Wounded Widow

Month ago Mrs. Rose McConnell Long was called on for the first time to preside temporarily over the Senate. Last week the new Senator from Louisiana made her maiden Congressional speech, not on the Senate floor but in the privacy of a Public Lands Committee hearing. In pleasant contrast to the loud histrionics of her late husband & predecessor, it was a mild little plea for the passage of a bill to enlarge Chalmette National Historical Park, on the site of the Battle of New Orleans. "Had we not won that battle," said Widow Long of the great victory which Andrew Jackson won 15 days after the War of 1812 was over, "we would today have a British colony west of the Mississippi."

Day before Earle J. Christenberry, her secretary, issued a statement whose language sounded far less like hers than like that of Mr. Christenberry's late boss:

"Attention has been called to an article which appeared this morning in the New York Journal to the effect that Mrs. Huey P. Long is reliably reported to be engaged to remarry. I am authorized to state for Mrs. Long that no more damnable, deliberate untruth has ever been published and that unless satisfactory apology and public retraction is made, the publishers of such a story will be prosecuted."

It was natural that Senator Long's feelings should be wounded at the imputation that she might console herself so soon after the martyrdom of her husband. It was no less natural for the Hearst Press to report such a rumor about the liquid-eyed lady from Louisiana. For years her dowdy colleague, Hattie Caraway of Arkansas, has sat alone and relatively neglected in the Senate. Now Senators leaving the floor frequently pause to pass the time of day with Mrs. Long. Senators on the

Democratic side have taken noticeably more care of their personal appearance since she arrived. Such bachelors as Rush Holt of West Virginia and Richard Russell of Georgia have been seen hovering near her desk. As the best-looking Senator whom her colleagues have ever seen, she is shown special consideration on all sides. In the press gallery some ill-bred wag suggested that the parliamentary inquiry most frequently in Senators' minds is: "Will the Senator from Louisiana yield?"

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