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LEMONADE LUCY - Page 2

© John S. Cooper

Interestingly enough, President Hayes, after leaving the White House, firmly denied that there had ever been "Life-Saving Stations." Hayes wrote, " The joke of the Roman punch oranges was not on us, but on the drinking people. My orders were to flavor them rather strongly with the same flavor that is found in Jamaica rum! This took! There was not a drop of spirits in them! This was certainly the case after the facts alluded to reached our ears. It was refreshing to hear "the drinkers" say with a smack of the lips, 'Would they were hot!'" Whether or not Lucy was the cause of the ban on liquors, she was certainly responsible for, or in complete agreement with, a number of other reforms.

Lucy Hayes was the first college graduate to serve as First Lady. She loved ornate, hand-painted chinaware, and even decorated some herself, which she used in the White House. She is also remembered for starting the tradition of the annual Easter egg-rolling on the White House lawn, a tradition that is still followed today.

Rutherford Hayes did not run for re-election, and looked forward to leaving the White House. Lucy shared his dislike for the place and also looked forward to the end of their term. In the last year of her time as First Lady, she told a friend, "I wish it were at an end." After Garfield's inauguration, Lucy returned with her husband to their estate, Spiegel Grove, where they lived happily until her death in 1889.

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