The Arkansaw traveler., 1884-02-23
PEGGY O'NEAL.
From Review of par,on'. Noted Won,

From Review of Parton's Noted Women.
 Another woman of different kind, Peg O'Neal, better known as Mrs. Eaton, IS recalled by Mir. Parton in a very read able chapter. She was the pretty and vivacious but not over prudent tavern keepers daughter in Washington, you know, who became the wife of General Jackson's secretary of war, and in whose social behalf the whole power of the Jack son administration was brought to bear with so much determination and with such unusual consequences. The ladies one accord that Mrs. Eaton was an inn proper and unworthy woman, and that they would not call upon her nor recog n'ze her in any way as the wife of cab inet minister. General Jackson took her part, and became her personal champion, using every means al his command to compel attention and consideration for her. :, l have had in my hands, says NIT. Parton, hundreds of pages of man. useript in General Jacksons writing. all relating to this affair He summoned the propagators of the scandals concern ing her; he made her case topic of cabinet discussion he threatened repre- sen,atives of foreign governments with dismissal on her account. he sent his own niece away from the White House be ause she refused to second his efforts in the tabooed woman's favor. But it WAS all futile. General .ckson's $ will was strong,s MT. Parton observes, "bu, he discovered on this occasion that won't was stronger In spite of all his fumng and storming, the ladies resolutely re- fused to have anything to with Mrs
 Eaton. When she appeared in cotillion at a fashionable ball, they would imme- dia,ely retire from it. when seated next to her at supper. they would quit the ,a- ble when brought tete-a-tete with her Tn conversation, they would turn their backs upon and otherwise manifest their utter dlsappreval of her presence.
 | IL was ihIs controversy over Mrs l. tton that really contributed more than any thing else to General Jaekson's quarrel with Calhoun and drove the latter into the nulihcaiion project. The cabinet was oonvulsed and broken up under the same pressure And Il Is unques,ionably true that Mir. Van Buren gained the pres idency by siding with .ckson in this matter. Mrs. E.ttoa does no, appear .o have been d specially remas kable woman Tn any way. She was passably handsome and intellis gent, and her father had been an old friend of General Jackson. When Major Eaton married her she was wid- ow, her fist husband, a purser in the 1 navy, havlns eonmittei suicide, leaving her with two children and very little for tune. According 10 the best testimony | she was not In fact wanIen or bad wo- man, but only careless and lndiscreet one. She liked admiration and social excitement, but was not given, we should say. to intrigue and calculation, and the circumstances which made her such d prominent factor in Washington affairs were principally accidental rather than of her own choosing or causing. IL Is none the less true, however, tha, she was the occasion of more political manruvering and anlinosity than any other one woman who has ever figured in American history Soon after the close of the Jackson ad
 mnisiFa,lon she was again left a widow, and rich one at that and she continued to live Tn Washington for many years in elegant style, though she never succeeded in overcoming the old prejudice agans, her or Tn winning the measure of social recognition which General Jackson strove so hafd and peiSeyerngly 10 secure for her. Near the close of her life, when eA- perienCe should have saved her from such folly. she took a third husband in the person Of q worthless young Italian danc- 'ng-master. who squandered her fortune and brought her m poverty and sorrow to the grave al the age of eight, four years