File:Recollections of full years (1914) (14766139152).jpg

Identifier: recollectionsoff00taft (find matches)
Title: Recollections of full years
Year: 1914 (1910s)
Authors: Taft, Helen Herron, 1861-1943
Subjects: White House (Washington, D.C.) Philippines -- Description and travel Washington (D.C.) -- Social life and customs
Publisher: New York, Dodd, Mead & Company
Contributing Library: New York Public Library
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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e sun, andaltogether it was a most pleasing picture of informal out-door enjoyment. Each year after that the four Maygarden parties were among the most popular entertainmentsof our social season. The question of a Summer Capital, as the Presidentssummer home is called, was quite a serious one for us to settle.We had been going to Murray Bay for so many years that wehad few affiliations with any other place, and we were mostuncertain as to what we might be able to do. We finally selected a number of likely places and madeour choice by the process of elimination. One location wastoo hot, another had a reputation for mosquitoes, another wastoo far away, another hadnt first-class railway, postal andtelegraph facilities, and another, worst drawback of all, hadno good golf links. It wouldnt have been a livable placefor Mr. Taft without golf links because golf was his principalform of exercise and recreation. Also the whole familyagreed that we must be near the sea, so our search finally 368
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RECOLLECTIONS OF FULL YEARS narrowed to the Massachusetts coast. I decided on theNorth Shore, as the coast from Beverly to Gloucester iscalled, because it had every qualification for which we wereseeking, including excellent golf at the Myopia and EssexCounty clubs. Then, too, it had a further attraction in thatthe summer homes of a number of our friends were locatedthere, or in the near vicinity. I went up in the spring to Beverly Farms, with my friendMiss Boardman, and inspected houses for three days, finallyselecting one, principally for its location. It stood near thesea and its velvety green lawns sloped all the way down tothe sea wall. From its verandah one could see out acrossSalem Harbour to Marblehead. The house itself was a modern frame cottage, as simple asanything well could be, with a fine verandah and a dormerwindowed third story. It was large enough for the familyand for such visitors as we inevitably would have to accom-modate, but besides the Taft family, which was nu

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