Recollections of full years

by Helen Herron Taft

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I
Introductory		[1]
	Cincinnati—City of Birth and Early Memories. Educational and Musical Advantages. Childhood in Large Family on Moderate Income. Meeting Mr. Taft—Political Turmoil. First trip to Washington to visit President and Mrs. Hayes. Social Gaieties and Serious Undertakings. Engagement—Summer in the Adirondacks. Marriage—Trip Abroad. Mr. Taft’s Father and Mother. First home—“Satisfactory though Mortgaged.”
CHAPTER II
Cincinnati and Washington		[21]
	The Superior Court—First Doubt as to Desirability of Judicial Career. Mr. Taft’s Embarrassing Truthfulness. My son Robert. Solicitor General—Move to Washington. Mr. William M. Evarts. Washington Society Twenty-five Years Ago. My Daughter Helen. The Federal Bench. Youngest Child. Tranquil Years. The Cincinnati Orchestra. Spanish-American War—Results to the Taft Family.
CHAPTER III
To the Philippines		[39]
	The Second Philippine Commission. Army Transport Hancock. Honolulu. “Aloha Oe!” Yokohama. Mr. Taft in a Jinrikisha. His Size Interests the Japanese. Audience with the Emperor and Empress of Japan—A Question of Clothes. I Decide to Remain in Japan for the summer. The Hancock to Manila.
CHAPTER IV
In Japan		[65]
	Keeping House in Yokohama—In Quarantine with Measles. A Japanese Ménage. Fascinating Oriental Sounds—Alluring Shops. First Letter from Mr. Taft. A bit of Philippine History. Miyanoshita—Japanese Inns—The Darkest Night. A Refugee from China—Boxer Insurrection. Joseph did not Commit Suicide; He was only Learning to Sing. More Letters. Mr. Bryan’s Complicating Policy. To Manila.
CHAPTER V
First Impressions of Manila		[91]
	The China Sea. Manila Bay—Strange Scenes and Strange Peoples. First Home in Manila—“Getting Used” to my Environment. Seventy Thousand American Troops. General Arthur MacArthur—Social Coolness. Intrigue—Assassinations—Problems. Progress of Pacification. A Typhoon. American Presidential Campaign. Civil and Military Rule. September first—The Commission begins to Exercise Authority.
CHAPTER VI
A Strange Environment		[118]
	El costumbres del pais—Employes and Parientes. A Pair of Black Ponies—A Runaway—Filipino Coachmen. Charlie’s Playmates. Shopping—Saloons. Manila Society. “He may be a brother of William H. Taft, but he ain’t no friend of mine!” A Filipino Call. Presents. American Patriotism. Friars and Friars’ Lands. A Momentous Decision.
CHAPTER VII
Days of the Empire		[142]
	Unrest and Uncertainty—Guerilla Warfare. Re-election of Mr. McKinley. Optimistic in the Face of Chaos. Christmas—Eighty in the Shade. A New Year’s Reception—Silk Hats and Frock Coats. The Federal Party and the Peace Movement—Washington’s Birthday. First Visit to a Provincial Town. Establishment of Civil Government. Mr. Taft First Civil Governor.
CHAPTER VIII
An Historic Trip		[156]
	Through the Southern Islands. Establishing Provincial Governments. A Test of Endurance—Filipino Bands—Banquetes and Bailes—the Rigodon. Moroland. Aguinaldo—Colonel Frederick Funston of “the Suicide Squad.” Zamboanga—Cottabato—the Gulf of Davao—Surigao—A Perilous Journey. Cebu. Sorsogon—A Riot of Hospitality. “The Sacred Torch of Liberty.”
CHAPTER IX
The Wild Men’s Country		[182]
	Into Northern Luzon—the Wild Men’s Country. A Spanish Steamer. General and Mrs. J. Franklin Bell. A Side Trip. Impedimenta and Military Discipline. An Amazing Summit. Where no White Woman ever was before Igorrotes—Human Skulls as House Decorations—Rice Terraces. Down a Long Trail. Baguio—Our $2,500,000 Road. Necessity for Haste.
CHAPTER X
Governor Taft		[206]
	The Inauguration of Governor Taft. Two Thousand Guests. Moving to Malacañan Palace—Social Activities. The Governor’s Working Day. General Chaffee—Continued Differences of Opinion. General Corbin. The Assassination of President McKinley—Dark Days. Mr. Taft and President Roosevelt. Balangiga. A Trip to China—Mr. Taft Ill—Hurried Return. Ordered Home on Leave—An Earthquake. We Sail on Christmas Eve.
CHAPTER XI
A Trip to Rome		[233]
	Some Unhappy Memories. Business in Washington—The Friar Lands Question. A Mission to Rome. Left Behind but Follow Shortly. Position and Character of Commission—Complications and Embarrassments. Cardinal Rampolla. Pope Leo XIII. A Brilliant Society. Vatican Politics. An Audience with the Pope. Vallombrosa. Gifts from the Pope. Unfinished Negotiations—Mr. Taft to Manila. Switzerland.
CHAPTER XII
Last Days in the Philippines		[251]
	A Great Demonstration. Cholera—Rinderpest—Famine—Turmoil. The Church Schism—Aglipay. Archbishop Guidi. Ladrones and Assassins. Taft declines the Supreme Bench—Mr. Roosevelt Insists—Popular Protest. A Letter from Mr. Roosevelt. Called to Washington as Secretary of War. A Farewell Fête—The Doge of Venice and his Lady—Regretful Good-byes.
CHAPTER XIII
Secretary of War		[274]
	Contrasted Attitudes—Guests of a Nation and “Just Nobody.” Settling down in Washington—Difficulties in living up to an Exalted Office—Life of a “Cabinet Lady.” The Panama Canal—Trip to Panama. Mr. Taft, a Congressional Party and Miss Alice Roosevelt. Summer in England. Intervention in Cuba—“Those Awful Twenty Days.”
CHAPTER XIV
Busy Years		[302]
	“The Three Musketeers.” A Political Campaign—the Rush of Life. The Supreme Bench again. A Presidential “Boom.” Mr. Taft not Interested. I misunderstand Mr. Roosevelt. Athos and Porthos. “Sitting on the Lid.” Agitated Days. Growing Enthusiasm. Murray Bay. Starting Around the World—Yellowstone Park—A Sunday game of Bridge. A Taste of Campaign Work.
CHAPTER XV
A Hurried Trip Around the World		[313]
	Japan—Shanghai—Manila. Opening of the first Philippine Assembly. Trips and Entertainments. Vladivostok. Across Siberia. Moscow—St. Petersburg—Berlin. A Shopping Expedition and a Perilous Night. The Steamship President Grant. Return to the United States. Nomination for the Presidency—Political Campaign—Election.
CHAPTER XVI
President of the United States		[324]
	The Evening of March Third, 1909. A Dinner Party at the White House. A Stormy Night. Washington Ice-bound and Isolated. “I always said it would be a cold day when I got to be President of the United States.” The Inauguration. At Home in the White House—A Brief Inspection—The McKim Restoration. The Inaugural Ball—A Brilliant Scene. “Aunt Delia.” The End of the Greatest Day.
CHAPTER XVII
The White House		[347]
	Mistress of the White House—Domestic Responsibilities—Some Innovations. The White House staff—Furniture and Porcelains. The President’s Hospitality. A Diplomatic Tea. Forms and Precedents. My First Dinner Party. Various Entertainments. Potomac Drive. Delightful Spring Evenings. The Charm of the Home of Presidents. A Passing Glimpse of Mental Pictures.
CHAPTER XVIII
Some White House Formalities		[365]
	A Long Illness. Garden Parties—The First Disappointment—Subsequent Success. The Nation’s Summer Capital—A Question of Privacy—The Secret Service Men. The Washington Social Season. State Dinners and Receptions. First Cabinet Dinner. The New Year’s Reception. “Behind the line.” Cutting down the Lists. The Diplomatic Reception and Dinner. Serving Refreshments. Various Demands.
CHAPTER XIX
Conclusion		[382]
	Mr. Roosevelt Returns from Africa—Calls at Beverly—An Agreeable Meeting. A Cruise on the Mayflower. The President of Chili. A “Whirlwind” Existence. A Cabinet House Party. Fitting Charlie out in Long Trousers. Helen’s Début. Our Silver Wedding. Renomination. Plans for a Quiet Future. An Expression from Mr. Taft.

ILLUSTRATIONS

Mrs. William Howard Taft	[Frontispiece]
	FACING PAGE
Mrs. Taft’s childhood home on Pike Street, in Cincinnati	[4]
Mr. and Mrs. John Williamson Herron, Mrs. Taft’s father and mother	[8]
Members of the salon. Mr. Taft in the centre with the author at his right	[12]
Mr. and Mrs. William Howard Taft at the time of their marriage	[16]
Mrs. Taft with Robert and Helen, when Mr. Taft was Solicitor General	[26]
Charlie Taft when he went to the Philippines	[36]
Nikko. An ancient cryptomeria avenue and a glimpse of the famous temples	[52]
Entrance to the Imperial Palace gardens in Tokyo	[56]
The State Dining-Room of the White House, showing tapestry presented to Mrs. Taft by the Empress of Japan	[62]
Helen Taft in Japanese costume	[76]
Mrs. Taft in formal Filipina costume	[90]
A carved Nara or Philippine mahogany bed, now in Mr. Taft’s room at New Haven	[98]
A typical Philippine river scene and some Filipino laundry work	[104]
(Left to right) General Wright, Mr. Taft and Judge Ide, as Philippine Commissioners	[118]
A typical Filipino menu and place card	[148]
Triumphal arch at Bataan	[152]
Filipino members of the organising party enjoying afternoon repose on the deck of the Sumner	[158]
The Sultan of Sulu boarding the Sumner, followed by Mr. Arthur Fergusson, Spanish secretary to the Commission	[166]
A Moro datu with his retinue, and the favourite wife of a datu with her maids-in-waiting	[170]
Picturesque bead-bedecked Bogobos of the Davao country	[176]
Philippine non-Christians: A Bontoc Igorrote (top left); a Moro and two Kalinga chiefs (with shields)	[182]
On the long trail in Northern Luzon. Mrs. Taft second from the left	[186]
Mr. Taft and Charlie enjoying their favourite exercise	[186]
An Igorrote Head Dance and a company of cargodores with their dogs which are to be killed for food	[190]
Views of the extraordinary Igorrote rice terraces. Practically all of the wild men’s country is cultivated in this manner	[192]
Igorrote chief proudly displaying his house decorations of human skulls and carabao horns	[196]
Bontoc Igorrotes with ganzas showing handles made of human jaw bones	[196]
Benguet Road before and after completion. Not the most thrilling curve on this spectacular highway	[200]
The Zigzag. How the Benguet Road climbs to an altitude of over 5,000 feet in six miles	[204]
Mr. Taft taking the oath of office as first American Governor of the Philippine Islands	[208]
Two views of Malacañan Palace. The first picture shows the wide, roofless veranda over the Pásig River	[214]
Scenes attending Governor Taft’s arrival in Manila after his first absence	[250]
Arch erected by the Partido Federal representing Filipina offering another star to the American flag	[258]
Mr. and Mrs. Taft with members of their family and staff including Major Noble, aide (at left), and Mr. Fred C. Carpenter, private secretary (right), in costumes worn at the Venetian Carnival	[270]
Mr. Taft and Colonel Goethals, in Panama	[290]
(From left to right) Mrs. Jaime de Veyra, Mrs. Taft, Governor Smith, Mrs. Smith, Mr. Taft, Mr. Sergio Osmeña, Speaker of the Philippine Assembly, and members of the Assembly in the Ayuntamiento, Manila	[312]
The White House as it looked on the evening of the Fourth of March, 1909	[324]
Mr. and Mrs. Taft returning to the White House after Mr. Taft’s inauguration	[330]
The private dining-room of the White House, and the family sitting-room at the end of the long upstairs corridor	[334]
Two White House bedrooms showing fine old colonial beds	[338]
Two corners of the White House kitchen	[350]
The East Room	[356]
Mrs. Taft on the Potomac Drive	[360]
The south Portico from the end of the garden	[364]
The White House garden and Washington’s Monument from the south Portico	[368]
The Taft cottage at Beverly, Massachusetts	[372]
The crescent table in the State Dining-Room arranged for the Diplomatic Dinner	[376]
Mrs. Taft’s own picture of the White House	[380]
The long eastern corridor through which guests arrive for state functions	[388]
The main stairway leading to the President’s private apartments	[388]

RECOLLECTIONS OF FULL YEARS

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

Cincinnati, the city of my birth and early memories, was, in the ‘sixties, about as begrimed and noisy and altogether unattractive as any place well could be; yet it possessed certain attributes which really entitled it to the proud designation of “The Queen City of the West.”

It was prosperous; it had hardly yet been surpassed in prosperity by Chicago; Cleveland was not even spoken of as a rival; and in many ways it was the most important centre west of New York and east of the Mississippi.

It owed its early development principally to its advantageous location. It lay on the great central route from the East to the West, which runs from Baltimore and Washington to Cumberland and over the Alleghenies to Pittsburg, thence by the Ohio River to Cincinnati and on west to St. Louis and south to New Orleans. It had an important trade with New Orleans and drew commerce from a large territory to the north. But whatever else may be said of it, its most devoted citizen could not claim that Cincinnati was beautiful. Its buildings were unlovely; its streets were badly paved and as badly kept; and it lay under a pall of soft coal smoke which left its sooty mark upon everything—inhabitants included.

Yet, ugly as it was, the city boasted an unusual society. During the first half of the nineteenth century many young men of good stock and great ability, drawn by the promise of rapid advancement, had moved to Cincinnati from all parts of the East and South; New Jersey, New England, Virginia and Kentucky contributing, perhaps, the greatest number. There were many families of wealth and culture which, without parade or display, maintained fine homes and dispensed a generous hospitality. The suburbs, East Walnut Hills, Mt. Auburn and Clifton, on the heights to the north and east, were famous for their beautiful country places.