The Triumphant Life of Theodore Roosevelt edited by J. Martin Miller

DAILY LIFE AT THE WHITE HOUSE 85
children of Washington. The event is somewhat under the
patronage of the President and his wife, and nothing is more
pleasing to the thousands of children who visit the grounds
than to have the President and his wife appear on the back
portico of the executive mansion to view and greet the assem-
blage. It is always by order of the President, too, that the
marine band, the greatest musical organization in the army
and navy of the United States, goes to the White House
grounds and plays for the delectation of the youngsters who
are assembled.
All of the grounds south of the White House enclosed with
an iron fence are open to the children of the city for the egg
rolling festivities. The children begin to assemble early in
the morning, taking with them baskets of varied colored eggs;
by tliree o'clock in the afternoon the immense, beautiful
grounds are alive with children varying in size from the three-
year-old tot up to eighteen years, all of them engaged in roll-
ing and tossing eggs. The game is to determine whose eggs
are the strongest and will withstand the most rolling and
tossing. The children whose eggs have the weakest shells
come out losers, of course. The game itself, however, is
unimportant outside of the plays and romping and other games
indulged in.
FINDING AND RESTORING LOST CHILDREN
Small children are accompanied bj- their mothers or nurses,
and the crowd becomes so great at times that the little ones
get separated from the older persons with them, and the
Washington police have a busy job finding and restoring the
lost juveniles. Sometimes the police find as many as twenty
little ones separated from their mothers and nurses, who are
wailing bitterly over their predicament, but it does not take