Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 January 1876 — Sacrifices of Cabinet Officers' Wives. [ARTICLE]

Sacrifices of Cabinet Officers' Wives.

Writing from Washington s corn* •pondent of the DetroijpEres Proto says y “ Allusion was made but now to those whom official position compels to make e labor of whet should be s pleasure, and in illustration I must give you some idea of what an arduous business falls to the lot of the wife of e member of the Cabinet Everyone, without limitation, is privileged to call on these ladies on their reception days, and, as custom has made the returning of all these calls obligator, when 300 additions are made to their visiting lists every Wednesday, thg labor involved in making a proper acknowledgment is easily imagined. From 1,500 to 2,500 names on their visiting list is the ordinary number. Several years ago a lovely lady, since dead, w ho then occupied one of these harassing positions, gave me some idea of her daily as her successors of the present winter are no less taxed, I will repeat her words: * I order my carriage,’ she said, ‘ for twelve o'clock every day, no matter what the weather maybe, and begin calling. Noon is a little early* to begin, but 1 have no choice, and I continue on my rounds until dark. On returning home I have no time to rest, but, changing my visiting costume for an evening toilet, I go to a “ state dinner party,” and immediately on the conclusion of the feast begin my round of gas-light receptions and balls.’ So many invitations are showered upon these ladies that they are compelled to keep a book in which to register their engagements, not daring to trust the fulfillment of them to an overtaxed memory. If anyone is amazed that ladies are willing to undergo Buch fatigue, they must remember that unpopularity is the lot of those who are not rigorous in the discharge of the duties long-established usage has attached to the places they hold in society by virtue of the official rank of their husbands. And it is not a matter concerning which the wife of a ‘Mr. Secretary’ can afford to be independent, for the unpopularity she provokes will include ner husband—yes, and the political-party he represents as well. More than one of these victims to society are martyrs to a principle, and offer themselves up on the sacrificial altar rather, than make the “Administration” unpopular. 'I he most heroic of those the Grant Administration has known is the wife of the Secretary of State, who fulfills her every social duty with a cheerful courtesy which is a perpetual surprise even to those who best know her. State dinners on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of last week, a crowded reception in the afternoon of the last-named day, and a lunch of about a dozen ladies on Thursday were a few of her home engagements, and j-et the ceaseless round of visiting went on. Nor does Mrs. Fish employ a housekeeper, but superintends all the details of her well-appointed household. Nearly all our ‘leading ladies,’ as careless reporters are apt to style them, are actively engaged in some of tile many charities a city the size of Washington is bound to support. With such a diversity of arduous duties how they find time for even a portion of the rest exhausted nature demauds is a conundrum. I for one give up promptly. That they do find some moments for recuperation is proved by the fact that they do not die or willingly resign.” ’