Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-06-27
VISIT OF THE LoNGWoRTHs
Doings Of Princess Alice" Hot Fol-
lowed With Enthusiasm Expected.
TGLIsH HOTELS ATTACKED
Rage for Renovating the old-Time
Picturesque Inns-Ellen Terry's
Great Popularity.
'peciai Correspondents Of The Star.

Special Correspondents of The Star.
LONDON. June 18 1908
The visit OF Mr.. and Mrs. Nicholas Long
worth il causing no little excitement in the
American colony. Their stay in London
will be marked by social events Of unusual
brilliance. On Tuesday evening Mr. and
Mrs. Reid gave a dinner party at Dor
chester House, which was honored by the
presence Of the king, and the following
night the residence of the ambassador was
the scene OF an even more brilliant function
reception attended by over q thousand
guests. including most Of the notabilities Of
American and English society
The doings OF Princess Alice" as many
papers call her here, are not being followed
with quite 30 much enthusiasm as appears
to have been expected In some quarters.
Probably the people who are most pleased
that this SHOULD be SO are Mr.. and Mrs.
Longworth thes>>S,yes who have been able
to see the sights Without being mobbed,
although they are given hearty welcome
everywhere.
Yesterday they watched the annual In
speotion Of the Yeomen of the Guard, which
took place In the pretty gardens at the
rear OF st. James Palace-gardens redolent
OF much that Is romantic in British history
Possibly the honeymooners may have re-
membered. or have been told, that from the
very slope where they stood King Charles
engaged n that familiar discourse with
pretty Nell Gwynne on the other side of
the garden wall. The inspection of the
Yeomen also had a special interest for Mr.
and Mrs LonEworth. for the inspecting Of
hcer, the Duke Of Manchester is a son-dn-
law OF Mr. Eugene Zimmerman and It was
he who invited them to the function Mr.
Longworth has been twice In parliament
and last night Mrs. Longworth sat behind
the ladies' grille and watched the debaters
on the floor
The big wedding Of the season took place
on Thursday. when the Marquis Of Ora
ham and Lady Hamilton were married. The
king was present and afterward a recep-
ton was held at Devonshire House on
Piccadilly. at which all fashionable Eng
land, Scotland and Ireland attended
The American Invasion.
Despite the cold and unreasonable
weather. the London season. which not
even an earthquake could stop, is in full
swing. The West End is full of bright
ness; motors and carriages filled with
beautifully dressed ladies crowd the
streets and parks going to and coming
from teas, receptions concerts, calls, the
aters. opera and the thousand and one
English metropolis.
In no previous year has the American
invasion attained its present proportions.
Our people are developing an extraordi-
don season. Daily you may see hundreds
Of Americans. we'll bundled up In coats,
daring this severe English summer on
root. In brakes seeing London" or on
and the Strand and Oxford street are
alive with Them and they own the place
Shops have the prices of the goods mark
ed plainly In dollars and cents now for
their benefit. Not SO long ago Paris was
the summer Mecca Of the wealthy folks
of Washington and New York, who con-
tented themselves with a flying visit to
London On their way to or from the
French capital Nowadays the positions
are reversed, for though a run over to
Paris remains fixed part of the program
the whirl Of the London season is now
the more powerful magnet. and the ma
fority Of Americans prefer to fix their
.amp here.
Rage to Renovate Old Inns.
An American has been writing to the Eng
| ush papers about the hotels of this country
| and says that nowhere on the continent did
he find SO poor accommodation and food
such utter want Of attention and such high
prices He is quite right about many Eng
lish hotels where one Is treated as though
he were trouble, and any attention q IA
vor. There are exceptions, of course It is
generally agreed that at the English coun-
try inn Its prices are high. its cookery low
and that 1t has altogether fallen into the
hands of the wrong class OF people I no.
tice, however. that welcome change has
come about during the last few years in
the inkeepers' IDEAS of what an inn should
be like. 1t might be taken as a, general rule
| that when you saw a notice that an Inn
was under entirely new management its
| picturesque features were about to be de-
stroyed. If the innkeeper or more generally
| the brewers, though the place important
enough to make handsome Job of it. its
old front would be plastered or rough-cast-
| ed, the old leaden-paned windows taken out
a-l, x..t,.. to-, ~.
would burst into mirrors and gliding and
plush and tall stools.
1t would be even saloon bar where the
laborer would not dare sit and eat his
bread and cheese with his ale The paneling
| In the public rooms would be covered up
with bronZe-gold paper stamped with art
vegetables, and in the hall would be a
carefully colored full-length statue of q
negro reading a newspaper. Often the old
| nm would be condemned mot up to
| date" and a sort of small suburban gin
palace would rise in its place. The district
around London is full OF terrible specimens
Then to landlord or brewer of genteel views
| the old names sometimes seemed low and
these, too would go.
| But all that is changing. The brewers
| have at last discovered that there is money
| in the old fashioned building IL it is In
| tourist neighborhood. Care is being taken
| in many places to preserve and even to re-
| construct the old rooms. Around London
1 in the past few years the Treaty House
| at Uxbridge, where Charles and the par
| liamentary commissioners met, suddenly be-
came a show place. and other inns nave
| found that they, too, are high connected"
/ either with Dick Turpin or Queen Eliza
beth, or with Mr.. Pickwick.
/ 1t IL, Of course, not all for good that the
| old inn has become self-conscious and Jays
out its relics. each in it's appointed place in
a carefully kept room. In which you are
| ushered by Sinking waiter. 1t was bet
| ter in the day when the whole force Of the
1 establishment was required to make sure
| whether it was the Duke of wellington OF
| DR.. johnson that had slept In the big room
/ at the front At Harwich, where many
| Americans leave for the continent, there 4
! an old inn where Nelson put up. Here a
| charge is made for entry TO the room. How
| can one take ones ease in an inn like
that?
! Ellen Terry's Popularity.
1 Miss Ellen Terry Is figure which adds
picturesqueness to the streets OF Chelsea
and her comings and goings from tho little
| house along the Kings road these last few
days have taken an additional interest
There is always little knot OF sightseers
| to watch the popular actress departure
from the theater. and Miss Terry has lived
| in whirl of receptions and ovations dur.
ing the last few weeks. Her house n, Chfl