James L. Clark's Black Rhinoceroses
In 1912 Corinne gave her brother a Bronze Rhinoceroses. It was an expensive gift cast by James Lippett Clark one of the nation's most distinguished artist, explorer's and scientists. He was a member of the National Sculpture Society, the New York Zoological Society and the American Geographical Society. He did the Elephant Tusk Dinner Chime in the hallway and was a friend of Roosevelt. He was a favorite taxidermist of the president. Clark also made frequent trips to Africa and returned with numerous specimens he gave to TR to donate to the Museum of Natural History and other museums across the country.
Ethel said her mother hated the Rhino and tried to hide it by putting family messages on the tick birds and hanging her garden hat on the horns.
Turning the bronze into a sight gag for everyone at Sagamore Hill to see would have been a bold move. You could imagine what TR would have thought and how Corrine would have reacted. Corrine was Edith's best friend and Clark was a famous sculptor, taxidermist and friend of her husband. Trying to hide his work under scraps of paper and her gardening hat would not have been well received.
It would also have been a tough job in 1912 because none of the children were at home. They were either married, working, or away at school. Eithel was 22 by the end of the year and about to marry Richard Derby. The Roosevelt's were empty nesters. Where were the notes and family messages going to come from and at best there are only 5 small tick birds on the rhino's back. If that's all you have to work with, good luck trying to cover the entire rhino with a handful of phone messages. Edith guarded her privacy so she wouldn't let anyone on the staff put her messages on the tick birds and it's just as unlikely she'd instruct anyone on the staff to leave TR's messages out in the open especially when he was running for president.
If TR got upset when the phone rang image his reaction having to leave the office/library to go hunt down phone messages stuck on tick birds.
The next question is where did they put the rhino. It wasn't in the hall the way it is today. There are pictures of the rhino in the North Room on the floor where the statue of Sacajawea is today. Not an ideal place to leave messages and so far out of view it didn't need to be covered.