Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1902-04-26

white house, and is pointed out to Wis
itors who are taking in the sights.
There the late Calvin S. Brice and
Mrs. Brice dazzled the capital with
their splendid entertainments when
Mr.. Brice was a senator from Ohio.
Forty years ago it was occupied by its
owner, W. W. Corcoran, whose sympa-
thies were with tire south when the
war came on and who discreetly leased
it to Great Britain as legation in or
der to save it from conf1scation by the
federal government. In the commo-
dious garden which runs back from
H street, Lord Lytton, then an attache
of the legation, under the pseudonym
of ''Owen Meredith wrote Lucille"
In Paris, where she has spent nearly
all of her life, the aesthetic in most
things is developed to the highest de-
gree; yet Mrs. Depew is genuinely en-
thusiastic over the American capital.
To ascertain her impressions of Wash
ington, writes a Kansas City Star cor
respondent, I called at the Corcoran
house.
The first the world heard of Mrs.
Depew was that she was a mere slip
of a girl and that the wedding was
one of the May and December affairs.
Next it was told that the bride was
no girl, but woman perceptibly gray.
Mrs. Depew is a woman in the prime
of life, neither middle aged nor very
young. Her hair is not gray, but
brown. Her eyes are large and a soft
brown and her teeth are white and
even.
''What are my impressions of Wash
ington?" repeated Mrs. Depew. ''It
will take some time to tell you, but the
most prominent thought in my mind
is that at last am here. Ihave wanted
all my life to come to America, and
especially to the capital. I have al
ways had such great expectations of
Washington, and they are everyone re-
allied, and more than realized. Wash
ington is so different from any other
place have ever known. You know, I
went abroad when only a year old
with my mother, who was a southern
woman, and [ have spent all my, life
in Europe, mostly in Paris. I never
forgot, however, that I was an Ameri-
can. All my studies were along Ameri-
can lines, and before me has always
been the fixed purpose OF coming to
my native land. Washington is delight
full. Every one has been so kind, so
cordial
''The sincerity of Washington So
ciety has often been questioned?" I
ventured.
ooh, no, indeed INTERCEPTED Senator
Depew; "there is no nonsense here.
Why, there can't be. Washington soci-
ETY. is totally different from any other.
Here everyone's rank is fixed, and you
can't be other than you are, can you?"
Not very WELL 1 replied; but that
remark goes to show you do not believe
in this question of precedence so much
talked of here
precedence? How can there be any
precedence? Everyone's position So
cially, is fixed for him. Either one
is a diplomat, or in the cabinet, or has
some official position; and that is just
what makes Washington so delightful.
There is always some element of in
terest in the social functions here. It
must be of interest or it doesn't get in.
''In New York it is so different;
there is such sameness about the
social life. Society hives by itself. So
c1ely IS separate ioIii iICeid lure Do
ciety is separate from Bohemia. So
ciety is separate from the life of the
judges, the preachers, the physicians
and the politicians. But in Washing
ton all is different. A clever, am
bilious man from the west or the south
or the New England states can come
here. and if he has it in him can be in
society and hold his own"
washington is something like Paris
in that respect" remarked Mrs. De-
pew. in her soft, well moduIated voice,
land yet it is different, too. There
there is no political element