The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1921-10-30


fell swoop destroyed that dread
bugaboo Of women in oficial life
in washington-the business OF
paying calls? It looks that way and
II tbs true. the ONO al women GER
tainly owe her q debt Of gratitude
for lessening the stress of their
social duties. Then this year be-
cause of the extra social obliga-
items sure to fall upon their Shout
ders because of the arms confer
ence. any tightening of the burden
10 doubly welcomed by official wo-
men About a week ago Mrs. Hard
Ing entertained at a tea at the
White House when her guests in
cluded only the ladies OF the Cab
met and the ladies Of the Senate.
a particularly interesting occasion
arranged In order that the ladies'
of those two official bodies could
get acquainted with each other on
the one occasion and consider that
the ladies' of the Senate had called
upon the ladies' of. the Cabinet and
had their calls returned As some
one expressed II. they. by thar
function. had called collectively, in
q bunch as IL were, don't you know.
and In a few pleasant hours had
accomplished what would other
wisS have taken days and days Of
time and strength that they need
for other matters.
CABINET WIVES CALLS
ARE VERY NUMEROUS.
demand that the ladies Of the SEN
O.. uaA ~ p
met and the formers feelings are
hurt II a lady of the Cabinet falls
TO return their calls And the Sen
ate has grown much larger since
social etiquette and precedence
was first established. 1t makes the
number of calls the Cabinet wo-
men. who are only ten in number
have to make very large indeed
Then there are many other ofdcfal
calls the Cabinet women have &c
make In addition to those upon the
ladies of the Senate, not to mention
all of the ladies in residential sets
In social life who call upon the Of
fetal women and who expect to have
their calls returned In the last few
years as the oficial and diplomatic
set here grew and grew the Cab
met hostesses found that IL was
next TO impossible to return any but
the officials calls that just had to be
made. When Mrs. Lansing headed
the Cabinet circle of women she
attempted to tighten the burden by
having all the Cabinet women re-
ceive together occasionally. But
Mrs Harding's effort seems to b.
solution of the calling problem
which Is getting to be more and
moro of q nightmare. 1t is nothing
for a Cabinet hostess to have q
b thousand callers In an afternoon
and after numerous afternoons. yoJ
can get an idea of what II would
mean II she had to call upon every
one who called upon her. 1t woult
be q physical impossibility. even
II she had nothing else in the
world ito do. But most of them
have not even tried to accomplish
anything so ridiculous for a few
years now.
There Is q rumor afioat that the
~Cabineteers" will not keep oper
house at all this winter: will dc
away with their wednesday after
Moons At home. hardly think that
can be true for II would be a tact
less thing for the oficial leaders
oL ucDlOCIaAAC uaL4Oh " L hr
open door In Washington has been
a charming institution and It would
be too bad. according TO my way
of thinking, to do away with IT.
And certainly never has the White
House door been opened wider &c
the public than now. Practically
any one within reason who wants
to see Mrs. Harding can manage
t. And Of course in the past any
one who desired to. could call upon
any or all the oficial women or
their days at home. Now, as said
there Is q rumor that those days al
home are to be aboIished-but I don't
believe It. Perhaps the offiicial wo-
men will not receive every Wed
nesday as IN the past which would
be rather sensible, I think, but
surely they will all have some day.
when the public can pay their re-
spects-
BETTER THAN CALLS
To GET ACQUAINTED.
At the party Mrs. Harding ar.
ranged as the first step in this ef-
fort to solve this calling problem
the ladies all had q fine opportunity
to see and talk with each othei
and get acquainted; just as good