The Washington times., 1923-02-25

Mrs! Harding received her
guests in the sunny living room
in which she has spent so much
time during her convalescence-
a room which is filled with her
personal belongings and natural
~ has much more the atnos-
phere Of home than it would be
possible to impart to the state
drawing rooms. Consequently
there was much more intimate
and coy air about the little
gathering than about any White
House function / have been
privileged to attend before. Be
sides, it was q small and
friendly party, just the little
group of women who actually
cover" White. House activities
when there are any activities to
"cover-for local and out-of-
town papers.
RELATIONS have always been
close and cordial between
Mrs. Harding and these women
upon whose pens women-yes and
men, too-alI over the country
are 50 largely dependent for their
Impressions of an administrator
In it's social and personal aspects.
Perhaps the fact that she was
herself once a newspaper wom-
an-she helped her husband estab-
lish the now historic Marion
Star on a successful basis-has
given Mrs. Harding sympathetic
understanding Of the problems
with which the women of the
press are faced, but at any rate
she has been unfailingly. helpful
and understanding.
believe every woman In the
group of correspondents feels
that the First Lady is her friend.
Certainly their sorrow was deep
and personal when Mrs. Hardings
health broke down under the ter
rifle strain Of her duties as mis-
tress Of the White House, and.
certainly every member of the
group was delighted at the op-
portunity to congratulate her
upon her recovery and to wish
her a happy holiday under the
sunny skies of Florida -
7 DON'T believe that, in gather
= ing her newspaper friends
around her, Mrs. Harding was
establishing a precedent. She has
been seeing her friends upon &C.
casion, individually and in twos
and threes, for several weeks and
she will doubtless continue to do
so. But it is not likely that she
will have any more tea parties
even informal ones, before her
departure for Florida. ~, >-:
After her return-well, Presiden-
tial plans for the days following
their sojourn in the South are on
the knees Of the gods. One thing
is certain, however-Mrs. Hard
ing's physicians will not again per-
nit her to subject weak flesh to
the demands Of her all-too-willing
spirit. And they are thanking their
stars, I suspect, that, with Con-
gress adjourned and Washington
settling down to the jog trot exist
ence Of a dull summer, there will
be fewer and fewer demands upon
the time, the interest and the SYM
pathies Of the mistress of the
White House. ,a
All worriments have, Of course,
been kept from her, so that she
could devote herself to the bust
ness of getting well. But that
hasn't been easy in the case of
patient with a mind as keen and
heart as warm as Mrs. Harding's.
And as she has grown stronger the
task has grown more difficult, so
physicians and friends of the pa.
tient are frankly glad that circum-
stances are working out in their
favor.
DRESIDENT AND MRS. HARD
ING, by the way, have Mr..
suuud Mrs. Henry P. Fletcher as
their guests for a few days. Mr..
Fletcher, our ambassador to
Belgium, is the chief Of the Amer
lean delegation to the approaching
Pan.American Congress in Chile,