The Topeka state journal., 1902-12-27

/ beautiful Mary Victoria Letter Curzon, |
wife of the viceroy who stands in the
place of King Edward. to be crowned at
Delhi The word 'durbar'' is found
alike in the Hindoo. Turkish and Per-
sian languages. .'Darbar'' is another
way to spell it, and s'dar'' means door, |
while bar means admission through
that door. Thence .darbar'' came to
mean an audience room of state and
finally an official reception by the head
of a state. 1t is not, however, specially j
as king of England that Edward VII. /
is crowned by proxy at Delhi, but as
emperor of India, a much more gor-
geous and imposing title This durbar
of 1902 has never been equafed in India |
+ The one in 1877 at which Queen Victoria
! was proclaimed empress stands as the
most magnificent oriental show western
! nations knew anything of UP to the
present time. But that was of a gem
GRAFTON ago. Since then the nations
have progressed in luxury. We now
/ know how to produce grander and more
/ costly spectacles. Take, for example,
the single item OF illumina ton. Not all
the gold and gems of India thirty years
ago could have produced a splendor like
/ the electric lighting which will illumine
! the night fetes of this greatest of all
durhars.
To the American mind. naturally un-
responsive to the pomp of royalty, the
great durbar, with it's gayly capari-
soned elephants, suggests nothing SO
much as huge circus, with gem laden.
silk clad nizams and rajahs and ma
laaraiahs for actors. Neither does the
circus suggestion imply anything else
than respect and good will for George
/ Nathaniel Curzon. the strong and
manly figure who has to play en-
1 peror in the show We may take his
appointment to the viceroyship of India
as fine and delicate compliment to the
/ United States through his beautiful
American wife, Mary Victoria Letter.
/ IN the procession which greeted their
arrival in Calcutta, along the line in
/ her honor the fag of the stars and
stripes was twined with the union jack.
At the real coronation in London Al
1 exandra was the central figure because
/ of her grace and royal beauty; at the
! proxy coronation in Delhi she will be
! represented by q woman who bears her
self no less regally, and that woman
the daughter of a plain American mer-
chant who got rich by his own exer-
tions. Blood tells.
At the first entry of the Curzons into
Calcutta India's capital all the people,
brown and white, were attracted by the
ladys wonderful beauty and graceful
ness; as she appeared in society she
peeially the women, with her exquisite
gowning.
Lady Curzon is the perfect type of the
American society woman. The splen-
doris of the great oriental government
house at Calcutta had no dazzlement
for her because the home she had left
the Letter mansion in Westinghouse, |
While not so large as magnificent as the
vice regal residence in India. That
f,F1 Il
modelled after Scarborough Hail. in
England. Its entrance hall is entirely
of marble, walls, stairs and all. From |
the center the grand staircase rises and
branches right and left. In the library
is a magnificent mantelpiece of Ten
nessee marble warmed and gilded by
| the colored light that streams in
through the stained glass windows
| Il think said Mary Letter to
friend to whom, she was showing the
new Washington home-'I think we
can be rather comforta BILE here
| The tour OF observation was contin-
ued through the private rooms. Lady
Curzon that was to be conducted her
visitor to her mothers sleeping room,
| fitted up with fuxuries and conven-
| fences that the queen of Sheba would
not have known what to do with. The
visitor expressed her admiration of the
beautiful apartment.
| Yes said Mrs. Letter, I'VE like it, |
OF course it is severely plain and simple,
in the English fashion, but we like that
style for bedrooms
The friend wondered what on the
whole, Mrs. and Miss Letter would call |
ornate
But perhaps Lady Curzon, vice refine, |
could not play her part SO royalty at
the durbar if she had not been trained
to more than oriental luxury as the
daughter Of a republic Her beauty is
of the kind that lights up like a star at
night Her eyes are really violet blue
| the color of parma vio1ets. They are
fringed with long, curling black lashes,
and above them are the straight, thick
eyebrows of perfect beauty. With eyes
SO ~fringed and curtained by black
lashes and brows as themselves to
seem almost dark goes hair nearly
black, the darkest possible brown |
She is unusually tall. in height
matching her husband who is over six
feet and strongly built. When they
made their official entry into Calcutta, |
they were said to be physically the no.
blest pair that ever wore the vice regal
honors of India. They have three chill
dren, and Lady Curzon plays the part
of mother-as she does everything else
/ to perfection
All the worlds people are brothers
now, and travelling is easy and not too
expensive A notable event in one land
draws members of the brotherhood of
nations from all over To the Delhi i
durbar gather Arab camel caravans,
yelled women, Turk, Persian, Syrian
and Greek; men, white, black, yellow
and brown; fakir. elephant, dog DON
| key and tiger, prince, brigand and {
slave, our American Mary Letter one of |
the two central figures of it all. What
| place to get newspaper copyi
/ If Lady Curzon We're the mere society
ornament however brilliant. We might
nav her. dues In he c1zr.rera4 social srra., II