“Aunt Delia’s” Pies

                                        (Pres. Taft soon to eat Aunt Delia’s Pies – news)

“O, pies may come and pies may go,

     Pies fancy, rich, and clever;

But I would eat those thick and sweet

     “Aunt Delia’s” pies forever!”

                                  White House Chantey

You may sing of the pies of the “High Brow Hotel”

     Which are fair as the cheeks of a maiden;

Of pies that are thick and pies that are slick,

     With juices and fruits heavy laden.

You may sing of the pies that your mother once made,

     Of the crust and the exquisite juices,

But the pies that are best, that will stand every test,

     Are the pies that Aunt Delia produces.

I care not for travel in jungles afar,

     Though I may have a system of iron;

I don’t care to sport with the people at court,

     Nor be classed as a big social lion.

But I’d give a good deal for the simple life,

     For its pleasures as well as its uses;

And golf I’d forsake to be at the bake

     Of the pies that Aunt Delia produces.

                                     July 18, ‘10

     “Sing a song of sixpence

     A pocket full of rye;

     I’d rather have a helping

     Of Aunt Delia’s pie!”

             - White House Nursery Rhyme

The Free Lance, Frederickson, VA, Volume 25, Number 71, July 19, 1910, p. 2

http://virginiachronicle.com/cgi-bin/virginia?a=d&d=FL19100719.1.2#

Taft and his former ally and predecessor, Teddy Roosevelt, were by this time beginning a political and personal rift that would last until their later years. TR was the ‘social lion’ on safari, world traveler, and sportsman – Taft a more withdrawn (while quite obese) and soft-spoken individual.