The Washington herald., 1922-01-29
Conference Missions Add.
To Seasons Social Gayety
Monday Seems Busiest Day for Receptions and
Dinner Parties Cabinet Officials
Widely Entertained. =

4
members OF Congress from all
parts of the country reside
there and their wives were at
home together" custom they
adopted several seasons ago. They
will repeat the entertainment on
February Is and %.
A group of Senators wives re-
siding at the New willard. received
together last Thursday afternoon IN
the same way, and also on Thurs
day a group of the ladies OF the
Washington delegation in Congress
received together at the Congress
sional Club.
Little birds have been whispering
much lately about the Postmaster
General going into the movies being
a political move; that through them
he would spread much Republican
propaganda and so forth. and { sec
now that the word has reached the
ears OF some in Congress. j wish
someone would whisper in the ears
Of some OF the members OF the Cabi-
net and their wives and other officials
about what their social secretaries
are doing to them-''getting them 10
bad" as a small boy would say. For
a social secretary can do more damage
in a few days than their poor un-
suspecting employers can undo in an
official lifetime. So often people
new to Washington's oficial life
suddenly find themselves one Of its
leaders and totally ignorant OF their
oficial duties and obligations, place
themselves in the hands OF an equal
ly ignorant and inexperienced social
secretary-I mean ignorant and in
experienced as far as the ways OF
official social life at the Capital are
concerned and their duties and the
duties OF their employer-and the
first thing they know-whlch Is
usually too late-there are serious
complications. And II seems that so
many social secretaries. when they
first undertake that work. overcstl-
mate their own Importance; take
themselves entirely too seriously;
are frequently most amusing.
As there are so many good eX-
perienced social secretaries in Wash
inGton. why will hostesses, and par
ucularly the new Official hostesses.
trust themselves TO Creenhorns? It
Is such a mistake, For example, an
experienced secretary can impress the
Cabinet hostess with her duties as
such towards the public. for the
minute she becomes a Cabinet hostess
she becomes A public servant, as Il
were, just as her husband does when
he enters the Cabinet But some OF
them overlook that standpoint en-
tirely and often refuse to give infor-
nation OF their entertainments and
such to the taN-payers because they
don't want to. Well, the public is in
terested in their movements and as
they want TO know. it is the public's
Fy~gT =
have no right to refuse them any
| information OF an oficial nature
5 Often making this mistake, the wife
{ of a Cabi net man Will become quickly
} unpopular. often with serious far
e reaching results, which have even
4 been known TO AFFECT their husband 8
| political careers Then an abrupt
= iIa1able social secretary also fire.
r quenuy makes his employer unpop-
i ular. She Is blamed for her secre-
$ tary's rudeness usually. Members
!, OF this Cabinet could take a few
:. hints from Mrs. Harding. who un-
ders:ands her duties and obiIga-
: tions as a member Of Official society
, life perfectly ana fildus all OF her
= social duties perfectly. Mos. " the
: members OF the Cabinet circle don't
need any hints. however Of any
: sort. but several OF them do and
t they particularly need to know what
< their social secretar!rs are doing IN
I them. And they are not the FIRST
: officials TO make these mistakes by
: any means
/, Social events - Washington are
: as thick as peas in a pod. but not
often IS an opportunity afforded for
! the sharpest wits in our community
? TO whet upon an intelligence and
: personality OF the quality Of Mrs
Z Asquith. who is due 10 land In New
= York today. Nobody wants to
4 strike fire at dinner. particularly,
but II anybody should happen Il
: have the impulse the visit OF this
most interesting woman should fur
nish a flint worthy OF any steel
, hereabouts.
, Her American publisher is cele-
brating her arrival by bringing out
. a popular edition OF her famou,
"Autobioeraphy," as we'll Is a new
edition OF Mr.. Bensons "Dodo." a
book which astonished the natives
), in England quarter century
I ago. OF which she was the unde-
J niahle heroine. In years no volume
] Of personal comment and self-reve-
lation has evoked such torrents
Of suggested and suggestive criti-
cism and rejoiner as her Auto
, biography" has aroused: Central
African savage would feel the sting
: and stimulus OF her flashing pen
its effect upon what some persons
. call an ovCrCivilizcd world has been
instant and unique.
Among its important details
, none is better worth attention than
? the meager space given 10 her note
. OF The Souls" A circle OF the '96s
, in England. which was formed as
a protest against the Smart Set
Of that day clustered around New
, market and the Prince OF wales
Arthur Balfour was the most dis
tinguished member, as well as one
OF the most brilliant. and he once
, remarked: NO history Of our time
; will be complete unless the in
? fluence OF The Souls upon society
: Is dispassionately and accurately re-
, corded" Margot is nothing II not
dispassionate and probably accurate
= enough"
The imminence OF MsrEot. an un'
; shrinking soul all alone about IL
. explore the spacious possibilities OF
the American republic. is a fact tC
he noted even in a time full Of in
Cident. or even OF calamity. Mrs
, Asouith, NOW on the bounding bill
lows, is not the person to be
: daunted even by the chewing gum
signs in Longacre- She has seen
, men and customs in England and
many other lands: she will not fail
tn he entertained here by others be