The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-02-16
NEWS AND GOSSIP
OF LONDON SOCIETY
Baron de Forest Blackballed
in Reform Club
THE LATEST CRAZE
Lucky Stone Which Comes From cey-
lon introduced to London Society
BY. an American-An Unusual
Real Estate Transaction
By THE LADY MARY

clubland this week by the news WHICH
has Just leaked out that Baron de Forest,
who sought election in the Reform club
lately, broke an unenviable record in re-
ceiving no less than 40 blackballs. Five
or six have been received before by un-
popular men, but such unanimous dislike
as this has never been expressed for
anyone. There are circumstances. too,
that make it worse still. The Reform
club Is the social headquarters of LIBERAL
ism, and de Forest, of course. is liberal
NJ P. for Southport. Not only that. but
he has from time to time. poured money
into the liberal Golfers to the tune OF
many thousands of dollars.
The cause of 1t all is the scandalous
reputation he has gained In his natrlmo-
nial affairs. lie has been married twice
and his first marriage was annulled. In
1901 he married the only daughter of the
late Lord Gerard, and sister of the pres-
ent peer. She is lovely woman and was
a mere girl when he married her. But
life with her husband was so unbearable
that she eloped twice. The first time he
himself fetched her back, and the second
time her relations. After the second af-
fair the baroness returned to her husband
every jewel and everything else he had
given her and went to live by herself in a
small house in Kensington. The de For
ests have two handsome sons aged seven
and five, and they, of course, have re-
mained with their father.
Mr.. and Mrs. Otto Kahn seem to have
a perfect greed for houses, and the money
they have spent on acquiring them since
they came over here, must be simply
enormous. They bought and rented sew
eral in England during last year, but
none of them seemed 10 satisfy their
wants. Finally they tried to acquire
I<nole Hall, the family mansion of Lord
Sackvile, which, besides being one of the
most beautiful country seats anywhere in
England, and crammed with interesting
history, is within an hours run from
town by motor. But though they offered
a fabulous sum for it, Lord Sackville
would neither sell nor rent it to them,
so they went off to Paris.
There they have achieved q miracle by
securing the lease of the town house of
the Duchess de Noailles, absolutely the
grand dame of Paris society and the
most exclusive woman in France But
Mrs Otto Kahn got to know the Duchess
and being woman of an extremely fas-
cinating personality, as you know, it was
not long before she had persuaded her
to lease her Paris house for short time.
And what is more, 1t is being whispered
in the gay city that this Is only the thin
: end of the wedge and that the Otto Kahns
are maneuvering for and will doubtless be
entirely successful in achieving is the
purchase of the beautiful and historic
Chateau de Maintenon, at present the
country seat of the dc Noailes. This will
indeed prove a sensation IL 1t somes Off,
nd AfrS
bitions will then be satisfied. That Chat
eau de Maintenon of course is the famous
palace known the world over as having
been given to the equally famous woman
of that name by her royal odmirer, Louis
XIV, and it still contains many of the
beautiful and valuable treasures which
his majesty collected. Tt came into the
family of the de Noailles through a niece
of Mime. de Maintenon who married the
Due de Noailles of her day. The present
representative of the family has COM
pletely modernized 1t without interfering
with its old-world character. having had
electric lights and elevators, baths and
all such comforts of modern life put in.
The gardens are still kept up as they
were in the days of the beautiful de
Maintenon, with the grass terraces
formally laid out for flower beds and
quantity cut trees. 1t possesses, too, a
magnificent picture gallery, all the family
portraits being let into the walls In pam
els. 3
The de Noaiiles have removed to an
other of their houses in Paris, and so the
Kahns are assured of the very best in
Productions in Paris society, and abso-
lute1y the time of their lives. All this
looks as If the Kahns intend to trans
fer the seat of their operations from Lon
don to Paris, for they have disposed of
tho house in Carlton House Terrace that
they bought from Mrs. Maldwin Drum
mond to James Horiick.
MANY English people are delighted to
hear that Mrs. Reid intends to pass some
part of every year in England in the flu
ttre In spite of the delicate position in
which the wife of every United States
ambassador finds herself here, no Ameri-
can woman probably Inads more friends
than Mrs. Reid. When the late Whitelaw
Reid bought Dudley house and gave It
to his son-in-law. the Hon. John Ward
he made the stipulation that suite OF
rooms should be reserved for himself and
his wife. little dreaming. of course, that
he would never use 1t, or that his wife
might make use of 1t SO soon- Mrs.
"Jonnie," of course. went over with her
mother for the funeral of her father, but
it Is not anticipated that Mrs. Reid will
cross again with her daughter. She
could not entertain or be entertained for
year at least, and associations over
here are too painful for her at present
But she is devoted to her only daughter.
and still more, il possible to little jon
nie,'' her bonny grandson. She made
many friends here, too, whom she would
~ reluctant to lose.
Societys latest craze is a lucky stone,
and as is the way with all crazes, the
whole of the fashionable world is tum-
bling over itself to possess one 1t was
an American, too who first introduced it
over here He Is Capt. Walter Rand of
Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and the
story of how 1t came into his hands is a
romantic one. Starting his wage-earning
life in the United States coast survey, he
developed an acute attack of wander
lust'' and roamed all over the globe.
bringing up at Colombo. Ceylon, where
he found himself absolutely "down-and-
out" with empty pockets and fever
laden body An aged Cingalee took pity
on him and nursed him through his i'll
ness and when he got better, gave him
what he declared was a lucky stone
and which would bring the sahib for
tune" Although skeptical about his new
possession, the American tucked it away
in his pocket and went to try to find
work Greatly to his surprise, he met
some old friends and before the day was
over had got work. money and clothes
After being In Ceylon for some time he
went off to Arizona TO work on some
copper claims, and there his luck deserted
him As he was wondering over things