St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-12-01
IHE CABINET LAUlES,
How the Wives Of HarriSonS
Secretaries Will Entertain
This Winter.
Mrs. Noble and Mrs. Miller
Are the WittieSt of
Them,
While Mrs. Window and Mrs.
WanamakeP Are the
PrettieSt,
And Mrs. Blaine and Mrs.
Proctor Are the Clev-
crest.
ICopyrIghted, 1881


the cleverest and kiss the one you
love best" A childish rhyme from the
childish game Of fOrfeitS. and yet it
sums up human characteristics in a nut
she'll. Society is a game of fOrfeitS,
and people who play at it will follow
the old rhyme and pay like homage the
next four years TO the ladies OF the cabi-
net. Although they have been before
the world 50 short time their qualities
are already known, and they can be de-
scribed in four superlativeS. Mrs.
Noble and Mrs Miller are the wittiest,
Mrs. Window and Mrs. Wanamaker the
prettieSt. Mrs. Blaine and Mrs. Proctor
the cleYereSt, Mrs. Rusk and Mrs. Tracy
the best beloved. OF these bright
ladies. who will be thrown together
So much during the administration,
Ouly three, Mrs. Blaine, Mrs. Win
dom and Mrs. RuSk. have ever lived in
Washington and had ever met when
their husbands were selected last
March for cabinet positions. They, too,
with the wife of the attorney general,
were the only ones Mrs. Benjamin Har-
riSon knew when the same selection
was made. Indeed, even now. there is
one of her aids, Mrs. Proctor, whom she
has never seen. All the ladies are over
fifty save two. Mrs. Wanamaker and
Mrs. Miller, aud of these two the latter
is the younger by few years. New
England is honOred in being the birth
place of five of them-MrS. Blaine, Mrs.
Window. Mrs. Noble, Mrs. Proctor. Mrs.
Miller: New York of one, Mrs. Tracy;
Philadelphia of one, Mrs. HaHamaker,
and one of foreign birth. Mrs. RuSk
being q daughter of far-Off Norway. Two
Mrs Blaine and Mrs. Window
were teaching school when they were
married, and one-Mrs. RuSk-was her
husbands second wife. Further de-
seriptiOn makes Mrs. Blaine the tallest,
although there is barely half inch diff
ference between her and Mrs. Window.
Mrs. Noble is much the shortest. She
is only five feet. Mrs. Rusk is the
plumpest. Mrs. Tracy the oldest, Mrs.
Miller OF the slender build, and Mrs.
Wanamaker of the most perfect form.
Standing in a line at the White house
receptions. the laws of symmetry will
beobseryed. for all but Mrs. Noble are
above medium height, and a ribbon
from the presidents head TO Mrs.
Rusk'S would not have to rise or dip
much to touch Mrs. Harrison'S. Mrs.
MOrton's, or the cabinet ladies' heads.
MRS. BLAINE.
Mrs. Blaine is the best known, as the
secretary of state has so hong been
public man. An intimacy with the
illustriOuS and celebrated has made
Mrs. Blaine most admirable hostess.
and she will well fill the position of
mistress of the house which for the next
four years Will entertain more varied
guests than any house at the capitol eX-
cept the executive maasion. In appear
ance she Is imposing. and has the digni-
fed carriage of 4 tall woman who also
has the advantage OF compact build.
Her eyes are fine and dark. and her iron
gray hair. c0iffed high, makes her look
the grande dame. She is quick at repair
tee, and it takes onlya five minutes talk
to show why long ago the young school
teacher fell in love with Harriet STAN
wood, the Maine girl who so pluckily
left her home to earn living in the
South. The world knows Mrs. Blaine
as a society woman, for preveTsc hum
anity always gets well acquainted with
the superficial character of a woman,
but never word is said about her best
trait Mrs Blaine's best trait is the
brightest one in the category. She is a
good mother. The Blaine home life is
pure, noble. and intimate, and it is all
due to the fact that both father and
mother have kept it guarded from bust
ness or social encroachmentS. Fancy
sons past thirty saving at least an hour
a day to spend in their mothers
room, and yet that is the rule when the
sons of the Blaine house are home. So
blind are the whole family III their de-
vOtion to each other that nOne of
them knew that the second son.
EmmOnS. was TO marry Miss
Mccormick much before the world
learned il. Even the astute secretary
was slow to see the state OF affairs. and
he wrote to friend. saying. half humor-
Ously, half pathetically, 1--WE all knew
that Emmons had found a woman he
could place before his mother. when he
was willing to spend his last vacation
away from that mother 1t was the first
time in his life he ever spent vacation
away from home" This little bit gives
an insight into the love the tall sons
have for their mother. and it says much
for that same mothers high character.
A good mother IS nearly always Il good
housewife, and the way this dismantled
Red house on Lafayette square has be-
come a habitble mansion gives Mrs.
Blaine the second quality as much as
her sens devotion gives her the first.
Living has already begun there and
rules, which even the winters gayeties
can not infringe, have been laid down.
The family breakfast at $50 together.
no matter how late the amusement of
the night before kept them up. AttimeS
they gather together for luncheon, the
secretary of state and his son Walker
coming over from the state department.
but at 6 they always dine together and
spend an hour or two after dinner in
the Secretary's library. Until the sea-
son begins they will make up num-
berless family theater parties,
as they are fond of good
play. When asked what she would
do this winter, Mrs. Blaine said that
she would give a series of card recep-
tons aud dinners, but the times for
them would not be arranged until Mrs,
Harrison called the cabinet ladies' to-
gether to settle the dates of the seasons
official entertainments. Some time after
the New Years reception. however, she
viii give a cOming-Out party for her
youngest daughter, Harriet. All sorts
of people will be met at the Red house.
as the younger members Of the family
are especially on touch with the eX-
elusive resident and diplomatic society:
the secretary Will draw the official peO-
pie. and some one. or is il all of them.
have tinge of the Bohemian, and like
eccentric out-Of-the-Way people. Mrs.
Blaine will have her daughter-in-law.
Anita Mccormick Blaine. with her dur
ing part of the month of January.
ALI. ABOUT MRS. WINDOW.
Next to Mrs. Blaine, Mrs. Window is
the best known of the cabinet ladies, as
her husband has held many positions of
honor both in his own state and at the
capital. Mrs. Window is a iine-feat-
ured. sweet-faced woman. | wish
could describe the personnel of so charm
ing person. She is different, in a way,
from most women. Ii is not in appear-
ance, gowns. or conversation: but there
is certain courtesy that might almost
be called Window trait they all
have it. from the secretary TO the Young
daughter Florence. 1t is like the aroma
of the coffee berry, the bouquet of Old
wine. Mrs. Window is more the eldest
sister to her two daughters than the
mother. As Mrs. Blaine is the perfect
mother Tor sons, she is for daughters. The
Window house on Massachusetts ave-
nve will see. besides its receptions and
dinners, many musicales, as the eldesl