Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1866-03-28
WHITE HOUSE GOSSIP.
The Dreary Life of Ladies at the Execu-
tive Mansion Their Duties and Their
Drudgeries.

The Dreary Life OF LADIES at the Execu'
tive Mansion Their Duties and Their
Drudgeries.
Washington Cor. New York Sunday Times.l
Look at the ladies of the White House.
They are condemned to four years i'm
prisonment During all that time they
must not pay visit or attend an even
ing entertainment Miss Lane occasion
ally went out to ball or party, but very
seldom; Mrs. Lincoln never; and it has
gradually come to be considered undig-
nified for the first ladies in the land "
to mingle freely in the gaieties of the
season.
Then, as for visiting at home, twice a
week they must stand up and receive for
many hours the herd who flock to see
them, mostly from the merest curiosity,
while at all times they are liable to the
visits of importunate or impertinent peo-
pie, who will intrude upon their privacy.
The very house they live in is not their
own; it is q " furnished house of the
usual description, without comforts,
dreary, dirty and just now dilapidated
II, perchance, any member of the family
appears at q window, there are eager
eyes to watch every movement, and per-
haps a scribbler to chronicle the opera
tons of the toilette, as Mr., Willis did for
Mrs Lincoln
The grounds around the house Itself
are not more sacred. The ladies can not
take a step outside without being watched,
and every feature noticed by people who
expect to see something very extraor-
binary in the appearance of those tenn
porarily wearing the purple.
If, one of the ladies said to me the
other day, / could only walk about a
little with my children sometimes in the
grounds without being stared at, and
really enjoy the comfort of an old dress
and a little privacy, it would be very
pleasant"
And if they go out to drive or enter a
shop, mods and muttered words indicate
that they are the observed of all OBJ
servers.
Mrs. Patterson has two little ones, and
Mrs. Slower three bright-eyed pretty
children, who, doubtless, make these
cheerless walls ring with their gay laugh
Ter and merry shouts.
The ladies of the Cabinet suffer in a
less degree than those Of the White
House They visit and go out as much
as they please-indeed, with them an
enormous amount of visiting becomes a
positive affection. Daily they are inun-
dated with cards. Every week at their
receptions strangers are presented, and
oil these people must be called upon.
| met one OF the Cabinet ladies the other
day at Wizards Hotel.
Il am here" said she, I" for tine pur-
pose Of leaving sixty cards"
| was somewhat appalled, at the num-
Der, and then went to ask if might in
quire how large was her visiting list?
There are over fifteen hundred names
in it."
l shrank in some horror from this
specimen of the duties Of Office T
SO much is required of them too. Not
only must all these visits be returned, but
an enormous amount of entertaining
must be done. There must be two re-
ceptions a week-one day and one full
dress evening affair. Then there must
be innumerable dinners, suppers, and
small companies Besides all this, they
must all go at least once to each of the
receptions and balls given by other men,
bers Of the Cabinet and Senate. You
may then form some idea Of this "gaiety."
All day visiting-all evening going from
one house to another. No wonder that
they look jaded and worn.