The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-10-06

out pohCe stflke l saw him driving in big United States army official auto
 mobile along the Haymarket one day 1 when the hobbies were tout" in their thousands. Mir. Gompers was sitting wedged in between huge U. $. colonel
 ant an equally large British brass hat. The representative of the American la Dor party looked rather small between the two burly khaki-clad officers but he seemed very happy and smiling and was wearing a queer soft hat that looked several sizes too small for him, perched on the top of his head, while his hair waved in the breeze and his spectacles sparkled in the sunlight I don't be- lieve many people recognized him, bat
 he looked as if he was enjoying him
 self immensely
 I was shown wonderful cigarette case yesterday by an R. A. F. officer who has just returned from the east. He has been stationed in Palestine for about 1S
 months and although we do not heat l much of the doings of our aviation force on that distant eastern front, there seems to have been considerable liveli-s ness" in the air on a good many occa- sions. At any rate. Hun plane was | brought down in this particular sector, and Major Stent (the officer in question: | secured from the pilot of the German machine his cigarette case. It is of sil- yer. beautifully engraved, and the in IL, | with the autographs of many of the most | famous German airmen. It is a most in- | teresting and valuable souvenir and 1 should think there are very few of equal | importance.
 The wonderful news from the front has
 made London very gay and very happy, and although there is a good deal of talk about mo entertaining" and mo par ties,' as matter of fact people in Iftt1fn at 1Nir 1nr of hjc -nrf | thing. Dances of course, are the favor ite form of amusement with nearly everyone, and although no late parties are given, there are plenty of cheery en- tertainments that break up at Cinderella time, while for those who are less exclu- sive, subscription dances are being heio
 nearly every night in the West End. They break up at or 4 o'clock in the
 morning, but all the dancing and sup ping at these late parties is done py candlelight, as, of course, gas or electric light is impossible after 0:30 in any pup lie building. There are also great many private candlelight dances being gwen that are great fun, and now that the
 rule about khaki being excluded from the dancing floors is relaxed, the enthu-
 siam of all concerned is rising every day in the week I am told that during the winter dancing will once more be permit ted at all the hotels if the restrictions
 on lighting by electricity are observed. The idea is a wise one, because as far
 as one can gather from the rumors about
 coal shortage, it will be necessary to en-
 gage in some sort of healthy exercise in
 order to keep warm Evidently our
 dwelling houses and hotels and theatres
 are to be colder than charity this win- ter; therefore the authorities will show
 a considerable amount of wisdom if they
 remove the ban on general dancing in
 public.
 I have heard strange rumors recently
 about Princess Pless, the English wife of
 the German prince, who is so bitter in
 his denunciation of all things British.
 Princess Pless, it may be remembered, is
 sister to the Duchess of Westminster, and
 Mai George Gornwalifs-W West, who first
 married Lady Randolph Churchill, and,
 after she divorced him, married the fa-
 nous English actress, Mrs. Patrick
 Campbell. Princess Pless, so l am told
 is in a most critical state of health,
 brought on to great extent by the sus-
 pieion and severe treatment that has
 been meted out to her in her German
 home It IS said that she has made
 many attempts to communicate with her
 family but without success, and the res
 suit is that she is slowly dying and has
 become the victim to the most extreme
 melancholia.
 beIOTe lHe war IiihtcoS icS9 uSON "
 spend nearly every "season''-that is,
 from May until the beginning of August
 in London. She was greatly admired and was usually referred to by her
 friends as Daisy" Pless. She was, when
 last saw her about five years ago, very pretty woman of about 40 years
 of age. She had a quantity of beauti-
 fr1 fair hair, her eyes were large and
 blue, and her figure tall and fine after
 a Junoesque fashion She was com
 plete contrast to her sister the Duchess
 of Westminster, who is small, slim and
 dark. Their mother is Mrs. Corvallis
 West, who was once famous beauty and a rival of Mrs. Langtry, now Lady
 De Bathe. It will be remembered that
 only two or three years ago Mrs. Corn
 wallis-West was the heroine of ter