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Show When the President Goes to Church PRESIDENT COOLIDGE goes to church and here is a word-picture word-picture of it: It is raining ttiis Sunday morning in Washington. Yet the street near the "Church of the Presidents," as the old red brick structure of the First Congregational church Is called, is alive with bobbing umbrellas and darting cabs. They are expecting the presidential party, and the sidewalks and entrance way are kept clear by three dripping policemen. police-men. Under the portico is a watchful group of secret service men. There is very little ceremony about the I'resident's entrance with Mrs. Coolidge at the stroke of 11. The minister, the Uev. Jason Noble Pierce, is waiting in the pulpit. A compact little group walks quickly up the right aisle and stops at the fourth pew from the front. The President steps aside. Mrs. Coolidge enters. The President follows. fol-lows. They sit down and the congregation congre-gation promptly does the same. One secret service man of the White House staff, Col. Ed Starling, takes a seat reserved for him directly behind the President. One among many yet set apart the figure of the President is seen to be taller than that of the average man. Ills tlrtn, reddish hair, high brow, ascetic lips, mark him again. He pulls out gold-rimmed, spectacles and finds his place in the hymn book, but his lips do not move. He bows his head during prayer, but his shoulders shoul-ders are erect. Mrs. Coolidge joins actively in the singing and responsive reading. Her ' face, quick to smile, is hidden behind a wide dropping black straw hat and a high fur collar. A small cluster of flowers brighten her black and gray costume. Her coat remains on during service. Only in his opening prayer does the minister mention the President, and then it is only to utter the same thought that is going up from thousands thou-sands of pulpits "Eless our President Presi-dent and those whom he loves, and those who advise with him and those whom he serves." The minister and his assistant, the Rev. Franklin I. Winter, quickly left the pulpit and approached the President's Presi-dent's pew. The people kept seats while the President's party arose. The congregation tfas not permitted to leave the church until the President's Presi-dent's party had entered -automobiles. The whole idea of this is to keep the President out of crowds, minimizing the personal danger In which the head of the nation always lives. He is under strict orders of the secret service serv-ice men. |