The Washington herald., 1918-05-05

! Mrs. Thomas Cleland Dawson. At the
present rate it appears that none OF
the unattached members Of the French
mission will 60 home single. Soyez
will be the third one to lose his heart
| to an American recently, not including
the Marquis de Polignac. Washington
was certainly sorry to learn that the
De Polignacs are going to return TO
France. They have been among the
most interesting and delightful MEM
bers Of society here.
Though this will be Mrs Dawson's
third marriage, she is still quite a
young woman and very attractive.
Her first husband, who was. 1 believe,
a native of her own country, Brazil,
died a few months after their mar
riage. Her second husband who passed
| away few years ago, was an Amer
iCan, a native OF Iowa, who met and
married her while he was secretary
of the American Legation at Rio de
Janeiro. He served this country as
Minister to Chile. Colombia. San Do
| mingo and Panama. and was consid-
cred a great authority on all matters
| relating to those nations to the south
of us. Mr.. Dawson was a very inti-
mate friend OF William /. Buchanan,
also OF Iowa, who was minister to the
Argentine at the time OF CIeveland's 8
administration, and ranked high In the
diplomatic service OF this country. Mr..
Buchanan was considered the great
est diplomst then on duty in South
America, and was the mediator be-
, , tween Argentine and Chile during the
time they were constantly at odds.
The people Of all the South American
countries depended on Mr.. Buchanan
| to settle all their troubles. Mr. Daw-
son was q sort OF successor to Mr..
Buchanan. and proved to be like him,
a very effective diplomat, a great
| mediator and manager of the affairs
of South America. At the time of his
death Mr.. Dawson was in charge of
the Latin-American bureau of the
State Department. l believe, too. that
Mr.. Dawson wrote several books re-
lating to South America.
He was Minister to Chile when Knox
was Secretary OF State and was sue
ceeded by Henry p. Fletcher as min
lister. the same Mr.. Fletcher who Is
Ambassador to Mexico. Mr.. Daw-
son was minister there at the time of
the Baltimore" incident in which we
were brought to the verge of war with
Chile by the killing OF some United
States sailors ashore in Valparaiso.
When the financial affairs OF Mica
ragua were very much entangled and
the United States undertook TO
straighten them out, Il was Mr.. Daw-
son who was assigned to the task. In
fact you cannot read far into the his
tory Of the relations between this
country and those OF the Latin
American nations without stumbling
across the name Of Mr.. Dawson.
Mrs. Dawson herself is a widely
Travelled, cultured woman and an ac-
complished llnguist. with some six
languages to her credit. Her father.
1 believe. was a Frenchman of great
wealth who lived in Brazil ana mar
ried a native of that country. Mrs.
Dawson is q member of the Chevy
Chase Club. She had three children,
two of whom are living, a boy and
girl. Ohlan and Lilita. The latter is
quite an accomplished little dancer,
one of Miss Hawkes. star pupils.
Beyond the fact that the wedding
is to be In church and on Saturday,
| May II, no details have been settled
as yet. They are going on a long au-
tomobile trip. NJ. Soyez was in the
army. but resigned Just lately, I be-
lieve. At any rate, he Is serving now
with the French High Commission
here. He was working in New York
for about four months, but expects
to be In Washington now for a while
Mrs. Dawson has a very pretty home
in Nineteenth street. where they will
reside for the time being, at any rate.
Mrs. Henry F. Dimock, who is al
| ways interesting herself in relief
work OF many sorts, both foreign and
domestic, is now aroused to the needs
of Italy. In an effort to interest her
wealthy and influential friends. Mrs
Dimock gave a reception earlv last
week, when Will Irwin, the noted
war correspondent and writer, made
an address on Italy and the War"
MIR. Irwin has passed months IN italy
and at the front with the italian
armies. and is considered quite An
authority on the subject now. He
has published a book about Italy.s
part in the war. have been fortu-
nate enough to hear him talk on the
subject several times. also have seen
pictures OF the Italian armies in
action. and nothing concerning the
war has interested me quite as much,
Mrs. Dimock says that we have all
given relief benefits OF various sorts
for the British, French, Belgiums.
serbians-practically all Of the allied
nations. but seem to, have entirely
overlooked Italy. She is starting the
ball to rolling by giivinE an evening
bridge party on Tuesday for the bene-
Mt Of the italian war sufferers and Ia
planning a second benefit affair Of
some sort; she hasn't settled on the
details OF that as yet.
1 remember one thing Mr.. Irwin
told on one occasion before we were
In the war-I think my figures are
eorrect-that there were about 250.-
600 Americans with the italian army
so there Is another incentive for
..s- -. ..as -