White House gossip

by Edna M. Colman

The completion and dedication brought her more honours and orders, and the contract for the statue of Farragut also came to her as the winner of the competition.

Although the Garfield administration was so brief, it was remembered for the happy home life and domesticity a large and lively family of youngsters gave to it, and also for the cultural qualities of the President and his wife. Mrs. Garfield had devoted much of her time and energies to the education and care of her four boys and her girl. Her natural inclination was to prefer the home circle to many of the social affairs.

“Grandma Garfield,” the President’s mother, made her home with them. She was the treasured guest of the family and was given every deference and courtesy that affection could suggest. She sat on the right of her son and always was served first. His regard for her added to the picture of happy home life that prevailed.

The formal state social functions were not scheduled until the following winter season, but immediately after the inauguration Mrs. Garfield gave four splendid receptions, which were largely attended.

Her husband called her “Crete,” a nickname from their schooldays, which was an abbreviation of her rather formal name, Lucretia.

The President found the executive treadmill more absorbing and more engrossing than any other task to which his hand had been set, and he quickly found a need for relaxation that was not wholly met by his literary tastes.

Immediately after settling his family, he had the billiard room refitted and the table restored. Here, with his cigar and a little coterie of close friends, he found much enjoyment. Frequent horseback riding gave him the needed exercise.

President Garfield had so closely identified himself with church and masonic organizations that people of the District of Columbia regarded him as almost a Washingtonian. He, his wife, and his mother were regular attendants at the little frame church of the Disciples of Christ, better known as the Vermont Avenue Christian Church. Here he frequently filled the pulpit, although he had never been ordained to the ministry. After his death, when his assassin was on trial, testimony was produced that indicated that Guiteau had followed the President to church, as he had been seen looking in the windows. The attendance of the President of the United States is always a great boon to the church he selects. The present beautiful church is built on the site occupied by the little frame building in which Garfield was so interested, and is regarded as a memorial to him.

As a member of the Masonic fraternity, Garfield had greatly endeared himself to the craft. At the time of his death he was a member of Columbia commandery, Knights Templar, in which he was knighted in 1865. He was undoubtedly the most active Mason locally that has ever filled the presidential chair.

Though Garfield had chosen his Cabinet himself, without advice, apparently he had not considered all of the contending influences represented therein, since four months later, at the time he was stricken by Guiteau’s bullet, it was on the verge of dissolution.