The New York herald., 1922-02-19
Dinners and Mrs. Asquith's
Visit Fill Washington's Week
Society at the National Capital Interested in Wife of
the Ex-British Premier and Her Discreet Talk
Which Was Disappointingly Not on Politics.

American wife-being there but 1 did
not see them. They were certainly not
in any of the boxes.
But even without them Mrs. Asquith
had large and distinguished audience,
and an audience that seemed in the
best of humors with themselves and
with the lady whom they had come out
to see-yes, and to hear For she had
found her voice and her enunciation
was so clear that no one in the audience
which crowded the National need have
missed a word
It was a rather disappointingly dis
Greet talk that she gave them. She
lodged politics on the ground that no
body could keep up with 'em" under
the coalition government; but she gave
some interesting sidelights on person
ages pretty well known on this side of
the mill pond. by reputation If not in
person; she talked little about herself,
and a little about her husband; and
filled in the chinks with anecdotes of
which she has apparently an inexhaus-
tible store. But it was really sheer
force Of personality that held her audi
ence for two solid hours.
Seen i'm the Audience.
And it was some audience.-even
if the British Embassy seemed rather
conspicuously absent. Everybody else
in Washington appeared to be there,
and seemed sufficiently entertained.
To me one of the entertaining de-
tails was the fact that William Hard.
one of the most radical of young writ
ers, should have been the man to "in-
troduce' the lady, commenting whimsi-
cally as he did it on the absurdity of
man whom few of the audience knew,
introducing woman whom everybody
knew.
T.. don't quite know what Mrs.
Asquith did with herself during her
visit Except for that dinner at the
embassy / did not hear of her going any :
where socially. unless you regard calling
on the President in his Office and former
President Woodrow Wilson in his home,
social going She did call on both OF
these distinguished gentlemen.
I heard something of an informal
luncheon for her at the Rumanian Lega-
ton on one of the two days that she was
here, but I don't know just who was
there to entertain for her. She left
Washington "Wednesday. about forty
eight hours after her arrival. headed
for Detroit, and she expects to deliver
her lecture in most of the larger and
some of the smaller cities.
The White House has been rather un-
usually. quiescent this week Mrs.
Harding has received a few ladies nearly
every afternoon but that is very mild
type of dissipation. On Tuesday after
noon she entertained a box party at the
National for the Philadelphia Orches-
tras concert. which brought out an
audience which simply packed the
theater. and which included persons OF
unusual distinction.
Mrs. Harding had with her in the
White House box Mrs Francis l.. War
rem, Mrs. Lawrence C. Phipps, Mrs.
Henry Prather Fletcher. Miss Laura
Harlan and Miss Josephine Patter.
Occupying the adjoining box was Mrs.
William Howard Taft with a party OF
friends. Over the way Mrs. Marshall
Field entertained party which included
Mrs. Nicholas Longworth, Mrs. Theo.
dore Roosevelt, Mrs. Warren Delano
Robbins and others: Prince and Princess
Cantacuzene and Mrs. Frederick Dent
Grant were among Mrs. Calderon Car
isles guests, and others in the boxes
were Mrs. Willard Salisbury, Mrs
James r. Mann. Mrs. Ira Copley and
Mrs. Robert Lansing.
President Goes GoIfng.
That same afternoon the President
blue moon" or "a month of Sundays" :"
or whatever may be your favorite way
of expressing it. Having sent a secret
service fan out to see whether his IA
vorite golf links were in working order
he went out-five miles further from
the Capitol and the bonus discussions
which are driving the White House and
Capitol Hill equally mad. played eigh-
teen holes. thereby opening officially
the golfing season of 1922.
Probably Mr.. and Mrs. Harding are
rather saving their energies for next
week, when they will have the last Of
the big receptions-that for the army
and navy-which is quite likely to be
one of the biggest. 1t is generally re-
garded as. next to the diplomatic, the
most desirable-the 'prettiest," because
or the uniforms and gold braid dis
played-to say nothing of the brave
showing of medals and orders II will
bring forth.
For it is usual for man to wear
all he's got at formal White House
functions, and this is the first White
House reception for officers of the army
and navy since the world war, and many
of them are wearing more orders and
medals of one sort or another than most
of them realized existed. They saw. for
instance, that Major-Gen. Douglas Nc
Arthur when he married Miss Joui~e
Cromwell Brooks down at Palm Beach
last Tuesday wore the Distinguished
Service Medal and the Distinguished
Service Cross of his own country: the
French Legion of Honor and the Croix
de Guerre. the Belgian Order of Leopold
and the Italian War Cross Which is
doing pretty well. but it isn't a circum-
stance to what some of those who saw
more active and more prolonged over
seas service are wearing NOWADAYS
when In full dress.
Evidently the demand for cards-I
had almost said "tickets"-to that re-
ception has been unwontedly heavy
for the announcement that the list was
closed was made rather longer before
the event than has been usual And the
President and Mrs. Harding are plan
ming another reception next week-one
for the delegates to the American Bar
Association, which will be holding ses-
sion here next week. 1t is to be an after
noon reception next Friday--and ladies
the ladies who have come on with hus.
bands or fathers or brothers who are at
tending the convention--are included.
There's going to be lot OF entertain
ing for those Bar Association people
and they arc going to do some on their
own account.
IL seems curious to be having so nota-
ple u gathering of lawyers at time
when the Secretary of State and Mrs.
Hughes are away-for certainly there Is
no more eminent lawyer in the country