Indiana daily times., 1922-04-18
LADY ASTOR
AN AMERICAN
OF DISTINCTION
Speaker at National ConUen-
ton of League of Women
Voters Social Leader.
BY FRANCES GORDON DENNY.

BY FRANCES GORDON DENNY.
Lady Nancy Astor, NJ P, who will
speak at the Pan American conference Of
women and the national convention of the
League Of Women Voters in Baltimore
this week. will probably be the center OF
interest for the majority of delegates to
both assemblies. Her position as the first
woman member of the British ParliamenG
is in itself a guaranty of distinction, but
as an American, who has attained this
unusual distinction she Is doubly inter-
esting She is the daughter of the late
Chiswell ID. Langhorne of Greenwood.
Va, the descendant Of a long line Of
colonial ancestry, and was a leader, be-
fore her marriage, in Southern society.
An Indianapolis woman, who was one
OF her classmates in college, describes
'the beautiful Nancy Langhorne" as
high spirited girl, full of pranks and
mischief, but giving promise of the abil.
tiles that have been so brilliantly de-
veloped in her later career. Like most
Southern girls. she had the gift of rea ~
speech and he engaging aplomb peculier
to the daughters of the fine old families
Of Dixie. She must have needed both
when, as the wife of the young Viscoun5
Astor, she went to take her place among
the nobility of England.
YIsCOUNT's TITLE
NOT OF LONG STANDING.
Her husbands father, the first viss
count, would no doubt have preferred TO
wed his eldest son to a title, ignoring
the fact that his own was not of long
standing and had been won only by vira
tue of his millions-for even in England
great fortunes sometimes buy titles %
nobility. There had been more or less
criticism in America when this branch oe
the Astor family renounced their citizen4
ship in the United States to become sub+
1ects of Great Britain. The usual objec<
tion was raised that the Astor fortune
had been made in this country and that
1t ought to be spent here. They were
accused of snobbery and all that.
But after all, I suppose there is no
more reason why an American should noS
become citizen Of Great Britain il hs
chooses than a Briton should become an
American citizen. We hare a great many
Of the latter-some very distinguished
ones. too-and would like to have more.
A little reciprocity is not a bad thinrs
especially Just now Lady Astor's ex4
perience as a British subject and as a
member of the British Parliament has
fitted her to speak with authority on res
lations between her native country and
the country Of her adoption that sb9
could not otherwise have had. Because of
/ this very fact. American women are ex~
pecting her to bring to the Pan American
/ conference message OF special value.
/ UNIQUE SITUATION
/ OF HUSBAND AND WIFE.
/ II is unique situation for a husband
/ and wife to be sitting as members re-
/ spectively Of the two highest governing
I bodies IN d country; but such IS the case
/ in the Astor family. Upon the death Of
/ his father in 1919, Waldorf Astor, by vir+
3 tue Of his right Of succession, became
member of the British House Of Lords.
ThereupOn. his wife. our handsoms
Nancy. decided to try 'for seat in the
House Of Commons She conducted ber
/ campaign with 20 vigor that made her
/ English confreres gasp. She Travelled
over England making speeches iu all
/ sorts of places and before all sorts and
( conditions of people.
/ In England it is a common occurrence
/ for people in the crowd to shout guess
tions to public speakers and to seek to
annoy and confuse them by jbes and
impertinences. Among American men ot
almost any class traditional chiyalry
would protect woman speaker from
!
| England do not always have such scru-
! pies and neither the sex nor the title ot
| Lady Astor rendered her immune to their
/ attacks But her quick American tongue
( always had an answer 10 fling back.
| On one occasion when she was address,
! ing 4 meeting of workmen in the ships
/ yards a man shouted that she would
! better be at home taking care Of her
children. The little lady replied that
she was willing to have the condition
of her children compared with that Of
the children of any one present. and
| she invited the man TO come to her
/ house and see for himself. The next
| time she made q speech she brought her
/ youngest child along as an exhibit. IL
seems she has five children, the eldest
a boy Of Is.
| And that reminds me: The other day
| at a meeting Of one Of the large local
| organizations of women there were five
candidates for the Office of Judge Of tho
/ Juvenile court, who made ten minuts
! speeches for the purpose Of calling atten'
/ tion TO their particular qualifications fer
| that office and they all told how many
children thev had. They even went iur-
ther; they cled with one another. In
fact. by the time tt got down to tha
I II
paternity contest than political meeting.
Some Of the women had TO take refuge
under their ear muffs to hide their amuse-
ment The next day I happened to be in
an office where some young women were
discussing the speeches of the day before.
Those men seemed TO think we would
he more interested in the number of chill
dren they had than in anything else,8
said one.
Yes" observed another, its funny
what cheap bait they thing they can
catch Us with. isn't it,
But tljs Is q depression from Lady AS
tor Rumor& says that she is expected to
come to Lafayette to address the State
convention of the Indiana League OF
Women Voters, which will meet there
May . and 10. In that case. some enter
prising organization must surely bring
her to the capital city for a lecture. It
would be interesting to have such op-
portunity to compare our illustrious ex-
citizen with Mrs. Asquith, whose visit