Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-05-16
THE PEGGY O'NEAL'S OF
HARDING'S ADMINISTRATION
Two Women Neither Young Nor Extremely Beautiful Are Fighting
the Wires Of Diplomacy: One Has Failed, But the
Other is Scoring Success With Politicians.
FROM the New York World.

From the New York World.
American history Is the dullest ana
most uninteresting OF NIL histories. an
English writer has observed, because IN
IL there are no women to color its pages
with romance. with passion. with IN
triguc. with tho confusion women al
ways bring into society, II Baizac iH To
be believed. There are no Queens TO
rsiie a people: no u1tcrowned Queens
to exercise an influence even more
powerful than the legitimate conrort;
no Egeriaa to whom elderly statesmen
turned for advice and younger galianfs
TO be shared by their wiles and think
treason cheaply won at the price OF 2
emile. Only two women was thls
EnRiishmnn able To discover--Ann
Hutchinson, the protaEonist Of feninin-
ism. who bedeviiled the snturnine Puri-
tan elders of grim Massachusetts ana
went into Providence to play hob; and
Peggy O'Neil, who made the proper Ia
dies of Washington society Htnnd on
their heads IA most Improper attitude,
IL will be admitted, for ladies OF propfi~
ety. and broke up Iarksnn's Cabinet.
After that the curtain rings down and
American history jogs on It's drab why
1t is Washington myth devoutly heN
lievcd I'm Main street that In washing
ton woman not only rules but governsi
that women pull the strings and those
overurown children our governors
dance: that beautiful women even more
beautifully dressed-4-in the ironlc
euphemism OF the dreEsnaker and So
ciety reporter in an age when woman
is only beautifully dressed when she is
SO beautifully ndraased-fascinate the
great and tho would-be great. BY their
lures cast spells over the dispensers of
patronage and the manipulatora Of
legislation. and are able To reward their
proteges wifS appointments and promo-
tIon~. or paze an Unpopular bill they
champion or defeat a measure they np-
pose.
Similar To all other myths of sacred
and prpfane history. II is the product of
luxuriant imagination. and IL is n pity
to have to dIssbuse Main Street; but
that, however. will make no difference.
Main Street win continue To believe,
and will remain happy in Its belief. that
Washington is the home Of the original
siren and place where good men go
TO be corrupted II ia = pity the myth
In a myth only. One regetH there are
not glorious Dianas floating around. the
oonndantea Of Cabinet Minister'S and
Ambassadors. and. like the Dianas Of
fiction. fiutterinE into newspaper offices
at midnight with their magnificent
| scoops. Who wouldn't be willing to be
| bored at teas and wcaried at dinnera
| and stay until the small hours Mt dances
with that as a possible raward7 Scoops
aiasf are not p1uckcd from those
branches. Ii iH true that Mt teas and
dinners and dances lovely woman chat
| terv, bat II is merely the tinBel talk
| OF women" today as Il was in the day
of the Daughters Of Troy. and the tinael
| IL worn somewhat threadbare after II
has passed through the lips Of half a
dozen women and become common
| property. Gossip one hears in plenty
but TO most of IL can be applied sheri-
dams epitome of a speech: What Is
new isn't true. and what Is true isn't
new" washington rocks with gossip
hut petticoat government is still In Is
| infancy. am told that that article 81
faminine apparel fashion no longer
| recognizes. still. as n political symbol Il
may serve.
To the duh all things are obvious
| hut 10 the inquiring mind root Il
/ sometimes more interesting than the
flower. Petticoat government has not
vet been established I'm Washington
| the average unobservant person vii
l tell YOU the return to normalcy has
| brought no change in the social system
| OF politics, but
| There are already two rival female
| camps IN Washington. In other times