Birthday Party

It is only natural that St. Valentine's Day should be the birthday of the only baby of the most popular lady of the land. Paulina R. Longworth, daughter of Mrs. Alice Roosevelt Longworth and Speaker Nicholas Longworth, will be two years old on Feb. 14, 1927. Would it not be delightful if certain interesting ladies of official Washington should be invited to the home of Mrs. Longworth to celebrate the day by inscribing little stories in Paulina's memory book? In order to serve history faithfully, it would be best for each of these ladies to describe herself accurately.

Mrs. Longworth, the hostess, would of course lead the way: "As a child I was shy; as a girl I ran hurdle races over the White House furniture; today I do what I please and enjoy it thoroughly. There are certain days that I like to recall: the day that I dined with my favorite monarch, the late King Edward VII . . . the day I was banished to New York from Washington by my father, Theodore Roosevelt, because I had bet on the horse races . . . the day I wore red riding breeches when presented to the Emperor of Korea (it was on this trip to the Orient that my romance with Nicholas Longworth ripened) . . . the day of our wedding at the White House when Congress adjourned without giving a reason, for fear of establishing a precedent . . . the day (19 years later) that Paulina was born and the nation rejoiced.

"There is many a story which people like to tell to show that I am a harum-scarum princess. Here are some of them. Long before such things were socially approved, I stepped out into the middle of a ballroom, danced a solo turkey trot, smoked a cigaret. Ladies gasped; I had fun. One afternoon a woman was telling several of us about the miserable condition of her health. Suddenly I asked her: 'Have you ever tried standing on your head? ... It acts like a charm.' I borrowed a safety pin, fastened the hem of my skirt between my knees, put a cushion on the floor, shot my legs into the air, remained poised for a moment. Said I: 'There, you try that every day, and you won't have lumbago or heart trouble.' . . . And only a fortnight ago, I read in the papers that I had 'unmistakably' kicked my husband in the shins while he was escorting the President and Mrs. Coolidge at a charity ball last December. That was slow newsgathering, I think.

"If people insist on my having hobbies, I shall reiterate two. I like to put on long, black silk trousers and listen to my husband play the violin. He does it beautifully. Then I like to sit in the gallery and listen to debates in Congress, particularly in the Senate. Some say that I could be elected Senator from Ohio, if I said the word. However, I am too busy now caring for Paulina to think of stump speaking."

Mrs. Calvin Coolidge: "Some say that if I had not married Calvin Coolidge, I would have become the ideal dean of a women's college. But the wives of Presidents, as well as deans, must have tact. That, my friends tell one another, is my most important characteristic. Then too, as everyone knows, I love flowers, am an able gardener, play the piano, keep an accurate baseball score, knit. An enterprising researcher once announced that I am the first co-ed to be the First Lady of the Land."

Mrs. Woodrow Wilson: "After six years' retirement from social life and after several pilgrimages to Europe, I am again active in Washington functions. I have not yet reconciled myself to going where political enemies of my husband gather. Friends have been urging me to re-open by spacious home and begin entertaining. Occasionally I am seen as the dinner partner of Senator David Ignatius Walsh of Massachusetts."

Mrs. Charles Gates Dawes: "Last week, the Vice President and I celebrated our 38th wedding anniversary, received a flood of congratulations. I am usually content to let my politically pugnacious husband occupy the spotlight. He does it so spectacularly. It seems to have become our duty to eat all the dinners that Washington people would like to have the President and Mrs. Coolidge enjoy. As the social buttresses of the Administration, we rarely find time for a quiet evening at home."

Mrs. Peter Goelet Gerry, formerly Mrs. George W. Vanderbilt: "I am a busy woman. Last week I was elected president of the Congressional Club [the most important feminine-political-social position in Washington], I manage my onetime husband's large estates in Biltmore, N. C. Since my marriage to Senator Gerry of Rhode Island I go to the Capitol almost half as much as Mrs. Longworth. At balls I have heard it whispered that I dress like an empress."

Mrs. Dwight Filley Davis: "Tennis is the sport I love. In fact, I met my husband, donor of the famed Davis Cup, at a tennis tournament in Switzerland. In Washington we entertain frequently; some say I am the best dressed of the Cabinet wives."

Mrs. James John Davis: "I am essentially a home woman. I devote much time and care to my five children--James, Jane, Jean, Joan and Jewel."

Mrs. Herbert C. Hoover: "The society columns say that I am one of the least seen and most admired women in official Washington. Like Mrs. Coolidge, I have few intimates and many friends in the Capital. My hobby is Girl Scouts."

Other famed Washington women who might inscribe illuminating monographs in Paulina Longworth's memory book are: Mrs. James W. Wadsworth Jr., who fought against woman suffrage; Mrs. Harry S. New, amateur cinema exhibitor; Mrs. William E. Borah, mouselike in comparison with her tigercat husband; Mrs. John P. Hill, stylish wife of a swanky husband; Mrs. William Howard Taft, music critic and enthusiast; Mrs. Curtis D. Wilbur, able cook; Mrs. Frederick H. Gillett, wife of a Senator and one-time widow of a Congressman, hence, interested in politics; Mrs. Louis D. Brandeis, who writes poetry; Mrs. Frank B. Kellogg, able hostess; Mrs. Thomas D. Schall, who is eyes and inspiration for her blind husband; Baroness de Cartier, doyenne of the Diplomatic Corps and most beautifully gowned woman in Washington. . . .