The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-07-23
LONDON SOCIETY LETTER
By LADY MARY

London, July s.-(Special correspond | ence) )-The face of London seems to have
 undergone great change during the pa st
 few days. Ever since the news of the
 commencement of 'the big push has 1 come home to us. there is an air of | alertness of lively interest, of general awakeness'' about everybody that makes 1 itself felt wherever one goes in the crowded streets. To the rich and the | poor alike the meaning of the present situation comes home with intense per sonal feeling, and the effect is to be
 felt as we'll as seen in streets and thea | tres, humble homes and more or less luxurious residential quarters. Also with | the coming of good news from across the channel has arrived a decided improve ment in the climatic conditions and Jan uary like June has slipped into July that we hope may at least bring the | thermometer into a normal condition of summer mildneSS.
 Tine was Gin days before the waD when 1 London used to think a good deal about l the Fourth of July. I am afraid that l this year, however, the American fes- | tivities in the English capital are not particularly conspicuous, although I am l told that there are a few private "Glori- ous Fourth" dinner and tea parties, mark | ing the anniversary of American inde- pendence. As a matter of fact the Fourth 1 of July was dedicated to Russia, and the West End has been stormed by a more | than usually active and persistent army of fair flag sellers, many of whom out of compliment to our great ally wore what they fondly believed to be the Rus sian national dress. I have it on the best authority, however, that the English effort to present a correct Russian na- tional costume has about it few of the elements of success. It is to be presumed in fact that many of the fantastically at tired ladies who have gone about the streets selling Russian flags, do not strike quite the correct mote" to those who have any first-hand acquaintance with the cities of the Great White Czar. However they mean we'll and they were making lots of money for the good cause during the whole of the day that was devoted to collecting.
 The difficulty about writing in an en- tertaining fashion concerning the Rus sian colony in London is, that unless you have absolute knowledge of the way to spell the names of some of the famous subjects of the Czar living in our midst it is impossible to mention them To speak of the two daughters of the Grand Duke Michael who were selling Russian flags at the Ritz Is simple enough. for the Countess Nada and the Countess Zia Torby are well known as members of
 our own royal family. Also they are ex- tremely pretty girls with very lively and unconventional manners, who dress charmngly and have no sort of side" about them. Then there is the Princess Dolgorouki who was in charge of a platoon of flag sellers at Claridge's hotel Princess Dolgorouki was Miss Fleetwood Wilson before she married the Russian
 prince who died some years ago. She
 very seldom comes out of her retire
 ment nowadays. but evidently she felt
 it to be her duty to assist in disposing of
 as many Russian flags she could do on
 the fourth. She is not in the first bloom of youth. but when I saw her in the big
 hall at Claridge's busiy engaged in dis
 posing of her wares, she was looking ex ceedingly stately and handsome in her
 draperies of solf black with some wons
 derfu pearls round her throat and huge emeralds from a Russian mine hanging from her ears. The Dolgorouki emeralds are famous, and I believe that the mine
 fields take up a large amount of the
 Siberian property belonging to the prince ly family. Another Russian princess whose name is also easy to spell and
 pronounce. Is Princess Eristoff, who was
 doing brisk trade in flags at the Wal
 dorf hotel. She is the famous painter princess, who signs her portraits "Kazah
 and who has painted the pictures of many
 members of the English aristocracy
 Princess Eristoff is quite Bohemian in
 her own quite way, and is seldom to be
 persuaded to wear anything in the way
 of headgear except French art stu
 dents cap of black velvet. which she