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Show IN THE WHITE HOUSE How Presidents of Past Enjoyed Christmas Holidays. Na Celebration by John Qulncy Adams N . He Regarded Religious Because nen Festival s Foohsh Extravagance. rrnRDING to history the only A president of the United States ho did not celebrate Christmas h reearded It as a foolish :r ; - rr Ad- ams "te most economical man rrn'the wife of the eec nd es"dent of the United States, IrV 0,ldaysd was the first wife of a president to celebrate Christmas in the executive mansion In Washington, for the president presi-dent and Mrs. Washington were a -ways at Mount Vernon for the holi-davs holi-davs ) She had no dominating sense o? economy, but it was the White House Itself that was shabby and a Christmas reception given to the members mem-bers of copgress by the president proved, from her point of view, to be a ghastly failure. President. Jefferson was a widower with four daughters, and during his second administration Martha, the eldest eld-est was the head of her father's household, and made Christmas the happy and festive occasion it was designed de-signed to be from that time when the star stood still above the manger in Bethlehem. There were trees, and decorations, and ail sorts of entertainments for the children of the official families, as well as gifts for the poor of the capital. Although the Madisons did not spend all of their Christmases in the "White House, on account of the little historical interruption by the British, when they occupied other quarters for a time, the brilliant Dolly managed a record for holiday hospitality and merrymaking that has never been surpassed. sur-passed. ' When Andrew Jackson came to the White House he was bowed and broken bro-ken by the death of his wife and depressed de-pressed by political animosities. He had neither heart nor the slightest inclination in-clination for holiday celebrations, yet he pulled himself together at Christinas Christ-inas time, and saw to it that the day meant something happy to those in the White House. In the meantime the Monroe administration admin-istration was marked by nothing in the way of holiday celebrations be-' be-' yond what was conventionally prescribed, pre-scribed, and after President Jackson's efforts at keeping the spirit of Christmas Christ-mas in spite ot his own personal sorrows, sor-rows, President Harrison did not live to see a ChriBtmas in the White House. Mrs. Tyler lived to celebrate only one Christmas in the White House. After his second marriage the Tyler administration was noted for its brilliant bril-liant entertainments. Whether it was Christmas or any other time of the year, hospitalities were dispensed in the old Virginia style, and there was no stint of merrymaking at the White House. The Polk administration reverted to the grim and practical idea of John Juincy Adams. Perhaps it was not economy that changed the Christmas celebration at the White House; It is difficult to define the reason why President Pres-ident Polk did not make the holidays a festive event in tho executive mansion man-sion ; it may have been the temperament tempera-ment of the chief executive; perhaps it was because Mrs. Polk did not believe be-lieve in the gay and festive way ol celebrating the holidays, as, according to intimate history, she did not. President Zachary Taylor, brilliant figure In military history, who had nc chance whatever in the social history ot the White House, because he died in little more than a year after he had taken his seat as president ol the United States, and spent only one Christmas in the White House, be queathed his administration to the Fillmores, people pitiably distinguished distin-guished by sorrow and in no way adapted to the social obligations ol the great national responsibility ol sustaining the political and social ob ligations of the White House. "Shortly after becoming president,' someone writes ot President Fillmore his w,fe died, and a year later a daughter, an only child, passed to the great eternity.'- |