The Washington herald., 1911-06-21
STORIES OF A WOMAN TRAVELLER

Mrs Hugh Frazer belongs to that class
of people which have been born TO wan
der. She has roamed the world, been AZ
the various courts of Europe with ner
husband. who earned fame as diplomat,
and has mixed with all classes OF So
ciety. She also is an exceedingly clever
writer and author. But. then. she be-
longs to very clever family. Her father
was the well-known American sculptor
Thomas Crawford. Her brother was the
late Marion Crawford. a novelist OF
worldwide repute. One OF her aunts was
the late Julia Ward Howe, who wrote the
Battle Hymn of the Republic" and her
grandfather. Samuel Ward. will be re-
membered as the man who, when the
New York legislature during financial
crisis voted TO repudiate a State loan oo-
tanned from English financiers, sent his
entire private fortune to England TO pay
the debt. There are old men IN New
York this very day who, remembering
this high-rninded action. raise their hats
to Mr.. Wards portrait when passing the
spot It occupies in the stock exchange.
In her recently published "reminiscences,
"A Diplomatist's Wife in Many Lands.
Mrs. Frazer relates some interesting
"reminiscences and incidents in the life OF
her brother, whose remarkable gift for
languages is illustrated by the fact that
he knew twenty Of them, speaking some
Of them f1uently. She tells that while
at Cambridge her brother was blood"
OF the gsudiest hue He drove the big
gest trotting horse in the tsllest dogcart,
and he dressed In garish checks foot
square. He had a French gimcrack clock
exactly initiating a watch, with a vest
pocket large enough to hold IT. He at
tached this piece to a massive dog chain,
the links OF which dangled across his
waistcoat.
In train one day wag asked him
the time. When Crawford pulled out
a watch two inches thick and as big as
a canteloupe. the joker blanched. He
believed he was shut up In the railway
carriage with a maniac. and rushed from
the train at the first stop. This evil
IDENTIFY was the eocentricity Of youthful
genius and may be compared with the
sartorial extravagances of Byron, or
Disraell. The young men OF to-day are
not quite SO courageous when expressing
their temperament with joyous audacity.
In the House of Commons to-day there
brated waistcoat now adorns the painted
chamber. Lord Spencer's high collar
CLEANS with diminished luster in the
House of Lords. Mr.. Gibson Bowles no
longer is a member, and his white ducks
will not glorify the terrace In June.
Mrs. Frazer spent several years In
Japan, her husband being at one time
minister OF that country. She throws
curious sidelights on the life OF women
in the land of the chrysanthemum. The
Japanese lady thinks nothing of spend
ing four hours on dressing to pay
visit, and the visit is as lengthy as the
preparation. It was something of an
ordeal to have the wife OF a court
dignitary call at II and stay until SUM-
set, accompanied by all her female
friends, who brought two maids apiece.
Once inside a strange house. they fiut-
tered about from room to room. finger
ing everything, trying on the hostess
clothes, turning out wardrobes, and,
strange 20 say. but true, carrying OF
all the toilet soap in sight. Servants
told Mrs. Frazer that the japanese
ladies regard soap as a palatable sweet
meat, and cut 1t up into little squares
to distribute to their friends.
Apropos of SOAP. there is a curious
story related by Mrs. Frazer concerning
Prescott, the historian, who passed among
his own family for a hopeless idler. His
relatives constantly were imploring him
to do something useful. to adopt some
respectable career, instead of sitting all
day locked in his Ibrary-eating soap.
He used to keep a cake OF this on his
desk. nibbling at II constantly. saying
when demonstrated with that people
should be clean inside as well as out
side
There are some very vivid pictures of
life in Vienna and the Austrian court In
Mrs. FraZer's "reminiscences. Concerning
the late Empress of Austria, she says;
There was not an evolution Of the
'haute ecole' which she could not per-
form with the careless ease Of the trained
equestrienne. The Emperor used to laugh
at her proficiency. giving utterance on
one occasion, when things were going
badly in the empire and revolution ap-
peared imminent, to a saying at once
caught up by the laughter-loving Vien-
nese: Never mind, my dear; II they turn
US out OF the Hofburg we have always
q trade TO fall back on to earn our living.
We will start circus. will be the ring