There in the familiar atmosphere of Dr. Harding's home, it occurred to me that perhaps now Mrs. Warren Harding might drop her patronizing manner and become natural; certainly the Uhlers, genuine people, inspired such naturalness, for I knew them to be as good friends as the Hardings had in Marion. In my Harding book I have a clipping which says of Warren Harding, "President Harding has one of those rare temperaments which can keep aloof and cool at close range," and I know that even from my own experience of greeting him in public places where it seemed wise for us to maintain a certain dignity, I was ever conscious of his "close range" and felt the sincere warmth of his smile and hand pressure sufficient to assure me that he was not above, but one with, me. Mrs. Harding was looking particularly well on that occasion and I am sure that her general hauteur of manner was felt by her to be in keeping with the position in which she had found herself.
"Yes, indeed," Mrs. Harding continued what had become a monologue, "I keep Warren the best dressed man in Washington."
I could not help remembering how happy Mr. Harding was when he could just lounge around in his old clothes. Moreover, Mr. Harding had said to me, "Brooks is my valet; responsible for my clothes," when we had discussed him in connection with sending my letters to Mr. Harding through Brooks.
"That's right, Florence!" laughed Mr. Uhler, "don't let anyone get ahead of you!"
The afternoon following Mr. Harding's speech at the Fairgrounds was an exciting one also. I was visiting that day with Ellen Lucile Mezger Stoll, whose brother, Roscoe Mezger, was married to Florence Harding's daughter-in-law, Mrs. Esther DeWolfe. Ellen Lucile's little twin girls were about five years old and Ellen and I took them with us, it seems to me,
