Hot Time in the Old Town - Edward Kohn [90]
If William Jennings Bryan failed to take New York by storm, at least Mary Bryan was warmly received. “MRS. BRYAN CHARMS ALL WHO GREET HER,” exclaimed a Journal headline. While Hearst’s New York Journal continued to support Bryan and free silver even after the debacle at Madison Square Garden, laudatory remarks about the speech were conspicuous by their absence. Instead the paper offered three full columns to Mary Bryan, in warm tones echoed by much of the rest of the city press. Except for some women who apparently did not approve of her black straw hat, “Mrs. Bryan won the hearts of all the women who called on her yesterday.” Men and women who greeted her came away saying, “She’s just lovely!” “How can Bryan help winning when he won such a wife!” “How magnetic!” “How charming!” When asked about the Madison Square Garden speech, and the subsequent press reports that she had looked “anxious” as people fled, Mary Bryan disputed the claims. “I didn’t feel in the least anxious,” she said and indicated that Bryan’s first speech to Congress had caused her more anxiety. The crowd she called “a grand, noble one.” When someone showed her the morning headlines describing Bryan’s failure, Mary protested, “Don’t ask me to say anything about them, please. I am satisfied with the reception accorded Mr. Bryan, and grateful for the splendid demonstration of enthusiasm. There wasn’t an incident to mar the meeting, and I shall always remember with pleasure this visit to New York.” It was a diplomatic response, more tactful than her husband’s continuing references to “enemy’s country” and his statements about “the East.” When she was asked about Madison Square Garden, the pride of New York, Mary replied that it was “a superb building, especially the exterior.”
While William rested, Mary continued to hold receptions, the last one occurring at 4:00 PM in the hotel’s ladies’ parlor. Dr. Ella Jennings, who at one time operated a dispensary for working women on Tenth Street, had a short chat with the candidate’s wife and came away believing that Mrs. Bryan’s prominent role in the upcoming campaign signaled the changing status of women in politics. “I regard it as the most hopeful sign of the future,” Dr. Jennings said, “that the candidate for the Presidency accords full recognition to his wife. It is a harbinger of the time when a woman shall occupy the Executive chair.” Also among Mary’s fans at the reception was Clara Foltz, the first woman admitted to the California bar, who later moved to New York. “I believe the comradeship shown between Mr. and Mrs. Bryan will have a tremendous influence on social conditions and family life,” Foltz said. “Think how much more of a help a woman thoroughly educated in legal matters as Mrs. Bryan is, can be to her husband, than a mere fashion plate.” Perhaps Foltz was really talking about herself, as Mary Bryan had received no education in legal matters whatsoever.
At the end of the reception, as the wives of Senators Stone and Stewart escorted Mary to a private parlor, she received the best news of the day. She had lost her wedding ring in Pittsburgh while riding to Union Station a few days before; the man cleaning the carriage afterward had found it and returned it to the Bryan campaign. Now at the end of a long and tiring day, in which she played the dutiful and supportive wife to the Democratic presidential nominee, the potential first lady again slipped on her wedding ring. The leader of the silver forces had given his wife a traditional gold wedding band.
As of that afternoon, the Bryans still planned to continue with their tour of the East, leaving for Boston at noon the next day. Their stop in Boston was to be followed by a trip to Maine, Arthur Sewall’s home state. Both Bryans spoke of their impending trip with anticipation. Someone asked Mrs. Bryan whether she intended to “carry the war to Bunker Hill.” “We do not intend making an incursion and devastate the country,” Mary replied—“with a sweet smile,” according to one witness,