Mr. Harding had, while alive, provided ample funds for the care of our
child. During the time of his incumbency in the presidential office,
after the adoption had been arranged, he had given me $500 a month to
give to my sister and her husband for their care of the baby, and had
also provided more than generously for me. The income on my suggested
$50,000 would only be $250 a month. So it was surely unfair both to his
sense of justice and to his daughter’s rightful requests, through her
mother, for Miss Harding to thus summarily dismiss the matter of a
reasonable trust fund for Elizabeth Ann.
Where was Justice? Where was Right? Where was Honor? Surely the spirit
of these high truths dwelt not among those who perceived them only
microscopically! If _my_ child, the child begotten of the President
of the United States, and maintained by him as such, gladly, with
fond acknowledgment of his fatherhood,--if this child could not
obtain justice at the hands of her blood relations, how futilely
must thousands and thousands of unhusbanded mothers plead for the
recognition of their little ones over all the land! Fidelity to my
sweetheart, loyalty to his family, truth and honesty of purpose, were
rewarded thus! Surely Jesus knew the human heart and the temptation
to harbor rancor when he said to his disciples, “After this manner
therefore pray ye ... forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.”
_165_
In a letter to Tim Slade under date of April 30th, I was obliged to
apologize for some trouble I had given him in connection with his
having kindly cashed my check for $15 when I went through Washington.
Because of failure on my part to endorse the money order which Miss
Harding sent me for $40 to defray my expenses to Marion, my bank
account was credited with $40 less than I should have had, and having
had to pay the other $40 which was charged to me erroneously, my
account was not sufficient to cover Tim’s check when it came through.
In my letter to him I said, “If I receive enough from her (meaning
Daisy Harding) between now and the 2nd or 3rd to cover it (meaning the
check for $15 which I had not been able to make good), I’ll let you
know. Otherwise, will you go ahead and send me the $100, please? I am
pretty sure things are going to right themselves. I haven’t told you
the reaction my former letter has had, but I can talk to you better
when you come.” This was the letter from Miss Harding in which she
seemed to resent any further request for financial assistance.
On April 30th, after having despatched the letter to Tim Slade, I
received, upon my return home that evening, a small package from Miss
Harding. It contained a bracelet I had left on her dressing-table in
Marion, and wrapped around the bracelet were two $20 bills. Having
had so much difficulty over the $40 which I did not owe, and the $40
money order which Miss Harding had sent me for railroad fare to Marion
and which I had failed to endorse, with the subsequent distress of
not being able to cover my $15 check to Tim, I sighed with humorous
appreciation when I perceived another $40! But I was indeed grateful
for any amount she saw fit to send. Immediately, under the same date, I
sent her a letter of thanks. In this letter I quoted liberally from one
received from my sister Elizabeth. My sister had written of their own
financial difficulties, and how she and her husband planned to be in
Chicago that summer, both working. They were not planning upon taking
Elizabeth Ann unless I wrote that I myself could not keep her.
Under date of May 7th, I wrote Tim Slade, and shall quote from my
letter:
“I intimated to Miss Harding my financial status this month, but up
to this time I have had nothing except the $40 told you about in a
previous letter....
Would you be willing to go to the Votaws’ with me if I came to
Washington? Or would you suggest some other plan of action? As I told
Miss H. in my last letter to her, it has been almost a year since I
went to her with my story, and up to this time nothing permanent or
stable has been put in trust for E. A....
... don’t forget to send me the check for $100--and if you are broke
at this time, let me know, for I’ll have to resort to something,
though I don’t know what yet.”
As I look back upon Tim Slade’s course of comparative inaction, I
wonder why I kept on hoping he would ever be able to accomplish
anything for Elizabeth Ann. But it is easy to see that I have had
nothing except hope to cling to, and “hope springs eternal.”
Not having even an acknowledgment from Tim of the letter just quoted
above, I decided to take what had been in my head as the next step if
I met disappointment on all side. Perhaps, after all, I was wrong, and
it was right for me to suffer, and forfeit for my daughter all hope
of being aided substantially by those who were her father’s people. I
would seek the counsel and judgment of one who was surely eminently
qualified to advise me, and I would frankly ask him exactly where he
felt my duty toward my child lay. He was my sweetheart’s friend. He was
a statesman. He was an Ohioan. And I would go to _him_.
_166_
So, under date of May 15th, 1926, I wrote to the Vice-President of the
United States, Charles G. Dawes, as follows:
“Brigadier-General Charles G. Dawes,
Washington, D. C.