The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1919-06-29

She works in factories, runs cars
i and ships, pilots aeroplanes and has
6he vote-is, in fact, on full equality with
man on every plane of material endeavor.
Miss Alice Drexel, daughter of the very
rich and fashionable John R. Drexels, of
New York, Newport, Philadelphia, London
and Paris, has just proved that the new
woman has also reached full equality in
the matter of running an elopement.
For 10 and behold, instead of waiting
demureIy in the traditional fashion for her
Romeo to come in the night with his
scaling ladder, carry her palpitating down
it and away to the minister, Miss Drexel,
splendidly equipped, has her own big tour
ing car brought to her own door, pitches
in it all the things she needs, drives it on
herself, picks up her timorous lover from
behind the tree where he has been wait
ing for her, carries him of to the minis
4. ter and is wed!
And what makes this triumph Of new
womanhood even greater is the fact that
the man she married is a. soldier and an
officer, Captain William Barrett, of the
United States Air Forces, wounded twice
in France and by reason of his training
supposedly versed in campaigns and
stratagems against the enemy, whether the
latter be armies or a sweetheart's recall
citrant parents.
What a change from the olden days Of
romance! What a demonstration of
the advance Of women since the time
when the knights rode around in armor,
fighting and enjoying themselves! At that
time the burden of the elopement was all
on the man and was attended largely by
what to-day we would call police court
incidents. While Lady Claire, the fair
young demoiselle, sat in her bower she
would hear a clash of arms, and what the
Elizabethan dramatists call loud alarums.
Eventually her headstrong lover would ap-
pear in the bower, clasp her against his
shirt of mail, stride away over the pros
trate bodies of her relatives and retainers,
set her on his warhorse, leap in front of
her, and with her arms clasped about his
middle jog away to domesticity.
IL uC ulu hui appear III inc OOhCI Il
meant that the Lady Claire was minus one
sutton and was probably in for disciplin-
ing
Later on, as armor was discarded,
swords, rapiers and daggers had their day.
Then rope ladders were popular. With
mechanical progress the ease with which
an elopement could be carried out became
greater, and parents had more cause for
anxiety But always and ever it was the
man who devised the ways, carried them
out was the party of the first part, as
they say in the legal contracts. Running
true to custom, it was the duty of the de-
sired lady to take little part in the pro-
ceedings except to be acquiescent. She
was supposed to sit demurely, maybe pro-
test little now and then, at the most do
no more than slide down the ladder into
her suitors waiting arms. After that, as
before that, it was all up to him.
Let us consider now Miss Drexels first
equal suffrage elopement. Miss Drexel is
a granddaughter of the late Anthony ].
Drexel, of Philadelphia, who left fortune
of $50, 900 900, Of which her father got the
most Mrs. DrexeI, her mother, is one of
the most famous of American beauties and
one of the prOudest. Her cousin is the
Viscountess Maidstone Margarita Drexel
and the Maidstones are noted, even
among the English nobility, for their ex-
She has known and been ad-
mired by kings, princes, dukes and such
like all over the world.
But most important, during the last
seven years. the daughter of the Drexels
had specifically, and with intention
been courted by at least four
sterling young American men of social
position and wealth, and by one French
gentleman without much of either. And
always, just as the interesting moment
drew near when she would have the op-
Dortunity to say yes" or "no"-as the
ease might have been-she was suddenly
and Unexpectedly whisked away beyond
the range of her wooer. It might have
been coincidence each time, but Miss
Orexel suspected it wasn't Indeed, it is
entirely permissible to say that she more
han suspected it was mamma.
Therefore. after taking tea not more
han two months ago with the Princess
durat, the Princess Rospigliosi and few
'ther of her titled friends now in New
York, she did not tell mamma that she
lad met a man there who had interested
Ter greatly. Yes, this man was Captain
larrett