The Washington herald., 1918-02-03

the Southern, always one of the
largest of the winter, which will start
the weeks activities tomorrow night;
and one for the Episcopal Home for
Children to wind them up on Satur-
day-the President and Mrs. Wilson
expect to be present, Mrs. Wilson
heading the list Of patronesses for
both.
The Southern Relief Is always one
of the big balls Of the winter. pre-
ceded by innumerable dinners. with
which, fortunately, neither food nor
fuel embargoes are likely to interfere.
For the fact that Monday Is heatless
does not hit either hotels or private
houses-and II has recently been
added as a second "wheatless," hasn't
II? Do you suppose those poor South
erners will have to serve their be-
loved con pone at all those bang-up
formal dinners, or will they Just say:
Fen everything, our dinners were
announced before your old wheatless
Monday" and suggest that Mr..
Hoover look the other way just for
once.
Saturday nights ball for the Epis-
copal Home will probably draw its
patronage largely from what WASH
ington knows as the resident" set.
as distinguished from the official. Its
floor committee Is made up almost
entirely of the brides and buds Of this
and recent seasons-the Noyes con-
tingent, the Blairs, Mrs. Robert Taft,
who was Martha Bowers; Virginia
Mackay-Smith; Kathleen Bester. one
of the most popular of the seasons
buds and the first to announce her
engagement; Maxwell Church; Louise
Thoron. another of this years buds;
Carolyn Nash. who is studying nurs-
ing in Philadelphia hospital to mt
herself for war work and only gets
home for an occasion Weekend; the
two Leisure girls. former Speaker
Cannon's two attractive granddaugh-
ters. and Louise Delano, who. though
by right of her fathers position on
the Federal Trade Commission really
belongs with the official set, but who
has always preferred to flock with the
rather exclusive residential crowd
that has a marked penchant for diplo-
mats.
Little Mrs. Newbold Noyes, who is
at the head of the committee. was,
as Alexandra Ewing, one of the early
bellies Of the administration. And the
present commodious building occupied
by the Home was put up by Mrs.
Ewing as a memorial to her mother,
the late Mrs. William F. Corcoran.
1t is, like the Episcopal Eye, Ear
and Throat Hospital, whose ball Mrs.
Wilson ''patronessed" early in the
season. one of the Episcopal Church
in which she was in
long before she became Mrs.
Wilson.
It was, by the way. something OF
a surprise to Washington to learn
that the First Lady had given UP
her pew at st. Margarets, and that
hereafter, when she and the Presi-
dent attend an Episcopal Church at
all, It would be st. Johns, where
they would occupy what has been
known since the church was built.
over a century ago, during the Mon
roe administration. as "the Presi-
dents pew" Mrs. Wilson had been
a member Of St Thomas's Church.
for many years. until a little while
before her marriage to the President,
when she took a pew at st. Mar
garet's. II was the rector OF that
church who performed the marriage
service. when she married the Pres
ldent, and since then she has fire.
quently attended service there, the
President going with her when she
did not go with him to the Central
Church-so called prob
ably because It IL q couple Of miles
from the center of the city, beyond
The top Of the Sixteenth street hill
Probably she has attended the
Church with him twice
for once that he has attended the
Episcopal Church with her; but then,
he is an elder in his church. and
she is a dutifuI wife. At ST. Mar
garet's their pew was never marked
otherwise than by modest card
plate which read Hon. woodrow
Wilson," which has been missing from
L this season. Immediately behind
L was the pew occupied by Mrs.
Wilson'S mother, sister and brother,
Mrs. Boiling, Miss Bertha Boiling,
md John Randolph Boiling.
Why the change? Perhaps merely
because st. Johns Ii handler; or, per-
iaps, because OF a very human feeling
hat she'd like, since she is the First
Lady, to occupy what has been the
First Lady's pew In that historic |
.hurch for more than 100 years. There |
vas no particular reason for the |
,hange from st. Thomas to st. Mar
yaret's. Mrs. Gait had gone to st.
Thomas because the Galts all went |
here. Her frst husband had been
me Of the vestrymen, and she had |
,een identified with It from the time |
hat she FIRST came to Washington as !
! bride. She continued there from |
orce Of habit, apparently, for years, |
hough her own family were An mem
,ers of st. Margaret's. Finally, she
lecided to Join her own people and
hanged to st. Margaret's-both
hurches being about equally handy
o her former home in Nineteenth
treet.
Without any one reaiizing that Mrs.
wilson had forsaken st. Margaret's, II
N r<<<~o L.. IfS&1>