Evening star., 1936-01-19
Peggy Eaton, Belle Of Jackson
Era. Attended Cunst0n's School
Recent Dinner Recalls Bitter Social
Var That Ended Only When Hus.
hand Lost Seat in Cabinet.

no less distinguished hands than
those of Mistress Dolly Madison. So
the redoubtable Peggy, accustomed
as she was to smiles and favoritiSm.
met snubs and sights with barbed
thrusts of repartee that would have
done credit to the tongue of Becky
Sharp. They amused the men. but
brought her no quarter among the
ladies of Washington.
Lines Sharply Drawn.
President jackson, recently be-
reaved of his dearly beloved wife
whose end he felt had been unduly
hastened because of unjust campaign
ISLANDERS against her and the attitude
of a none too friendly Washington.
was Mrs. Eaton's out and out cham
pion. His sponsorship of the lady In
the case simply famed the flames
of antagonism instead of diminishing
them. The social warfare divided into
| two camps with her own sex against
her and the men for her. The former
termed her "Bellona," because she
stirred strife. A masculine admirer
wrote her this ode, typical Of other
similar tributes:
Il fill my cup to one made up of
| loveliness alone,
A woman Of her sex the seeming
paragon"
President Jackson, as Helen Nicolay
so well puts it in her charming book,
"Our Capital on the Potomac" had
to learn, alas. that social quarrels
may not be handled by the high
handed methods effective in stamping
our cholera or military mutiny.
Finally the refusal Of the Danish
Ministers wife to sit beside the wife
of the Secretary of War brought this
war of danes to climax. Not only
did it necessitate the recall Of the
Minister and his spouse. but the as
signment of the Secretary Of War and
his wife to the Governors Mansion in
the not too near State of Florida.
Later Gen. Eaton was sent as our
diplomatic representative to the court
of Russia, where Mrs Eaton's in
dubitable charm had at least more
chance of expression than in the
rather sleepy atmosphere of guberna-
torial circles in the Everglades State.
From this point, the story of the
once-toasted Peggy Eaton drags on
ward into the gloom of disappointed
and chastened old age with the
relentlessness of Shakespearian
tragedy.
Attend Gunton School.
Hitherto unpublished commenta-
ries upon this selfsame Peggy Eaton
have just been made available to the
author through the further courtesy
of James Morris Woodward. His
residence, 723 Twentieth street. IA
nous because through it ran one of
the original lines of Hamburgh, Colo
nial town that antedated Washing
ton. is in the immediate neighbor-
hood of where Peggy's father had his
hotel and Peggy herself went to
school. In the original manuscript
form as transcribed by William Birth,
who was 80 years old at the time
he wrote his memoirs in December,
1900. I will let them tell their own
story in their own way.
Speaking of the I street neighbor-
hood in the vicinity of Pennsylvania
avenue at Twentieth street. where the
O'Neals lived, Mr.. Birth says:
"On the triangular public square
nearly opposite was a small market
house called the Western Market.
Directly opposite. across I street was
a fine dwelling owned by Mr.. ONeal,
tenanted for several years by Don
De Orris, the Spanish Minister.