The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-02-24

ues. conditions ana customs is her
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 Cabinet Wives
 There is always breathless pause before the announcement of new cab inet. The men and the politically minded women may be intensely inter ested in the capability of the chosen, but most of the women !. :, well, they are just dying to get glimpse of the wives. What is she like? Is she : smart or dowdy? Is she bee or . butterfly? Does she scratch or mere ly purr? Oh, I've heard them, over and over again.
 Of course the difference between cab inet and congress is the difference be- tween the select and the elect.
 The cabinet folk escape the travail of an election campaign yet on the re. suit of the election depends cabinet se- lection. Cabinet rank often falls to a good political campaigner but defeat is not personal affair, it belongs to the party.
 After an election there is a wave of great expectancy. Afraid lest oppor- tunity knock and find them absent, crowds flock to Washington. A cab inet is chosen and the personnel of staff must be appointed. Loyal party men buy tickets for the early doors, !; and wait i. and wait.
 Sometimes they wait until their mod est capital is all gone. I have even known them actually to sleep in the parks. Optimists, during those early months of readjustment, they hoped that some niche might be found, in recbmpense for loyal party service rem dered.
 Army And Navy Club Hobbies
 Washington is crowded with people who have served q term in cabinet, Congress or some official capacity and refuse to quit. They have become like barnacles on the keel of the capital. Once they have tasted official life, nothing else will suffice.
 You know the Army and Navy club. That's full of retired colonels and ex- admirals, who cling closely to the cap ital. Most of them have got hobbies ,. now: patent armament--a new gun de . vice-a submarine attachment. Prob ably it won't work, but it is theme for lively discussion at the club and what more could you want? They are quite harmless, and not heard of ex- cept when they want a few millions appropriated to develop patent scheme to revoiutionize war. However, they are easily sileuced
 But the ex-congressman He is an other proposition. A cabinet appoint ment seems the Mecca-or perhaps a diplomatic post.
 Take the secretary of state and Mrs. Hughes-they lead very simple lives. With age, MT. Hughes grows more gem ial. He has abandoned the clerical cut of his whiskers, which now as- sume more international proportions: {: they savor of diplomacy, fringed set ting for peaceful policies.
 Mir. and Mrs. Hughes are. rather dis 2 tinguished looking but I believe the : Lansings were the most decorative peos pie we had for a long time. With John Barrett standing smilingly blandly on 7 the broad marble steps of the Pan l American building, and MT. and Mrs. :. Lansing, America made mighty good !. showing.
 Do you remember how partial Mrs. Lansing was to silver lace? She cer- tainly had good taste in dress.
 Mrs. Hughes is eight degrees removed from the original Mayflower passenger list. Yes, really and truly. I know {, that ship was much overcrowded but I think she has a label off their lug gage or a souvenir spoon or something to prove the verity of the statement. Not that anyone would doubt Mrs. Hughes word. She's not that kind. Her Christianity isn't veneer. She eis a regular churchgoer but she doesn't leave her principles in the pew for Sunday exercise only. 4,
 Whistlers and Rembrands
 Somehow Mrs. Hughes always re- minds me of Sunday afternoon, quiet, peaceful, serene. She doesn't get hur- ried or Hurried. There is a gracious calm about her, yet at the same time, , lack of ardor, perhaps a trifle, too self disciplined.
 Her father was Judge Carter, friend of Whistler and many other artists, the possessor of 50 Whistler etchings and a Rembrandt or two. Of course, she couldn't miss heritage like that.
 The judge had another hobby, col- lCttAh8 pkVtn3SAuS yOuuB law Stuucute. If he found one hampered by financial difficulties, he would invite him to read law in his own office. Why, more than hundred men, now eminently successful, owe their early start to the judge.
 And one of these is the present sec retary of state. Te judge liked young Charles Evans Hughes and it was with perfect confidence that he handed over his daughter, Antionette, to the young ernor of New York.
 If there's anything annoys Mrs. Hughes, it is that people should mis- understand her husband:
 He isn't austere," she protests. irHe