Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-03-03
OLD INN OVERSEAS
U. S. OFFICERS CLUB
Typical English Town House
Opened for Use of American
Fighting Leaders.
of the Associated Press.

Correspondence of the Associated Press.
LONDON, January 25.-The newest and
most attractive home in London for Amer
lean officers is called the American Off
GERS Inn and stands in Cavendish square.
one of the most fashionable residential
districts of the English metropolis. The
inn, which is operated by the American
Y. NJ. C. A, is directly across the square
from the American consul generals office.
The inn was formerly occupied by Sir H.
H Raphael. a member of parliament. who
was on the point of selling it when he
heard that the Americans wanted 1t, and
generously turned 1T over to them.
The inn, which is a four-story typical
English town house. with large rooms ana
nigh ceilings. was formally opened by
day, when it was inspected by several
hundred of the leading Americans in Eng
land and others These included Viscount
Bryce. formerly British ambassador at
Washington; the Earl Of Haddo. the
Countess Of Reading. wife Of the new spe-
cial ambassador to the United States !;
Lady Randolph Churchill Maj Gen. Bart
lett: in command Of the American forces
both sides Of the Atlantic. A feature was
the attendance of a group of veterans Of
the American civil war now living in Eng
land.
Furnished by Y N. c. A.
The house has been attractively fur
nished by the American Y. NJ. c. A. The
walls are hung with a series Of paintings
lent by John Lane. nephew of Sir Hugh
Lane. the art collector who was lost with
the Lusitania-
The inn, which combines al the ad-
vantages of first-class club, with din
ing room, billiard room, library, tea
room and about forty bedrooms, is be-
ing managed by a committee of Ameri-
can women, including Lady Ward,
daughter Of the late American ambas-
Clay. Mrs. Cecil Higgins and Mrs. E. c.
Carter. They are assisted by about a
hundred women, mostly Americans, who
are giving up part of their time usually
devoted to other war work.
Greeting visitors at the door is Miss
Vivian North of New York, who man.
ages to squeeze in a few hours from
her hospital work to do this and run
the elevator. Just inside the door at
the registration desk sits Mrs. Allen
Nichols, already called Little Mother"
by the Americans.
U. S. Welfare Worker.
Mrs. Nichols is an American who has
been supervising welfare work among
munition workerss at Coventry. Her
duties correspond to those Of a chief
clerk behind a hotel desk and she is a
virtual encyclopedia of information of
things that Americans want to know
about london. Working alternately
with her is Miss Doris Robson, a niece
of Countess Reading, who has been
working on the land until a few days
ago.
Mrs. Spender Clay, who came from
Philadelphia and is the wife of a lieu
tenant colonel in, the British army in
France, is general superintendent at
the inn. She is the only one to wear
the green-gray uniform of the expedi-
tionary force of the American Y. NJ
c. A.
Pretty pinafores of chintz. designed
by a prominent American woman, are
| worn by the numerous American and
English woman volunteers who come in
/ to take several hours of duty each day
: These women. the majority of whom
are widely known in society on both
sides of the Atlantic, submit to a sort
of discipline most cheerfully. Those as
signed to the inn put in a regular rou-
tine of duty and none has been known
to be tardy. One force relieves another
and the work is carried on without in
terruption.