Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-06-01
AS ONE WOMAN SEES IT
Master Of ReveIs 10 Needed City
offlcIal So That Our Guests OF
Honor May Not Be Done
to Death
BY SARAH d. LOWRIE

was acted as well as It was told to me
the other day by woman who was just up
from Washington.
rather well known woman, a great
favorite, was asked by some men in one Of
the legations to act as hostess for them at
very small tea they were giving, to which
Einstein, the scientist, had consented to
come. The afternoon was very lively
one, Einstein was made, much of and roared
Just enough to make the other guests feel
they were meeting 1ion In fact, his
quiet modesty and yet approachableness as
to his theory and its possible consequences
encouraged most of those present, especially
the charming temporary hostess, to be enter
they proceeded to bait him little with
artless questions. He seemed unaware Of
the extra fun they were having, however,
ana was very generous and obliging about
writing in their various autograph books,
etc, To his charming hostess he was es-
pecfaily generous and, oblivious of her
somewhat exaggerated homage, he gratifed
her by sentiment he wrote down for her
alone and presented to her.
Some days later the men who had gotten
up the party allowed their hoax to creep
out! The agreeable gentleman was just n
Dutchman they had inveigled into PERSONAL
ing Einstein and as unlike the scientist in
appearance and manner as possible as was
made apparent by the latter's photographs
In the Sunday papers.
It was therefore a case of-he who laughs
last laughs best
TNHIS story was told me on my way out to
l. Bryn Mawr the other afternoon to the
garden party the president of Bryn Mawr
college was giving in honor of another great
foreigner, Nine. Curie. In this case there
must have been moments when Miss Thomas
would gladly have resorted to some mild
hoax in order to satisfy the 500 or so quests
who had fastened at her bidding to see and
meet Nine: Curie! For as i'll luck would
have It, the great woman was not robust
enough to meet those guests or so much as
sit where they could see her. She is evil
IDENTIFY very fragile, and on this occasion,
after consenting to remain on view seated on
the terrace with Mrs. Stevenson for short
time, the burden of being gazed at even
admiringly BY the gathering guests grew too
much for her and she retired. So that quite
TWO thirds OF those who came to meet her
were unable even to see her. If only some
pale, smallish person with a slight stoop
and a kind, sad face and withdrawn manner
could have been dressed in wide black
sun hat and thin, black very simple frock,
and been put between two young girls who
were palpably foreign and a little shy and
maze tableau of for half hour down
there In the deanery garden, every one would
nave felt satisfied and rewarded.
A 8 1T was, some of us who slipped away
"isiout otoppluS W nave tea or
an ice actually saw the real great woman
as she sat in the motor that was to take
her away from the deanery, and watched her
bend with very tired little smile and greet
the little procession of upper class girls in
their caps and gowns that marched passed
the deanery saluting her. as they went BY.
On leaving the campus we happened to see
that the motor In which she had driven away
had actually stopped out of sight of the
deanery; her great bunch of red roses lay on
the seat, and she and her daughters and
their escorts had evidently gone to cover
somewhere nearby, let us hope to enjoy a
quiet cup of tea like ordinary folks in some
friends rooms. Naturally we probed the
mystery no further, for our one glimpse of
her very paid face was enough to make us
ieel h, anxious that no extra strain, even a
evidently very delicate physique
One wonders if even with such curtail-
ments Of her schedule as have been resorted
to since she landed she can stand the pace
OF her welcome here in America much
alert and organized hospitality. And one
has but to read the letters of any celebrity
who visits us to realize that our very lavish.
ness undoes the good impression we desire
to make and destroys the real impression we
desire to get.
INVEN had Nine. Curie been a very up-
IL and doing person the plan devised for
her here would have sent her on to her next
grandstand with a confused impression of
university degrees, presentations, luncheons,
dinners and garden parties museums and
laboratories packed Into a day and a half
Of continuous publicity. I know one man
who took series of Masonic degrees in the
course of twenty four hours, but he never
moved out of the building. and saw compare
lively few persons. But Philadelphia
planned to give Nine Curie three degrees in
three different institutions the same day, a
luncheon and dinner, all after train trip
from Washington. 1t was very hospitablc
Of US, very ingenious and appreciative of
the debt we owed our great guest, but also
a little overbalanced. Even royalty, used
as 1t is to being stared at and heralded and
programmed for, would have been paled be-
fore the ordeal.
COME ONE suggested not long ago that
- there should be connected with every
city government a master of revels who
could decide nice points about entertaining
public guests, pass upon program of hos
pitality that would warm without unduly
heating up the heart of the stranger and
would act as bride to the would be
hosts.
President Thomas in sparing her chief
guest and disappointing all the others did
a heroic and fair thing and actually ex-
emplifed the real spirit of hospitality Of the
town, but 1t takes a brave woman to steer
an entertainment Onto tne rOCkS OF an anti
climax for the sake Of the very guest it was
inaugurated to honor.
T HAVE often wondered if the somewhat
l. stony manner of many foreigners that we
delight to honor" may not be accounted for
by the state of dazed fatigue under which
they labor Sometimes they are just slow
in the uptake, however! l remember Wayne
MacVeagh's once telling us of a drive he
took Matthew Arnold out beyond his country
place near Bryn Mawr. As they descended
the hill at Berwyn he pointed to the op-
posite slopes which hide the Schuykill
| River:
'It's beautiful country, Mr.. Arnold -
| said he, "as beautiful as England"'
Matthew Arnold viewed the Landscape
with a critical calm.
"Ah, yes" he said, very charming nc
doubt, but not England! You have no his
torical interest, nothing happened here
you see, MacVeagh Pretty, yes, and pros
porous, but it lacks interest, lacking tho
| human story"
"And yet it is Valley Forge!" said
Wayne MacVeagh.