The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1892-02-26
Especial Correspondence

Here Summarized by Robert Graves.
Especial Correspondence
WASHINGTON, Feb. 23.-We have a new
state question at the national capitals
question which attracts more attention anC
Is more generally and more earnestly dis
cussed than the tariff or the silver questions
1t is, "Shall the president of the United
States sit at the head of the table when ht
is invited out to dinner?" This great prob
lem was thrust upon us by the innovation
which Mrs Noble, wife of the secretary Of
the interior, recently made on the occasion
of dinner at her handsome home at
which the president was the chief guest
Mrs. Noble stationed the president at the
head of the table.
This innovation was not sudden freak,
but the result of careful inquiry and a
great deal of thought and consultation.
Let no one imagine that Mrs. Noble rushed
into such a striking experiment without
due deliberation. She has for a long time
had the notion that the chief magistrate
of the nation should sit at the head of the
table when dining out, and to make sure
she wrote to England and ascertained
authoritatively that the practice there was
for the sovereign always to occupy the seat
at head of table, whether in her own house
or that of another Mrs. Noble then in
quired at the state department if any good
reason was known there why the president
should not sit at the head of her table, as
would Queen Victoria while in the house
of subject, and she received the reply
that there was no rule one way or the
other, and that hostess was at liberty to
exercise her own discretion and taste. Then
Mrs Noble decided to try the new idea, and
thus it came about that the president was
q few days later somewhat surprised to
find himself at the head of Secretary
Mobiles table, with Mrs. Noble at his right
and Secretary Noble at the other end of
the board.
At once the world of society began to
wag it's busy tongue For ten days our
social devotees men and women, have
talked of little else than Mrs Mobiles new
wrinkle. 1t is needless to say that thou
sand different opinions are entertained and
expressed, and that the bold cabinet lady
has her critics as well as her champions.
At the present moment the hostile faction
clearly outnumbers the other, and at most
of the teas and receptions poor Mrs. Noble
is being hauled over the Goals in a particu-
larly lively fashion. Those who do not
like the innovation comment that it is a
disgusting imitation of English style,
which is monarchical and aristocratic and
not at all suitable for democratic America
They point out that, while it is true Queen
Victoria occupies the head of the table
wherever she goes, the custom in England
is based upon the fiction that the sovereign
is supreme in all places and all things, and
consequently cannot be permitted to &C.
cupy an attitude in the least suggesting
inferiority to any other person whatever.
On this theory the queen would by sit
ting at the right of her hostess, confess
that she did not own the house in which
the table was spread, and consequently
that she was not mistress there and was
for the time being subject sojourning in
a castle where another was ruler. This
sort of thing may be dreadfully humil-
iating in England, but it is not in ac-
cordance with American ideas.
When Queen Victoria graciously informs
a subject that she will be pleased to dine
at his table in response to an invitation
from him, her acceptance is in the form of
a command that rests upon the monarch
ical fiction that she will simply partake
of her own under his loyal attendance. In
England the host abdicates when the SOW
ereign is present. Over there they think
the queen would not be a sovereign if she
the proprietary right of the
host. The British notion about these
things is that the sovereign has ultimate |
in everything, while what the |
subject has he has only to hold and enjoy |
at her pleasure. In order to keep up this !
absurd fiction the queen must |
sit at the head of her hosts table.
Now, it happens that the president of |
the United States is not a sovereign. He |
has no ultimate property in things and |
makes no pretense toward having. 1t is |
not necessary for him to act when he goes
)ut into society on the assumption that he
las absolute mastery of the earth, that he
8 supreme everywhere and in all things,
md that he takes with him to the banquet
lall or the conversation room all the great
less of the office which he chances to fill
or period of four years. On the con-
rary, the president makes no such pre-
enses or assumptions.
This is the way the more sensible of the
men and women of Washington have talked
bout the innovation made by Mrs. Noble.
Down to this time no other lady of the cabi-
let has had the courage to follow Mrs.
Joble's example, and l have heard that
he president himself does not like the new
lyle and has quietly whispered his disap-
roval of it. AS the gossip goes in the
rawing rooms of the fashionable world
drs. Noble has not only made mistake
4 trying to initiate British royalty in free
america, but she went far beyond her
uthority in endeavoring to change social
recedence all by herself.
There is no written social law in this
ountry, it is true, and the unwritten law
as no official sanction, inasmuch as we
ave no court chamberlain or high author
y of that sort in this capital. But the
ocial precedents and customs are pretty
ell settled, nevertheless, are well under
God, have been followed for many, many
ears, and are not to be changed in day
: a night by the wife of a cabinet officer,
'timable lady and worthy hostess though
lie is. In the absence of any good reason
ny the unwritten law which prevails
nong civilized people should be changed
1d the place of honor at the hosts right be !
lifted to some other seat, Washington so
ETY. is agreed that no innovations should ;
: attempted or permitted.
As a matter of fact, the president of the !
nited States dimes out in Washington, !
1t as president but distinctly as a private !
srson, informally. He could not dine out .
II