Tad Lincoln's Father

Chapter 1

one One bright windy day in March, 1861, my two brothers and I were sent to the White House to play with the Lincoln boys. At my mother’s first meeting with Mrs. Lincoln it came out that my two brothers were about the ages of Willie and Tad Lincoln. “Send them around to-morrow, please, Mrs. Taft,” said Mrs. Lincoln . “Willie and Tad are so lonely and everything is so strange to them here in Washington.” I do not think either my brothers or I were much impressed by the idea of meeting the new President’s children but we did not question the arrangement made by Mrs. Lincoln and my mother. In those days children did not question the plans made for them by their elders. I think, however, my mother felt that the occasion called for something a little extra in the way of clothes, for we were carefully dressed, much to the disgust of my brother, Bud, who could not see any reason for such formality and voiced his protest to Larney, our yellow girl. “When white folks goes to see de President,” said Larney, with the air of one delivering a social ukase, “dey has to dress in dere best or dey don’t git in. An’ it’s de same when you go to see de President’s chil’un.” We had been told to go to the front door of the White House and ask for Mrs. Lincoln, but instead of following instructions, we went in by the little gate near the Treasury. Assuring ourselves that things were outwardly unchanged under the new administration, we entered the office of Mr. Watt, the head gardener. Mr. Watt had his office in the building housing the conservatory, and during the Buchanan 2 tad lincoln’s father administration we had come to know him well. Even then I had acquired a smattering of botanical lore and Mr. Watt delighted in showing me over the conservatory and grounds and introducing me to strange plants by their long Latinized names. I think perhaps he sometimes made the names more complicated than they actually were for the fun of hearing me try to pronounce them after him. I told Mr. Watt that we had come by invitation of Mrs. Lincoln to play with the Lincoln boys. My mother had instructed me to so announce myself to the doorman at the White House and it seemed as good a way as any of telling Mr. Watt why we had come. “I think the boys are up in the conservatory,” said Mr. Watt, and he called up the stairs, “Here, Willie, Tad, here is somebody to play with you.” There was no answer, but we went up into the conservatory and there stood the boys by the water-lily tank, watching the goldfish. Such nice, quiet, shy boys, I thought. In five minutes the four boys had disappeared and I saw them no more that day. My brothers came home at dark looking, as Larney said, like “dey done bin huntin’ coons in de bresh,” but they had “had the best time; been all over the White House; Mrs. Lincoln said we must come every day and bring Julia, and Mr. Lincoln, I mean the President—she called him Mr. Lincoln, anyway—jounced us on his lap and told us stories.” Early next morning Willie and Tad appeared, guided by one of the gardeners, and spent the day exploring our house and the neighborhood , including the back alley where the servants lived. Our house was the only one on the block with an attic, bathroom and cellar. It was built by a Northern man and the cellar was an object of great interesttochildrenintheneighborhood,althoughofcoursetheLincoln boys, being raised in Illinois, were accustomed to houses of this kind. Washington houses did not have cellars usually and our neighbors said if our father persisted in sticking to the Yankees, we might find the cellar useful to hide in when the Southern army entered Washington. Thus began an intimacy between the Lincoln boys and my brothers which continued until Willie’s death. My brother, Horatio Nelson Taft, Jr.—never called anything but Bud—was twelve, a year older than Willie Lincoln. Both were lighthaired, pleasant, rather quiet boys. tad lincoln’s father 3 Thomas Lincoln—Tad—and my brother Halsey Cook Taft—Holly— were eight. The resemblance of the two...