The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-04-13


 1 than with the restaurant of the Hotel Lafayette near Fifth avenue and Wash | ington Square, New York The Cafe
 Royal is the most noted place for hu- ] man contrasts that one can imagine | even in a cosmopolitan city like Londgn | There you can see the "World" and l the Half World" You can see pp- 1 litical giants and artists whose naine es are famous in every civilized art ceh l ter. You can also see much of the l studio life of London, while the show | lady and the chorus girl are not averse 1 to gathering in the quaint old fash l toned room that attained it's first fame i in the early part of Queen Victorias reign and during the last French revo- l lution which sent the Emperor Louis l Napoleon and the Empress Eugenie fly ing with other refugees to the hospitA- 1 ble shores of England.
 1 At any rate the Cafe Royal is one of the distinctive sights of London, and on last the Sunday evening which I have ] mentioned but from which I have waM- dered, I saw an interesting little group of diners that included the famous ar l list, Sir John Lavery and his wife, Lady | Randolph Churchill and her present | husband. MT. Montague Porch. Lady 1 Randolph was unusually vivacious and 1 cheery. She was not. as has recently
  was wearing a bright blue and gold toque pressed low over her hair which 1 is now almost completely white, while around her throat was string of ve1y beautiful pearls. She was wearing "a half-high dress ofsblack georgette over an underhodice of gold tissue and the l collar of her black satin cloak lined 1 with red velvet was of sable. Lady | Lavery, who is hailed everywhere in l England as a beauty, was wearing one | of those new coal-scuttle hats of gold | tissue overlaid with dull gray lace. A narrow fringe of silver and rose color outlined the curve of the brim She also l was wearing pearls rather finer than those worn by Lady Randolph, while the dress she revealed under a chin- ehilla coat, was of soft string coiore1 crepe de chene. Neither Sir John Lav- cry nor MT. Porch were in evening clothes. It was apparently quite a boz hemian quartet
 Not far off, at another table, was Augustus John, the painter, concerning whom the artistic world becomes very agitated now and again. Sir William Orpen, R. A., was also to be seen, while l the sculptor, Epstein, who has recent ly been demobilized and who has cre- ated a good deal of spirited criticism concerning some new work that Ee 's exhibiting, was also conspicuous. Ep
  who resembles in a measure many of the Egyptian types that one sees among 1 the ancient sculptures in the British Museum. He invariably wears a dark gray flannel shirt, neither waistcoat nor necktie. loose fitting coat, brown shoes, and leather belt around the waist of very baggy trousers. His hair Is black and since he left the army he has once more allowed it to grow, s0 that it hangs in strange sleek waves and curlS almost down to his collar. lie is usually accompanied at the Cafe- Royal by his wife, who is severe look ing lady of highly conventional appear" ance, and his model, Miss Meum Stew art, whose face and figure he repro duces more frequently than those of anyone else. In the Cafe Royal waS also to be seen the most cosmopolitan gathering of military men. Frenchmer in their gay uniforms were there by the score, while l think l have seen more American naval and military officers within the old-fashoned walls than have anywhere else, and yet there n no music, no dancing. no modern d.s play.
 There is another side to Cafe Royal | life that is terrible as well as inter- estlng. For some reason or other, it Is the special haunt of dope" fiendsY These miserable drug-dosed creatures slt on the red VelVet DencneS hour Dy hour, drinking during licensed hours such aperitifs and cordials as they can procure and each looking greedil.' at the other, probably sizing up the possi- hlllty of some one or other having an 1 extra dose of their own particular poison" handy.
 A story l was told the other day hy q man who was a witness of the !n- cident has its humor well as it's tragedy. An American officer. with a very bad cold. was seated at one of the