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¤ Who Was Miss Pauline Wayne? |
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June 19th, 1911, Miss Pauline Wayne stood on the White House lawn doing the best that she could to ignore the noise of the people yelling and the clanging of the gates. She had spent the night under the shelter of the eaves of an old shed, the place where, in a few years, the Eisenhower Executive Office Building would be erected. As the sun had risen, she moved to a place of brightness, her memory used now to the daily routine, overcoming her fears and apprehensions from the way that the President's appointee had handled her when she first came to Washington. D C. Miss Wayne's present condition and relationship to the President, of course, was at the discretion and determination of the First Lady. Helen Heron Taft, or "Nelly" as her friends had called her, had grown up in Cincinnati, Ohio attending private school and studying music with a passion. At seventeen, she visited the White House when her parents, Harriet and John, were the guests of President Hayes and his "Temperance Mrs. Lemonade" Lucy Hayes. A year later she met her "Adorable William Taft," a Yale Law Graduate, while sledding. In 1886, he married "His Treasure." Little did she know that not only would he one day become President and they would live together at the White House, she, as her husband would describe her, "being self-contained, independent, and of unusual application" would be instrumental to firmly establishing he American presence in Asia. In 1900, Taft took charge of the civil government of the Philippines. Helen brought along their three children, Robert, Helen, and Charles, and despite serving in a country spoiled by war, took them to see as much of the Far East as travel would allow including the beautiful land opened by Admiral Matthew Calbraith Perry a few years earlier. Upon becoming First Lady, it was Helen who undertook to plant the famous Cherry Trees along the Capitol's Tidal Basin, a gift from the people of Japan. But on this day, Miss Pauline Wayne could only catch a glimmer of the sunlight under the trees before the president's attendants would force her out of sight. Helen Taft had planned the largest and gayest social event on the lawn of the White House. Several thousand of the best sorts in the Capitol would attend the grounds in celebration of the Taft's silver wedding anniversary. Miss Pauline Wayne was not wanted; and, it would simply "not do" to have her anywhere near the invited dignitaries. Prior to serving in the Philippines, the 330-pound William Taft developed his law practice and served as State Judge, Solicitor General of the United States, and then Federal Circuit Judge. In his own words he owed his career to the fact that he always had his "plate the right side up when offices were falling." Initiated an Entered Apprentice in Marion, Ohio, Brother Taft never completed his degrees and was made a Master Mason "At Sight" by Grand Master Hoskinson on February18th, 1909 in Kilwinning Lodge #356, Cincinnati, Ohio. An Emergent Lodge was called together for the purpose. At five O'clock in the afternoon the Grand Master personally administered the obligations and esoteric instructions. That evening, Taft witnessed the Master's degree and that lodge subsequently elected him to membership on April 14th, 1909. On April 22nd, 1909, the President visited Temple-Noyes Lodge No.32, at Washington, D.C., of which his close friend and aide, Major Archie Butt, was a member and for whom, after the Titanic disaster, on April 14th, 1912 Temple-Noyes Lodge held an elaborate Memorial Service. Brother Taft attended as one of the Chief Mourners. Crescent Lodge No.25, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, elected Taft an Honorary Member June 5, 1918. In the months immediately preceding the June 19th event, Taft was elected an honorary member of the Lodge at Alexandria Washington Lodge No.22, on Washington's birthday. Taft posed for a picture in George Washington's Masonic regalia at the White House on May 9th. Miss Pauline Wayne can be seen in the photographs lurking just outside the Executive Mansion's windows. On May 13th, Taft visited St. John's Lodge No.1, in Newark, NJ to help celebrate its 150th anniversary. Helen, being a take charge sort of woman, had always insisted that Miss Pauline Wayne not travel with the President. In 1907, President Teddy Roosevelt appointed Taft Secretary of War and the Republican National Party nominated him to be Roosevelt's successor the next year. His opponent, William Jennings Bryan, ran on the Democratic ticket for a third time. He complained that Taft showed the public two faces. He had to oppose two candidates, a Western Progressive Taft and an Eastern Conservative Taft. Both kinds of voters, Establishment and Progressives were pleased with Taft's election. "Roosevelt has cut enough hay," they said; "Taft is the man to put it into the barn." Miss Pauline Wayne would be very pleased to hear about everything that would accompany that suggestion. Helen Taft, by reputation, had everything to do with William's "Stature as a Man." While she was largely responsible for helping to shape her husband's political career, she resented the tittering scuttlebutt about the way that she satiated his enormous and questionable physical appetites. Indeed, to satisfy his needs she consented to his request that Miss Pauline Wayne be brought to the White House, a change that would do the President's body good. Though under the age of ten, Miss Wayne should be up to the task at hand. The First Lady recalled that when in Manila an outbreak of Malaria had occurred, that fresh milk from local cows aided the health of the people and assisted each in recovery. Mr. Taft loved to drink fresh milk, so it only made sense to bring a cow with him when he came to the White House. Miss Pauline Wayne, a Holstein, replaced the aging White House cow, Mooly Wooly, whose thin and bitter milk did not suit the President's taste. No one knows how the cow got her name, but Miss Pauline Wayne lived a happy and useful life. Later, President Harding made Taft Chief Justice of the United States, a position he held until just before his death in 1930. He stated in an interview that the only thing that he remembered about his years in the White House were the frothy pails of fresh milk which provided that staple and refreshing beverage at every meal. Miss Pauline Wayne was the last "First Cow" of this country; and, to her memory, the Miss Pauline Wayne Society was created, a private Society of Friends to promote the ideals and benign virtues of the Taft Presidency. On September 15th, 2007, they will meet in at Mt. Auburn in Cincinnati Ohio, the 150th anniversary of President Taft's birth. Frateranlly, |