David, this is what Roger wrote above (post #3242). Yes, Tad had a grand time in the White House most American kids (many of whom lost their fathers on battlefields) didn't have in those days, not at all. I lost my father four years younger than Tad and living with my staunch Prussian mother, although I love her, was sort of Hell compared to other kids home. I didn't have brothers to help me. What I mean to say was Tad certainly still was living under better conditions than many, including many still today.