The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1923-07-11

80 A1+hNR " Ahb1 ''AHAA( - 1890
question of to whom belongs precedence
In line and as to who shall call ON
whom first"
There never was any politics In
Washington society, that 10, In the In
terchanges of those polite amenities
which make for sociability and the
ordinary pleasant run of the stream OF
social intercourse. Into troubles over
questions of precedence and who
should call first partisan matters never
entered. Republican women and the
Democratic women in one circle were
shoulder to shoulder In their determi-
nation not to let the women of another
circle lord, or rather lady, 1t over
them. Now, however, things are
settled and the only ripples on the
otherwise placid surface of the social
waters are such as are caused by the
determination of a few women of note
In official life to write letters to the
papers and to say some things which
their sisters do not like.
In the years past things were diff
ferent, and 1t may be in the years to
come things will be different again,
for history shows there never was a
peace which finally was not broken
by the recurrence of war.
Precedence Row Not Long Ago.
1t was not long ago that trouble be-
tween the women of the official circle
In Washington attained a national i'm
portance. Newspapers of the country
were full of the precedence row."
while the local papers carried the sto-
ries of the heartburnings and the fric-
tionsson their first pages under head
lines properly called at the time
screaming"
There was a falling out between the
cabinet ladies' and the house la
dies" Some of the greater news agen-
cies, generally discriminating. dis
seminated the information through
every state that Mrs. Treasury, Mrs.
Interior, Mrs. Agriculture and the rest
did not call upon Mrs. First District,
Mrs. Second District and Mrs. Third
District, as 1t was of course entirely
right that the "Mesdames Districts"
should call first.
Chairs in the cabinet are the seats
of the mighty, but the nightly are
lowly to those who sit presiding at the
cabinet home fresides. The ladies Of
the house of representatives wanted
to know who created the cabinet, and
hen they answered for themselves:
Congress-" They asked If the ere
ated were greater than the creator,
which meant, of course, should the
wives of the created hold themselves
greater than the wives of the creator?
They had q fine time of it in Wash
ington with the odds in favor of the
house wife as against the cabinet
wife, because, so to speak, she out
numbered her sisters something like
fifty to one.
The ladies of the house won out
and the ladies of the cabinet finally
agreed that, Notwithstanding the fact
that the number of the house ladies
made calling a great task, they would
90 to it with smiles Oh their faces
and with real affection in their hearts.
Personalities Caused Trouble.
Ructions of this same general ma
ture continued through the years in
Washington n after the other, and
it Is only recently that the troubled
waters have become pondlike. The
ladies really have had many a sad
time Of 1t In the of1cial-social circles
of Washington because personalities,
always TO be avoided In w~ell-regulated
! official circles, have crept from time
to time in the teacup discussions, and
n frequently heard such things as,
when she lived in Bethuneville she
was not so high and mighty" and 81
always knew if her husband got a
place she would throw her head back
and do a lot of forgetting"
Men of the cabinet, men of the
house, men of the judiciary and men
of the enate knew all about these
rows, and menlike, they refused at
first to have any part in them; but
sooner or later-for where there is a
woman there always is a way-they
had to take part in them.
Women whose husbands merely
were representatives of the people,
were in the habit of saying that about
half of the women whose husbands
were representatives only on appoint
i've power were once upon a time them
selves the wives of representatives,
and that therefore they should not for
get the rock from whence they were
hewed nor the pit from which they
were digged.