Evening star., 1917-01-21
curson has taken tease Of Devonshire
House. Piccadilly.
Curzon LeasAa and that he and his
Famous House. there This famous


mansion is. of course. the town house
Of the Duke Of Devonshire. the new
governor general Of Canada, and 1t Is
one of the finest in London. For many
months. dating from the beginning of
the war, Devonshire House was given
over to war activities. Queen Mary's
work for women and funds and the
British Red Cross Society being only
made use of it by permission Of its
ducal owner. During most OF its his
tory. the mansion was hidden away be-
hind high walls, and only glimpse OF
the porticoed front could be had rom
the tops of omnibuses passing along
Piccadilly. Some ten years ago. how
ever. the duke bought the famous
wrought iron gates from Chls"lck
House. and had them put up, thus max
ing the residence one Of the most I'M
posing in London, as well as making 1t
possible to see it from the street.
Within, Devonshire House Is crammeo
with priceless treasures of art. the en-
trance hall has one Of the noblest stair
cases in the metropolis, much finer. to
the minds of most people, than the
great double flight which leads to the
hall gallery in Stafford House. The
Devonshire House staircase Is OF whlte
marble with very wide. shallow steps.
At the top on the right is the salon
where both the present and the former
Duchess of Deyonshire in the days be.
fore the war gathered the social eject
of course, have always been faithful
patrons of the turf, and Devonshfre
House was always the scene, among
other brilliant entertainments, OF the
Derby night" ball.
Lady Irene Curzon, who is twenty.
made her debut in 1914. the coming out
ball, given by her father. having been
one OF the great social events or the
season. 1t took place at Lord Curzons
house in Carlton House Terrace. and
the king and queen were to have been
present, but court mourning, conse
quent upon the death Of the Duke OF
Argyll. prevented. The royal pair
however, paid an informal visit in the
afternoon and inspected all the ar
rangements. Like her two younger
sisters, Lady Irene inherits much OF
the beauty of her famous mother, says
the Los Angeles Times.
elder son Of r. H. Benson, senior
partner of well known firm of mer-
chant bankers. He IS a trustee or the
National Gallery. and associated with
a number of important BODIES connect
ed with the development Of art. Also
the owner of a very valuable collection
of pictures and Chinese porcelains. and
was. in his youth. famous ath1ete.
The family home. Buckhurst IN sus-
sex Is a most beautiful place. and mag
nificently wooded. The house Is not
remarkable either for size. or archi-
tecturally. but it is situated very nigh.
Buckhurst is the property from which
the De la War; earid9m + deriHes t this 0oe 0ne
ment there is no Lord Buckhurst. the
present Lord de la War; being just
sixteen.
1t is stated that Lord Curzon is CIV
ing his daughter her late mothers su-
perb emerald necklace as gift on her
approaching marriage. The central
emerald is nearly two inches square:
These emeralds used to be the envy OF
the Indian potentates when the late
Lady Curzon was in India.
am now going to quote what re-
gard as one Of the important society
notes Of the age. Mrs. William K. Van
derbilt. jr., will give a supper and
dance tomorrow evening at her resi-
dence, 66s 5th avenue for Miss Flyora
Payne Whitney, the debutante daugh-
ter of Mr.. and Mrs. Henry Payne Whit
ney.
the church is known as the text. II
did not preach a sermon. I could de-
liver a discourse of almost any length
whatever. taking up the moral. his
torical. sentimental aspects OF the sit
shall spare you and mention merely the
leading trains of thought 1t suggests,
says a New York correspondent in the
Chicago Tribune.
Miss Whitney. as you know. was
scheduled as one Of the bright, partic-
ular debutantes of the season. Nobody.
except perhaps Miss Margaret Car
negie, could approach her in romantic
interest and in an interest OF a more
worldly kind. She was the richest. the
most beautiful. the most widely known
parentany of all the young girls about
to appear.
Her grandmother is Mrs. Vanderbilt,
her father is the great polo player. the
- n
and rich. Her mother. daughter of Mrs.
Vanderbilt, belongs to the smartest of
smart society and is distinguished
artist as well. Her work in sculpture
is really good. One of the auntS of this
romantic young person is the Countess
Sczchenyi, now doing hospital relief
work while her husband is at the Hun
garian front. Whoever marries this
beautiful debutante OF the wonderful
setting will attach millions thereby to
his bank account.
But, as 1 wrote few weeks ago, just
as the debut party was about to be
sprung. the young girls aunt. Mrs.
Paget, sister of the girls father, died
in England. The debutante girl seldom
saw this aunt and the lives of the two
families did not flow into each other.
Still. 1t is the custom even in smart So
ciety that when a member of the fam
lily dies that family retires from active
social life for at least year. Society
mourned because it thought 1t was not
to see Miss Whitney this season. Ger
tainly they will not see her under the
gay auspices originally planned
But, so the item heralds. smart So
ciety has decreed that the old rule for
mourning shall once In a while be
waived. When a debutante Is to appear
a little matter like death in the fam
lily shall not blight her.
Ny second point Is to note the host
ess for this affair given for the bud.
If / am not mistaken. and, as far as /
can figure out. Mrs. Vanderbilt is re-
lated to the heroine only by divorce,
though she bears the name that Miss
whitney's mother carried before she
married.
Mrs. Vanderbilt. jr.. has not been of
the family for several years. AS is
widely known. she was once married to
Willie K, jr.. son Of xne present bearer
of that name, but they have been di-
vorced for quite some time.
Los Angeles has not lost its head over
the new art as expressed in the Russian
ballet. Save for
Ruse;on Ral1et few d m rers, it
might be said that