The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1888-10-31

Unable to Reconcile the Ladies' or 'A-
Cabinet.
From the Chicago Terald.i

Unable to Reconcile the Ladies of a..
Cabinet.
From the Chicago Feraid.I
II was question o. It quet and OF
social relations that soon hroGl h. a
storm around Jackson's heal, that not
even his iron will could dispel, and he
found that woman's sweet will was
quite as imper.ous as his own. This
was the Mrs Eaton episode.
Peggy O'Neal was the dashing
daughter of tavern keeper III the
early days of the city, and O'Neals
tavern was the place where many Con-
gressmen and Senators boarded. Peggy
often waited upon them, and Of course,
Airted with them. She was very pretty,
very bright and very gay. She finally
married q purser in the navy named
Timberlake, who after few years,
committed suicide and left her
widow.
Gen. Jackson and Maj. John Eaton
boarded at O'Neal's tavern when they
were Senators from Tennessee, and
Maj. Eaton's impressionable heart
yielded to the fascination of the Widow
Timberlake. About the time Jackson
was elected President the Major mar
ried the widow, and when Jackson was
inaugurated Eaton was appointed Sec
rotary of War. Thereupon Washing
ton society awoke to the fact that Peg
O'Neal, a tavern-keeper's daughter,
was giddy, if not an improper female,
a. the wife of Cabinet officer would
not only have high social station, but
would have the pas over them. Such
q social tempest as arose at that time
had never been seen before in Wash
ington, and has never been seen since.
With one accord the ladies of the Cab
met and of the diplomatic corps, Sen
ators' wives and ladies of high and low
degree who revolved about the White
House as a social center, declared they
would not visit Mrs. Eaton, or return
her calls, nor meet her socially upon
any terms, except as might be obhga-
tory upon them at public receptions.
Thereupon Jackson, who was the most
chivalrous gentleman in the world,
took up the cause of Mrs. Eaton, ut
terly discrediting all the stories told
about her, remembering how his own
wife had been maligned.
But all the power of the President
could not move the ladies of Washing
ton to recognize Peg ONeal. Mrs.
Calhoun refused, the wives of Secreta-
ries Ingham, Branch and Berrien re-
fused, and Mrs. Donelson, Jackson's
niece, who was the mistress of the
White House, fused. At the public
receptions and levees Mrs. Donelson
received Mrs. Eaton with courtesy. but
when the President asked her to call
upon her. and thus give her public rec
ignition, the favorite niece fatty refuse d.
Then you must go back to Tennes-
see, my dear" said Old Hickory.
Very well, uncle, l IL go back, was
the decided reply. And back she went,
bat the President soon sent for her
again.
jackson then appealed to his secre-
taries, asking them to induce their
wives TO call on Mrs. Eaton, but those
gentlemen informed the President they
could not control the actions of til If
wives in social matters. Meantime the
adroit Van Buren,, Secretary of State,
who was widower and without female
complications, entertained Mrs. Eaton
and induced the English Minister, who
was a bachelor, to do the same. This
was Van Buren's first step to the Presi-
dency, for it won Jacks ms heart: but
it was all in vain, SO far as Mrs. Eaton
was concerned. Finally the relations
between the President and Mai. Eaton
on one side and the recalcitrant secre-
taries on the other became so strained
that no Cabinet meetings were held for
months, and Eaton finally challenged
Secretary Branch, who declined the
meeting. Van Buren, then, as o way
out of the difficulty, rendered his res
ignation, and induced Mai. Eaton to dc
the same. But the 9th r secretaries
refused to resign, and Jackson was
obliged to request their designations
Thus a woman was at the bottom OF
Jackson's first Cabinet explosion. and il
all grew ont of White House etiquette
Mrs. Eaton lived in Washington fol
many years after, and died few years
ago.