e news. Thus Mrs. Royall not only became the
mother of American women journalists, but absolutely the pioneer of that
long line of society reporters who were to become in later days such an
accepted and welcomed feature of the social world. The office of the
_Huntress_ was on Capitol Hill, and the paper was published every
Saturday; it was eagerly welcomed by society, which up to that time had
found its doings sadly neglected in the columns of the journals. Finding
the innovation received with a warmth which left no doubt of its
popularity, it was adopted by Nathaniel Parker Willis in his letters to
the New York _Mirror_, and by James Gordon Bennett in his correspondence
to the _Courier_; but Mrs. Royall had the honor, if honor it be, of
leading the new movement in journalism. Sooth to say, Mrs. Royall was
more progressive than talented in such matters; her pen pictures of the
chief components of Washington society showed a distressing sameness,
the women whom she favored being always described as of great beauty,
having faces of the classic oval, their hair raven or golden in hue, and
forms that rivalled that of Venus, while the men were "giants of
intellect, with penetrating eyes and expansive brows." Nor was she more
restrained in her reprobation than in her admiration, or truer to fact;
and John Quincy Adams, when he described her as "the virago-errant in
enchanted armor," dealt with her to the full as gently as she deserved.

Her paper ran a longer course than might have been expected under the
circumstances; and, in 1847, it contained an announcement which is
significant both of the pride of sex in the writer and the growth of
prominence among American women in certain lines, when in February of
that year it announced: "Washington City has been honored with the
presence of three of America's most talented authoresses: Mrs. L. H.
Sigourney, Mrs. A. L. Phelps, and Mrs. Ann S. Stephens." The fame of the
last named of this trio has not survived; but the names of the other two
are still known, even if their works are neglected.

The administration of President Harrison brought little addition to the
normal gaiety of Washington; but that of President Tyler was in some
respects the most brilliant from a social standpoint that the capital
had known. Mrs. Tyler's health prevented her from taking the lead in
social functions; but her two daughters, Mrs. Lightfoot Jones and Mrs.
Semple, admirably filled her place, aided by M