Evening star., 1914-12-20

mere many years earller tndn tnoSe
noted. married d Georgetown girl. a
Miss Williams. His Legation home was
on Georgetown Heights. and 1t Is re
corded of him that he gave balls every
night for three weeks. and II was at
the end of these prolonged festivities
that he asked this lovely girl to marry
him. having admired her most among
his guests. He and she have long since
rested in Oak Hill cemetery.
! one does not hear anything this win
ter of precedence or who shall make
the first call for outside OF the par
iticular situation brought about by the
! war. the financial stringency and "A
I Discrimination for enjoyment when so
many are suffering elsewhere. these
| bughears ON which columns are writ
ten just often are not likely to
! seriously troubl" ANYBODY during the
rest of this administration. 1t has
all been satisfactorily :hreshed out to
| the general agreement and the entire
discussion is at Al! umes :" un-American
can that there is seldom any good
I reason for ITS revival.
| Elt what lively times these details
of official nolite life have caused. one
| Of the clev"rest politicians in petit
! coats the capital has known III late
| years asked an old friend here when
the head Of her household had been
elevated I" d high position: Tell me
| all YOU remember goes with this job.
| don want to miss anything. Well.
I she went right in for the privileges
I
I body liked her there was not an honor
which had ever been given family
! in Il similar position but what was
/ freely offered her and with all the
others thrown i'll over which there had
ever been Il wrangle. There few
! basic laws back of the precedence
question. order and ID proper recoSni-
tion OF rights. but there is also a
larger question answered, when a fine
courtesy gives Way to the stranger
within the gates and a friend is made
instead of a foe
After the creation Of ambassadors
our foreign troubles over precedence
began. MI. Hobart then Vice Presi-
dent. considered the honor of his po-
sition and demanded the first call. and
ms course was sustained by the Presi-
dent and his advisers in official eti-
auette. it was 50 stated at the time.
The ambassadors. headed by Sir Julian
Pauncefote. yielded gracefully after the
presentation of this action to their re-
SpectlVe governments, and the point
was made for all time. or at least our
time.
The next generation or two. with
different conditions. may have other
ways of looking at it. The point with
us is that the ambassadors are the
only individuals. always excepting the
President and Vice President, whose
priority is established in their mingling
with american society, official or
otherwise. We may not ask ambassa-
doris to meet" anybody any more than
you would the chief executive With
our own official body. no such settle
ment has been reached or is it likely
ever will. There is hardly point
which is not debated at times. with
each side presenting so many good
points that tine situation would be-
come more complicated if good sense
and kind feeling did rot prevail
This is how the calling has worked
out since the passage OF the presi-
Dental succession bill. The Vice Pres
IdeDts wife gets all first calls and may
or may not return them. but at the
present time does so most punctiliouslv
The cabinet women make first calls on
the ambasSadresses and on the Su-
preme Court and Senate families and
if they subscribe to the precedence of
calling round. But the cabinet women
need not return their calls. save by
card. though as matter of fact they
nave nearly always done so, and the
present group in particular has not
considered it duty, but a pleasure
he supreme Court families await each
winter the first call of all official
households and senator's wives have
no must hanging over them after
the ambassadress and the Supreme
Court visits
Now and then. when Speakers of the
House have found all the work they
wanted IN the duties of the position,
the question of social precedence has
lapsed in Importance, as during the
present time. The present Speaker and
MS wife are entirely democratic, and
proved It by making their daughters
debut party open to all Who cared 10
partake of their hospitality last New
Year But there have been others who
were not as amiable on the question
Cnless precedence was accorded Speak
ef henderson, and that meant foIIOwinp
only the Vice President if he happened
TO he present. the invitations were re-
fused, according to many published
statements at the time. His ruling was
accepted, was that of his succesSor
who, while attaching all historicaJ i'm
portance to the head of the table as
being where McCiregor Sits did not
let any serious encroachments on his
rights happen more than once At the
same place or board
MISS Bayard took the place of her
mother In the receiving line at the
White House during the Cleveland
nrst term. and after her death the
State-Miss Florence Bayard-stood
next to Mrs. Cleveland on similar oc
"a "a asions. The point was also made for Miss
roger. when her father was Secre-
.drs OF the Treasury The necessity
Tor ruling such as these has moi
come up since, but the chances are if
u affected a forcible person the re-
suits would be the same
Inc precedence of the married woman
over The young and single one 10 a,cn
orally established. but when the rniin.
was made 1t had only reference. 10
Specihc instances III the diplomatic
circle and may not occur again in this
generation. 1t resulted in a seating
|oi guests at White House diplomatic
dinner in having the married niece
ol an ambassador who presided for
MN follow the wives of the ministers
Everybody knows that there are no
customs associated in the public mind
win the RESIDENTS office that he
may not change if he so desires Ono
OF Inc un"ritten laws was that a
irtsldcnt could not enter a foreieu
| embassy or legation. stin the skies did
not fail when Mr. Roosevelt called nj
tue British embassy to innuir. for
Lord Paucefote during his last iIIness
anu at the GERMAN embassy when
Prince Henry was Il guest there.
= ::
| here was probably no young wonna,
ever In Washington society whose car
aroused the ad-
| Lady Curzon. Who mration of her
Was Now, Ia;%ar o w n country
that of Englan nd,
| mo winch she married, and of India
where she had almost royal honors-as
L