Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-11-09


disarmed, owing chiefly to the more liberal in
fiuence and example Of Madame Romero, wife
OF the Mexican minister, whose anxiety to create
more unity between the foreign and resident
element OF the place. has met with most crafty
ing success. Realizing this prejudice upon ono
memorable occasion OF the annual breakfast
given by the secretary OF state New Year
Day to the members OF the Diplomatic corps,
during the admin ration of the late President
Arthur. Miss Frelia 3huysen, anxious to accom-
modate one or two members of the press, whose
pauers demanded exact description OF the
affair, YET hesitating TO give ofense to her
fathers guests by any invitation from the usual
rule. impressed upon the privileged ones
to keep their profession secret for the
Time. and under no consideration to betrav
themselves to those present. Realizing the i'm
portance of this advice, / entered the crowded
breakf Rstrooin with sense OF usual trepida-
ton. was very soon accosted ny a hne.lo! K
ing woman, who. with the freedom OF that
esprit de corps, which everywhere charac.erizes
all ssembages among the members, entered into
friendly converse and casually mentioned her
name as Mrs. Garter, wife OF the Hawaiian
minister. Conscious that courtesy demanded
like return on my part, i yet hesita' ed to
announce my very unforeign- sounding surname,
and, in my embarrassment. continued rather
disiointed chatter upon indifferent topics until
an opportunity offered for escape. Beating a
hasty retreat, made a solemn VOW never again
willingly TO place myself in so awkward a pre-
dica!n Mt. These experiences, however. are
eIceptionaole, anG, as a general thlng, news
paper corresDon lent in Washington enjoys
opportunities and advantages seldom if ever
obtained by persons OF other caliings
WHITE ROUSE ESPERIEEt y.
Some OF the most in portaut work of society
CORE poudents is at the White House. Nearly
every big paper in the United States has its lady
correspondent who has to describe the toilets OF
every White House reception. They tell how
the noted men and women look. anu the presi
dent and his wife have as a rule always treated
such correspondents well. During General
Grants administration special Invitations we're
given the lady reporters to come to all the White
House receptions snd they have had similar
privileges from every president since then. 1t
is quite an important thing to an administra-
tion to be we'll known over the country in n
social way, and the ladies who attend the
White House receptions would be much dsap-
pointed if their dresses were not described and
their names mentioned in their home papers.
excluding the lady corresdondents from
'hese receptions, but he fact is
that the correspondents quite as well
bred as any OF the invited guests, and in lnte!u-
gence and good manners they rank we'll up with
the most noted ladles of the land Some OF them
given the privilege of standing behind the
line of the receiving party among The members
OF the cabinet families, the ladies' of the dipo-
matte corps and other distinguished guests.
Here they par with the other ladies'
present, but it was the rule OF the last admins
tration that they must not show their notebooks
or make themselves conspicuous. As for me
memorlze the toilets By going over them and
noting them in my mind. and found that was
soon able to remember the dresses Of the differ
ent ladies down to The smallest detail Most of
the other LADY correspondents have been able 10
do the same, but at one of Presid ent Cleveland's
receptions an amateur CORE SpOnGent, probably
through ignorancs OF the rule, boldly paradeG
the h!ue room with her notebook end pencil in
her hand and asked the guests their names and
got them to describe their toilets. As
she did so President Cleveland her
and sent a door keeper to call her to Or
der. 1t is said that he intended to exclude the
ladies, but l imagine it is q mistake. Mrs.
Cleveland was very kind toward the correspond
ents and she always helped them as much as she
could. l remember one OF her receptions when
she shook hands with several thousand people.
/ stood just behind her and engaged i'll reporting
the noted callers. just at this moment dis
tinguished looking man whom did not know
pas, ed by, and a friend OF mine asked me who
Mrs. Cleveland heard me. She al once turned
around and said: Waits minute. Miss Grundy,
and / will give YOU his name Then after she
had shaken hands with the next guest she
looked brightly over her shoulder and told me
who he was. 1t was little thing but it was one
of those little things that made Mrs. Cleveland
the most popular of the mistresses of the White
House.
MRS. HARRISON AND MRS. cLrv ELAND.
This reminds me OF n ple:ssant little story that
I have Just heard about Mrs. Harrison. The
incident occurred at Mt. Vernon, and Mrs. Lewis
Washin gton family to which George belonged,
and Virginia representative lady Of the Mt. YER
non association, told it to me. Mrs. Washing
ton IS q staunch Democrat and though she is
prejudced against all Republicans, she
the reception committee when Mrs. President
Harrison first visited Mt. Vernon after her in
Harrison's manner and motherly interest. and as
she talked to her at last exclaimed. why, Mrs.
Harrison like you very much the press has
never done Won proper Justice" Gratified, vet
modest. Mrs. Harrison said, ooh. how could
they think of me in comparison with so young
land. The contrast must indeed be great
WHITE HOUSE HANDSPRING.
Mrs. Harrison first act upon assuming her
abolish promscuous hand shaking. 1t is a
question, 1 think whether she was wise in doing
so. 1t is certainly great trial for a lady to
shake the hands of 5000 people in single night,
but it makes the people happy. and in Mrs.
Cleveland's case il made her husband thousands
of friends. 1t was a daring thing to make tine
change, and some laughable things occurred at
the first reception in consequence of it, re-
member one of them. Mrs. Harrison had sue
holding of fan in one hand and bouquet in
the other, and the guests seeing that both her
hands were full, OF course did not attempt to
shake them. At last there came among the
throng q man who impulsively extended his
hands towards Mrs. Harrison and stood
waiting for her to take them. Mrs;
and bowed with sweet smile on her
face. The man was frightened and he could not
take the hint. He stood for full moment and
hand to shake. He found that every one of the
receiving party, as etiquette required, had fol.
all alive were ref died " He determined to shake never
theless and made 3 wild plunge at Mrs. Vice
President Morton. He grabbed both of her
70 ded hands. shook them heartily between his,
and then made bolt for the door. Mrs. Norton
at first frightened and then she broke into a
laugh in waich the rest OF the cabinet ladies
Joined This, however, ended all attempts at
hand shaking, and the receptions now go off
without trouble.
SOME SOCIETY EXPENSES
II is said that congressman cannot live on
les than s5Goi year in W ashington. happen
to know that 1t costs society reporter nice
round sum. l am economical as can be,
but my expenses creep up in spite OF me- In the
first place, there is the car and the cab fare.
Washington is city OF magnificent distances,
and anyone who goes into society das to travel
from one end of it to the other. over and over
again, in making calls. 1 walk when can, but
have to pay from So to Sc week during the
gay season in cab fare. A. to dress, there is
other big item. though Washington has 80 many
different people from all parts Of the world that
one can wear any sort Of a decent gown and not
be conspicuous. Then there are the gloves and
the shoes. Ones hands and feet must be well
dressed, whatever the rest OF the costume
may be. 1 find that it always pays TO wear
good gloves. And then the cards. OF course
lady correspondent must use the engraved cards,
and what a lot OF them ii does take. Five hun
drsd en- ough is nothing, and know OF some la
dies who use many thousands during the season,
and Sir Julian Pauncefote once ordered ten
thousand within two mothns As the cheapest
engraved card costs cent apiece this would
represent $50 month for cards alone. OF course
do not mean to say society reporter needs |
any such number, but they cost enough and they |
form one of the many small items which eat up |
the best part Of q very fair income.
Miss GRUMPY, JR.