The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-02-08
WRITTEN FOR SUNDAY REPUBLIC.

WRITTEN FOR THE SUNDAY REPUBLIC.
America may feel proud of Lady Cur.
zon." says Mrs. Franklin MacVeagh, the
present leader of Chicago fashion.
And this is true, not only because she
has attained to-day the highest honors ever
achieved by any American woman in a for
Neign land, but because it is typically an
tAmerican woman who gives her country
and her c~ountrywomen such honored repre-
sentation.
Her beauty has been the talk of two ma
lions. and she has had attention, honor and
alteration enough to turn the head of al
most any woman. Nevertheless. she re-
mains to-day the modest, sensible, unas-
Stunning and ever-gracious American girl
that she was when as Mary Letter she live ]
in Chicago.
"When l took my tour around the world
two years ago i spent much time in India
and found the country most interesting. /
had known Lady Curzon since she was a
very small girl. Our families had long been
friends. l was privileged to be her guest
on several occasions as the Vicereine of
India.
Il was there during one of the large eel
ebrations, and / believe the patriotic
American blood in my veins flowed ever so
much faster when l saw Lady Curzon on
the dais, looking every inch the regal and
beautiful Vice Queen and sraciously re-
celving the alteration of midas people. who
do greatly adore hers"
"a Between homespun ard Goth OF gold, be-
tween Quaker drab and imperial purple.
between a cottage and a palace, nay. be-
tween commonplace and ia ryland. there is
no greater contrast than that which has
marked the transition of the Letter family
In this country from respectable poverty to
opulence and em.nence.
Theirs is a romance which, beginning in
tho hare rpn iiCm Of American riIiapa Iifp
eliminates in the drelmlike glamour of the
Arabian Nights.
VILLAGE FOUNDED BY i
ANCESTORS IN MARYLAND.
The village is Leitersburg, in Maryland,
founded by the ancestors Of the lady who
now sits on a throne in Calcutta. VINO is
the first lady among four hundred million
of people. and the center OF the most sp en-
did politico-social ceremonials In the world,
whose husband is Viceroy of these people.
who drives in royal state and who rides on
the sacred elephant.
- The elephant should not be forgotten. Do
not look upon 1t as an anticlmax. Remem-
Der what Mrs. Letter, the mother of the
Vicere!ne. said only the other day:
Until l saw Mary lie ter upon that ele-
phant l did not know what it meant to be
Lady Curzon."
1t meant, indeed. that the former Mary
Letter occupies the most splendid position
hat any woman of American birth has ever
occupied in the Old World.
In mere social precedence the Baroness
Curzon OF Kcdlestone is indeed still the
nominal inferior in England of her fellow
.ountrywoman, the Duchess of Marlbor- |
ough-
But the official position of the wife of the |
yiceroy ranks her above her sister noble !
woman in India. the most magnificent of i
II the British dependencies. ana invests
,er even IN England with a far greater per- |
.onel interest and influence.
And the almost barbaric glories of |
he durbar. recently celebrated I'm honor of
king Edward. riveted upon the d.stin-
suished couple. the eyes of the entire civ
Lied and semicivilized world.