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Show 3m? m ike feiJSj FTwTl , V .,.,...,.,,, iwv. :.:.v. &wr"r'v.-W'Kr&!qmi JfcAfV."" - ! f V v'?' ' - o ... " """-- ',Jj. . I A ''-'Sit ' '-: n - t Tk f - x N V QUMcfervsooc U Underwood s s ' f . Wa By ELMO SCOTT WATSON ir. ?& Jj2 House the tradition of a "first dog of th land" became established and since that time dogs have been the favorite live stock gifts. The story of the faithful airedale, "Laddie Boy," which died of a broken heart after the death of its master in 1923, promises to become one of the favorite traditions of our Presidents and their pets, even though the interest in the dogs which the Cool-idges Cool-idges brought to the White House somewhat eclipsed his fame. There have been a number of thembut of them all, "Rob Roy," the white collie, col-lie, was President Coolidge's special pet, and "Tiny Tim," the red chow, who was seen so often with Mrs. Coolidge, were the best known. "Rob Roy" was the successor to "Prudence Prim," who died during the Coolidge administration, and he also died while holding the position of "first dog of the land." "Pant Pry,"' an airedale, enjoyed a brief career in the White House but was much ton lively for his station in life and was sent back to the marines, whence he came, as an efficient effi-cient mascot for those red-blooded he-men. Another Coolidge dog whose stay was short was the wire-hair, wire-hair, "Peter Pan," who "just couldn't get on with the other dogs." Then there was "Boston Beans," the bull terrier; "Black Berry," the furry, black chow; "Ruby Rough," a collie; "King Kole," a. Belgian Gruenendael, and "Calamity Jane." another an-other collie. Aside from the dogs, the Coolidges had one of the most extensive "zoos" of any of the occupants of the White House. Most famous of the others, of course, is "Rebecca" the racoon, but included in it are the following: two lions, two bears, three wildcats, one hippopotamus and six birds. Four of them are rare canaries. President Coolidge could have added to that collection considerably during his summer vacation in the Black Hills if he had chosen to. He was 'offered a baby coyote, two baby burros, mountain goats, lambs, deer, red squirrels and chickens, not to mention "Kit," the beautiful bay mare, presented to him by the Boy Scouts. But the animals in the Coolidge zoo, most of them, incidentally, were presented to the National Zoological park in Washington, were only minor items in the flood of gifts which poured in upon this popular President. The extent of this flood is indicated by the following news dispatch which appeared a short time before be left office: A list of the g.fts received in one week by President Pres-ident Coolidge give a glimpse of the difficulties that will confront him when he leaves the White House. Arnong them were a knitted flag, in which there were 115,000 stitches; a twist of Tennessee tobacco, an enormous cale of Vermont maple sugar, su-gar, an ounce of vanilla extract, a baseball bat. a ukelele, three boxes of fish bait, a squash with his name on it, a bundle of sheet music, a bound collection of Swedish stamps, a pair of knitted woolen sleeping socks, a patchwork bedtjuilt, a gilded bust of the prince of Wales, a bottle containing con-taining a wood carving; also his own picture on a piece of tin, a barrel of apples, a bushel of popcorn, pop-corn, a box of honey, six jars of home-made preserves, pre-serves, a roast of venison, a bushel of cranberries, a kit of mackerel, a layer cake, a ham, a crate of oranges, a brace of wild ducks, a basket of peaches, a crate of cantaloupes, a jar of peach pickle, sixteen walking sticks, twelve knives, for post-Presidential whittling; three carved pipes, a knitted pair of house slippers, a pumpkin, an ear of corn and a string of red pepper. Canes are frequent gifts: there are five or six hundred of them stored away, a few handsomely carved and some gold mounted. The favorite gifts of elderly women to the President are knitted woolen socks and knitted house slippers.- Men give him canes and pipes. His living gifts would almost al-most stock a museum, the most common being eagles, dogs and cats. At the beginning of each administration there is keen competition among breeders to supply a dog. When Herbert Hoover came into the White House dogs continued to be the favorite White House pet, for the Hoovers brought with them three "Cragwood Padriac," the Irish wolfhound ; "Bellliaven Behoover," a collie, and "King Tut." a police dog. Later additions were "Englehurst Gillette," Gil-lette," a Gordon setter; "Whoopee," a Schnauzer; "High Boy," another dog of Irish extraction, and "Buckeye," another police dog. Within recent weeks three more dogs have joincfl the Hoover kennels "Souihboro Markham" and "Southboro Sunny,'' English setters, and a little Eskimo puppy, as yet unnamed. And the successor to "Rebecca," the Coolidge racoon, is "Billy Possu-m," an oppos-suni oppos-suni which strayed upon the White House grounds and, being captured by a guard, was immediately adopted into the exclusive society of "Presidential Pets." X33ES2I3"E next time you see fit to jfo fi urge upon your small son that HviI2l3 lie nllll;e tlie most of his op-fsKl op-fsKl portunities because he "may rv'wr ,)e President some day," you rjiiiiOv might include among the in-centives in-centives for that ambition the pTjT1" 4 fact that the White House is, among other things, a place "where it is Christmas every day in the year." For that statement is almost literally true and few are the days, indeed, on which there does not arrive in Washington some new gift for the Chief Executive. These gifts are of every couceivable kind and some of them would seem absurd if it were not for the kindly thought back of the giving. Most interesting of all, perhaps, are the live gifts which come to the White House. It began as far back as Washington's administration when the king of Spain sent our first President a jackass! jack-ass! Since then the custom of sending, unsolicited, all sorts of presents has grown enormously. In 1S02 Thomas Jefferson received from the people of i little town In western Massachusetts one of the most remarkable of all gifts a cheese weighing weigh-ing 1,532 pounds. The story back of that gift is this: In 1S01 the town of Cheshire was noted for three things Its dairying Interests, its loyalty to the Democratic party, in a section of the country coun-try that was mainly Federalists, and an able, eccentric and witty Baptist divine named Elder John Leland. One Sunday morning in 1S01 Elder Leland announced from his pulpit the plan of presenting to the President, whom they all admired ad-mired so much, the greatest gift that was in their power to bestow a mammoth product of their community. July 20, 1S01, was the date set for making the cheese and the plan was to have all the owners of cows in the town, with the exeep tion of a few Federalists, make the curd. There was no cheese press large enough for the purpose pur-pose so Elisha Brown's cider press was called into service. The hoop in which the cheese was pressed was four feet in diameter and eighteen Inches deep and was secured with strong bands of Iron. Into this the curd was placed and the ponderous wooden screws of the old cider mill were turned down. At the conclusion of the ceremony, a hymn, lined off by Elder Leland, was sung by the assembled multitude and the cheese was put away to cure. In December Elder Leland and Darius Brown loaded it on a sled on which it was taken to Hudson, New York, and then shipped by water to Washington The presentation ceremony took place in the White House in the presence of the cabinet, for eign diplomats and other notables and when the formalities were over, the steward of the Wbitt-Efouse Wbitt-Efouse cut the cheese, bread was brought in and all present enjoyed the historic Cheshire cheese. There is a tradition that Andrew Jackson once turned down a very valuable gift becajse it did not conform to his democratic ideals. An American naval ollicer, cruising in foreign waters, came into possession of a sarcophagus of a Roim.n emperor and wrote to Jackson asking permission to scud it to him with the suggestion that he be, buried In it when his time came to die. Jackson declined the gift, not because of the gloomy insinuation that his end was near but because he did not thin', it fitting for a man of the common people, even though be had been elevated to leadership of those people, to be buried in such monarchial splendor. Another gift, however, which did meet with his approval was a narrow-brimmed beaver hat, sent to him In 16X57 by W. U. Peck, a New Yc:k hatter. tWM , , jaZSS COOZJZ)3 ATW 'TZEBJ&CA This gift, taken to Jackson by a friend, brought from him the following letter of acknowledgement acknowledge-ment : Washington, March 4, 1837. Dear Sir: Tour letter, and the present which you have so kindly offered me through Mr. Butter, But-ter, are received with the pleasure which such a tribute is so well calculated to inspire. Let me assure you that I feel more pride In the ' gift which you consider an humble one than 3 should in the costliest present from the hand of ostentation. The hat you have so carefully and skillfully wrought with your own hands I shall wear with prouder feelings than I would a crown. The power of exalted station is nothing in comparison com-parison with the pleasure conveyed in the acknowledgment acknowl-edgment that 1 have invested my faculties to sustain sus-tain the rights of the industrious and producing classes to opref(ss) and degrade which is, for the most part, the businef(ss) of rulers. Wishing you great prosperity a long and useful use-ful life a happy immortality, is the wish of your fellow-citizen. (Signed) ANDREW JACKSON. Mr. W. H. Peck. In some cases gifts to the Presidents have caused them some embarrassment. The imam of Muscat once sent an almost priceless string of pearls tc Martin Van Buren. Under the circumstances of their sending to have refused them would have been highly insulting to the foreign monarch. Van Buren overcame the difficulty, however, by accept ing them and immediately presenting them to the National museum where they are still preserved. During the administration of President Franklin Pierce, Massachusetts again came into the lime light by presenting to the President a splendid carriage made at Pittsfield and given to him by Boston admirers. Incidentally, Andrew Jackson once received a similar gift, a phaeton, made from the timbers of the frigate Constitution, the famous "Old Ironsides." Although Abraham Lincoln, the man who sair' that "the Lord must have loved the common peo pie because He made so many of them," receive' many gifts from that class of society, the best known of them, perhaps, was a giant white ox and it was named "President Grant" and exhibited on Pennsylvania avenue when Grant was inau gurated President. In the Washington zoo stil lives a faded old Somaliland ostrich, presented to President Roosevelt by King Menelik of Abys sinia. A world traveler gave President Benjamin Harrison a parrot which was the favorite pc of the Chief Executive during bis administration It is interesting to note that "Polly," now seventy years old, is still living in Omaha, Neb., tin property of a family to whom she was given when the Harrisons left the White House. The custom of sending a turkey to the White House for Thanksgiving goes back, nobody knows how far, but this annual gift of the national bird is only one of the many samples of frequent addi tions to the "White House menagerie." During the administration of President Roosevelt he un wittingly started the "Teddy Bear" craze and bears of all descriptions, some of them alive, arrived frequently at the White House. The fact that Roosevelt was a "Rough Rider" and that he had some lively sons whose tastes were simi lar to those of their father resulted in any iniiii her of gifts of ponies. A western politician once presented to President Tuft a live goose which was much photographed and got more newspaper notice than perhaps any goose in history, and still another admirer sent him a cow. During Presi dent Wilson's administration, a flock of sheep, sent to the war President, was a familiar sight on the White House lawn. When President Harding occupied the White |