William H. Taft 1926 Typed Letter Signed As Chief Justice of the Supreme Court – “The Pleasure of Being a Grandfather”

** The pleasure of being a grandfather, and the lack of responsibility in the pleasure, is one that I enjoy much **

27th President. Two-page typed letter signed (TLS) “Wm H. Taft” as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, October 3, 1926, Supreme Court stationery, 8×10.5, to Charles H. Washburn, in full:

Thank you for your very kind note of September 30th. I am glad to know that you are in a pleasant place and that you are associating with your own family. The pleasure of being a grandfather, and the lack of responsibility in the pleasure, is one that I enjoy much. This summer I only had six of my grandchildren in Murray Bay. I had all of my children, but four of the grandchildren were unable to come, because two of them had a temporary illness, and I missed the four very much. One can not have too many.

So far as my own health is concerned, I am in a situation where I have to be very careful, if I am to do the work in the Court. The newspapers seized upon my illness to spread some alarming rumors, which I did not particularly object to, because if they had proved to be well-founded, there was no reason why the facts should not be known, and if they proved to be ill-founded, the result would indicate that fact. I celebrated by sixty-ninth birthday on the 15th of September with a luncheon of ninety at Murray Bay. That indicated some ability to discharge functions, but I am far from minimizing the condition in which I am and the necessity for observing every precaution to avoid an undesired result.

I hope you are coming to Washington this winter, because I should like to see you. I have just completed a considerable change in my house in Washington and established a Study for myself up high on the third floor, with a pleasant outlook. I have put in an elevator, and on the whole I hope that all this expense (for I am afraid it will run to about $35,000) may not be wholly enjoyed by my devisees and legatees. So if you come to Washington, I want to show it to you.

I hope everything is going well in Worcester. We tried to give to the town of Milbury a municipal house, but the town seems to have been paralyzed and the whole property is coming back to with a burden of its disposition that is discouraging.

Please give my respectful regard to Mrs. Washburn, and believe me, my dear old man

In very good condition, rough left edge of both leaves, even block of toning, most likely from previous framing.