [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

As a foreigner Sees the White House

by Samuel Howe

The Presidents home, a part of the magnificent park system of the National Capital, is compared with some official residences of the old-world cities

(Editor's Note—The following matter is taken from an elaborately illustrated article, published recently in “Country Life,” one of the leading ..weekly periodicals in England.)

In spite of its intimate history ■whereby rhe White House enters so essentially into the life of the people, it is its decorative setting that first appeals to the visitoi* It is the manner in Which Miljor L’Enfanfs centuryold dream has been realized that is so wonderful. The capital is famous the world over for its avenues and vistas, Its canopied foot-paths, stately buildand splendid monuments. The White House is essentially a part of the general lay-out of Washington. It is tied to it; it belongs to it. No sympathetic visitor would isolate It for one moment. It is a part of the Washington park scheme, as much as the palaces of'France or Italy or any otlu er old-world official residences are a portion of their setting, of their sunken or walled gardens, their fountains or terraces. Nature has done little for London and hardly more even for Paris, but much for Washington. It is interesting to see to what fine use a rerrrarkabtesi tehasheen pnt and Hie way in which the best has been made of the opportunity. The charm inspires every visitor. He is forced to. recognize how well it all goes together. _—_ However often we may look at the quainf old woodcuts for the detail of the White House when it was a building isolated and alone, destitute of trees or shrubbery, the site outlined in a primitive fashion by a wooden paling, we a*e compelled to see that the idea was right. That Is to be seen today, now-that the White House is tied to Washington and to its wonderful park scheme, just as It is to the history of the people by a wonderful ‘network of policies, the ebb and flow of ambitions, and by the change of officers, who, like figures in a great pageant, arrive at intervals, dominate ithings for a time, and then*pass on. Viscount Bryce in his own gracious ifashion voices the idea of the fathers when he says, “Washington is the embodiment of the majesty of the whole nation, and the man from Maine and Minneapolis and Florida must feel that Washington belongs to him.” Continuing, that distinguished ambassador compares this ideal city to Constantlnopleand Calcutta because of their park Systems. He calls attention to the beauty of Rock Creek valley, recently set aside as a park, woods that stretch along river. He says, “Washington seems consecrated to society, to the delight ■of human intercourse." We hear a great (leal today of Amerdca as commercial, material. Is' not this an occasion for congratulation? May Americans not well be proud of ithe success which gives happy homes to so many thousand families? In this it follows closely the history of the dim eastern empires of Athens, of Rome; and in our own time, of England. Still, the Republic claims a universal salutation to the thought that jldealtsm is still the characteristic of ‘the American people ns IT was Th the colonial days. To dispose of the subject in a colloquial manner, the great heart of the people is sound, though It has flirted at times with false gods. We have but to look at Washington for a momenttorealize in the countenance of the average citizen the delight in a great ideal. * He is proud of the city. A visit to the District of Columbia will remove in an Instant .any element of doubt as to American veneration for the spirit of imagination and ambition. Like every country house the executive man si on grew from the ground up and not from the drawing office' dpwp, end yet, in this particular instance, ithe drawing office played*, a very essentlal part in the general tinent of things* for- the scheme is so

big that the drawing office and all for which it stands needed to be very much in evidence. The area is large, involving several miles, with problems that challenge and perplex. 1. The White House is not the work of one man; rather is it a compilation of ideas to which many have contributed in their own time and way. The history in brief shows that it was' built after the fashion of the villas of Italy from designs made by a resourcefid architect, by name James Hoban of Dublin. We see the stately simplicity of the Georgian style. The White House is substantially built, the walls faced with Virginia limestone. The cornerstone was laid in 1792 in what wild then a bare field sloping to the Potomac. The ceremonies were graced by the presence of Washington, who came over from Mount Vernon. Resisting the suggestiqn of many that it should be called the palace, it was known first as the president’s house, then, the executive mansion, and later the namfc, like so many mother things concerning this interesting building, underwent a change, and the White House it bejesjne. It is literally the White House, The white paint being used to eliminate the black caused by the fire of the British on the occasion of that untimely visit on a late afternoon in August; during a severe thunderstorm which added no - little to the excitement;- the attack following the destruction of the capitol upon the hill. Twenty-six presidents have known it as a home, and two died in it —Harrison, after a few brief days of power; and bluff, honest Zackary Taylor, the “Rough and Ready” of the Mexican war, as he was called. Lincoln, leaving the red room one evening with a group of friends, never returned, dying in a strange house, after the assassin’s bullet in the theater. And here in the East room his body lay in state that those who wished to pay their last homage to a great and good man might do so. Here, Garfield, shot in a railroad station, and carried in by way of the serpentine approach of the southern entrance up the rich vineclad stairway, languished during days of agony, and finally breathed his last in a seaside cottage. Here Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclahfption, freeing the slaves; here Nellle Grarit, the daughter of the president, married the •ambitious young Englishman, Sartoris, a ceremony of great brilliancy. Here, Cleveland, twice president, married Frances FolSOm, and .his fcecond child was born—the one baby, born to a presi-

dent. The White House has always been the home of children, for nearly every president has had a substantial family. The winged cupid with his poignant arrows and tireless smile is not here merely a decorative emblem, but a living reality. The blue room has- been the scene of nine weddings, and the East room, originally devised as a banqueting hall in memory of the aristocratic planter days of Virginia and South Carolina, of two. The human — had we not better say the family?— appeal of the White House, with Its many ramifications reaching through many channels, extends In all directions. On five occasions have invitations been sent to the fortunate few to weddings here, the. marriage ceremony of daughters of presidents. This includes one of the daughters of President Wilson. who could have no superstition Tn becoming the thirteenth White House bride, when we consider that such was the number of the original coloniesand that there were thirteen stars upon Hie first American banner. The White House as we know it today shows the energy of Theodore Roosevelt and his general conception of the demands of the occasion. That dominant personality not only aroused the inner consciousness of the people, setting up- new standards, -or sweeping aside encroachments upon old ideals, but he set to work so to arrange the executive mansion that it would be more fit for the service of the people. This meant Important change to the building, including the construction of an independent office with accommodation for secretaries and typists and assistants. New means were arranged whereby the public could visit the executive with some degree of comfort and in .large number« on certain occasions. Yet the original building was preserved intact, so that it is today literally the home of the president, and so far convenient and* sufficient for his family that he can invite a friend to stay overnight without embarrassment, and even, when occasion permits, entertain in a proper and dignified manner a guest of distinction. All this entailed a readjustment of the building in many ways; an extension, practically a rebuilding of the original wings, which in their own fashion prqiyide few entrances, so that what is called the circulation of the house Is equal to-the demands of festival nights and other receptions ; and so that ambassadors and mTfiistefs frbm foreign powers *can be fitly received.