Evening star., 1916-04-30
Gossip Of Society.

The Secretary of State and Mrs. Lans
| ing. in being weekend guests of Mr..
and Mrs. Louis Hertle, present owners
of Gunston Hall, are privileged to sleep
| under the roof of one of the most in
| teresting old manor houses along the
| Potomac
| Gunston Hall, built by George Mason
| in. 1858. is closely associated in
! memories and history with Mount Yer
| non. for Mason and George Washington
| We're boyhood friends. and the fact that
, Doth courted the same girl, Miss Ann
Eilbeck. known as the loWland
( beauty" seems not to have interfered
with their friendship.
George Mason was the favored sultor.
but the intimacy between the two
stalwart figures in history remained un-
broken. and together they labored to
found the new republic.
At the hospital BILE hearths at Gunston
Hall met the statesmen of that day,
and the conferences held there by pa
triots crystallized into the Constitution
of the United States.
When Lord Dunmore pressed up the
Potomac to capture Lady Washington.
Gunston Hall was an object OF his fu-
riouS pursuit as well, but storm ana
| the state militia prevented his reaching
either Gunston or Mount Vernon
The chief features of the old manor
house today are the wonderful cary
ings, which are mostly in Chinese
Chippendale. wrought by workmen
summoned from England by Mason to
please his sixteen-year-oid br1ae.
carvings so rare and so beautiful that
| thousands of dollars were recently
offered for them by a northern archi-
tect. The carvings over the doors that
flank the fireplace in the room where
the famous bill of rights was drawn
up are particularly fine.
An Easter egg rolling not chronicled
far and wide. like that which took place
Monday last at the White House. was
one held at the country place of DR..
and Mrs. Charles Richardson. on. Grant
road. when their little granddaughter
Amy Chandler. aged three. was the
principal young guest.
A May pole surmounted oy tne
American flag. dollhouse out OF
doors and a goodly supply of gayly
colored eggs were some of the attrac-
! tions that entertained the Youngsters
They had acres of ground to play m
the wild garden that Mrs. Richardson
has been planting and supervising per-
sonally this winter and spring. The
open winter gave her an opportunity
to transplant many wild shrubs, laurel
and to convert all the ground about
her country place into wild tanSle
of beauty.
only around the immediate approach
to the house is there formal piant-
ing. and that in keeping with the wide
open front of the mansion with Its
wings. giving an air of hospitality that
the modern tall house can never aspire
to.
While all sorts of attractions lured
the youngsters into the open air and sun
shine when they finally tired OF pla!
and sought the house. wonderful
table attracted them, for there, hedged
in by attractively built and painted
fence, was miniature chicken yard.
with some two hundred fluffy. downy
chicks scampering round and adding
their shrill peeps to the cries OF the
delighted children. When the excite
ment subsded sufficiently for the chill
dren to eat the refreshments put be-
fore them they were served with bowls
of chicken broth, and later ices in the
forms of chicks were served aito-
gether it was quite chicken party.
Mrs Carl Vrooman, the popular wife
of the assistant secretary of agricul-
ture. in giving tea the other after-
noon for her first and second cousins
Miss Letitia and Miss izabeth Steven
son, daughter and granddaughter, re-
spectiveIy, of the late Vice President
and Mrs. Adlai f. Stevenson, not only
showed herself, as usual, the hospita-
BILE and successful hostess, but most
thoughtful and efficient one as well.
Before the tea began Mrs. Erooman
gave to one of the ladies assisting her
a piece of paper on which were written
the names of the ladies whom she had
d
names. eight or ten in number, were
written in pairs, and the lady who had
in her keeping the piece of paper was
appointed to see that these pairs of
ladies were seated opposite each other
at the prettily decorated table. and that
each pair was relieved after some
twenty minutes serving, for, as Mrs
Vrooman remarked. No one wants to
sit at a table all afternoon"
BY the thoughtfulness Of the hostess,
each lady whose duty it was to pour
tea or coffee for the many who
thronged the attractive home of said
hostess, was given a chance to mingle
among the guests and speak to those
to whom she wished to talk.
Among the guests at the tea was Mrs.
Florence Fox, who, with Mr.. Fox, is a
delegate here now in the interests of
preparedness. Mrs. Fox, though most
patriotic American, has lived many
wears abroad-in fact, she and her hus-
band make their home in Paris when
conditions are favorable. and it was
interesting to hear from the lips of
one who had but recently come from
France that Paris was never more at
tractive than now. for all the foreign
elements that congregate in the French
ca pital are absent and the city SO often
suggestive to some of nothing but gay
ETY. is now absolutely itself and abso-
lutely French with all the dignity and
elegance of the old regime.