The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-03-19
MAKE YOUR CHOICE.
Women Who May BE the Next White
House Lady.

Women Who May BE the Next w mite
House Lady
In spite of the fact that so many presi-
Dental possibilities are widowers or bach
elors, there are nearly a dozen women who
may yet shine in the White House and
whose position in society is well fixed.
In most cases the mistress of the White
House has practically been unknown IN
til election and has been drawn from the
retirement of home to take first place In
the ranks of brilliant society.
The wealthiest of the women who may
preside at the White House as mistress are
Mrs. Brice, Mrs. Morton and Mrs. Cleve-
land. The first came into fortune gradu-
ally, sharing her husbands successful ca
reer. The second was great heiress when
she married Mr.. Morton and still enjoys
a large income of her own independent of
her husbands millions, and Mrs. Cleve-
land is the wife of rich husband, for it
is an open secret that the president by in
vestment and real estate rises has increas-
ed his fortune to the six figure mark.
The least known of all the wives of pos
sible presidents is Mrs. Thomas B. Reed,
who is said to dislike the society of Wash
ington. But Mrs. Reed says this is mis-
take. The fact is that having lived SO
long at the capital she has grown acous-
toned to its gayeties and has learned to
take them toned down instead of high
pitched. The wives of the judges of the
supreme court take Washington's winter
social whirl in the same way that Mrs.
Reed takes it-temperately.
The career of Mrs. Dimmiok has been
public one since she went to visit at the
White House for months at time during
"Aunt Carries time. She came of a fine
family, and her short married life was a
gay one. She is perhaps the beauty of the
White House possibilities, unless one fam
oies the youthful matronliness of Mrs.
McKinley's face. Mrs. Dimmick, who
will soon be Mrs. Harrison, is not oonsid-
cred fully ''out of the race Washington
will see her as a brilliant lady, if not as
its first lady.
The brilliancy of the Washington win
tiers, with either Mrs. Calvin S. Brice or
Mrs. Morton in the White House, would
be without question. Both rnatrons would
bring marriageabIe daughters to the White
House, with the probability of White
House wedding, and both are fond of
young society and brilliant entertain
ments. The late Mrs. William 9. Whitney
was the only other Washington hostess
that ever had the means to realize her
cial ambition, and this she did in way
that has become historic.
Last summer Mrs. Brioe paid for her
Newport villa a rental of $40, 600, her
landlord being William Waldorf Astor.
One of her entertainments, when she had
the fortune tellers, the dancers, the tab
leaus and the garden party all at once, is
said to have cost close to $50, 600, and dur
ing the season she easily spent $500, 600 in
entertainments. She considers this the
proper way of paying back to the people
her husbands millions. In the White
House her reign would be one of unsur-
passed Gayety and lavish expenditure.
The Washington rumor that Mrs. Levi
P. Morton had directed real estate agent
n hold har WASHINGTON rPci6onr0
renting 1t until further orders, may OF
may not signify that Mrs. Morton intends
to occupy it another winter, either as the
first lady of the land or as a Washington
resident.
The Eve Morton daughters and their
maids and friends would fill the White
House to the doors and crowd out the
presidents secretary. A private residence
would be a necessity with Mrs. Morton.
Personally she likes to maintain private
establishment.
Mrs. Mckinley would be considerable
White House hostess in spite of her invalid
ism. She has always held receptions reg
ularly and keeps herself surrounded with
young women in lieu of the daughters she
has not. She is a lavish hostess, spending
much upon her friends, and she is a very
diplomatic one.
The fact that Mr.. Allison and Mr.. Hill
ere the one a widower and the other a
of picturing the first lady under either
regime. If either were elected, his life
would not be worth living until he selected
a wife. And he should have to select q
young and beautiful woman for a White
House marriage. People would dearly
like to see the Cleveland romance repeated.
Both Hill and Allison are cheerful enter
tanners.
There are other good hosteeses among
the possibilities. Mrs. Carlisle has often
declared that she entertains to the limit of
her pocketbook. Mrs. Lamont, not al
together improbable White House conjec-
ture, is less of an entertainer than Mrs.
Carlisle, but has greater wealth.
1t is probable that the next White House
mistress will be no stranger to politics and
the ways of politics. Last week Mrs.
Morton took her place upon the floor of
the senate, in Albany, and talked with the
senators in favor of reform school meas
ure. Mrs. Reed has decided views on po-
litical economy and free trade. Mrs. Car
isles influence in the campaigns of for
mer years has been considerable and both
Mrs. Brice and Mrs. Dimmick have lent
their names in support of semipolitical
measures.
The next lady of the White House will
not have to take lessons in Washington
etiquette and the laws of precedence. Nor
will she need to order a full new wardrobe.
With one new robe for the Inauguration
ball any of the White House lady POSSIBLE
tiles will be fully ready to start in upon
the important social duties of the presi-
DENTS wife.-New York Journal.
That sense of extreme WEAKNESS indi-
Nof nrda