Evening star., 1923-08-05
Tales of Well Known Folk
In Social and Official Life
Rumor Persists That Lord Ivor Spencer Churchill
Will Win Hand of Miss Grace Vanderbilt

East Africa about the hunting PROV
! ess of Mrs. Charles Curtis and her
| sister-in-law, Mrs. Dick Curtis, who
| accompanied their husbands on an
specimens for the scientific circles
| which fill the ZOOS of the United
States with rare serpents. The men
of the expedition were in the jungles
vitation of Sir Horace Archer Byatt.
Tgovernor general of British Tansan-
yika. to hunt pythons and cobras.
The two American ladies, being close
i to each other when. they spied a
giant python, succeeded in bagging
| and holding him until help arrived.
They were complimented by the gov
ernor. and the news of their exploit
broadcasted all over the world. Mrs.
Charles Curtis. wife of one of the
Natural History. was Miss Anita
| Grosvenor, cousin of Gilbert Gros.
venor of this city Mrs. Dick Curtis
/ is a New Yorker and was Miss Edith
| Roekler before her marriage five
years ago. The two scientists have.
since the exploit of their wives with
Sir Horace Byatt, admitted the ladies
into a full share of the expedition,
! and they are now in the thick of the
jungle seeking venomous and unique
reptiles on which experiments will
be made for the benefit of the victims 5
Of their fangs. The party will re-
turn to New York in October
Charles Dickens beloved home
GadShill. on the Dover road from Lon
don, was sold at public auction last
week and this despite the frantic ef-
forts of the DickensianS to raise a
| sum large enough to buy it as an
other of the shrines devoted to the
failed in their efforts. and this home,
which. perhaps. occupies a more i'm
portant place i'm English letters and
has been described oftener than any
other. goes. as it were, into private
life as the property of a London mer-
| that he purchased this freehold as a
home and not for museum Dick
ems lovers will be the losers, for
under all the tenants since the great
master laid down his pen after writ
ing the last words in Edwin Drood''
the home has been freely open to
those who sought it in the reverent
spirit called forth by it's memories.
Dean Hole, the illustrious English di-
vine and roSarian, lived there for sew
eral years and he has written a
charming description Of every por.
tion of it in his memoirs
To this admirer Of Dickens, the Rev.
Samuel Reynolds Hole. for almost
forty years dean Of the Rochester
Cathedral Chapter. the world of let
tiit IetoTulnS OF Cne nam &
OF the fake books on that secret door
which Dickens had cut among his
! library shelves and which bore such
whimsical titles as "Kant's Eminent
Humbuss, 10 vols: Lady Godiva on
Her Horse: Evidences Of Chris
tianity. by King Henry vIIf": His
tory OF a Short Chancery Suit in l1s
! vols" ': "Malthus' Nursery Songs; and
| Cats Lives in 9 VOLS with some half
dozen others Of equally amusing
names. A recent owner Of Gadshiil
tore out the partition which divided
the library proper from the inner den,
where Dickens was writing Edwin
brood" when death called him, and
the door covered with these painted
books and their titles was placed in the
Dickens museum in Devonshire Terrace,
| London.
| 1t is of interest that among the
/ American bidders for Gadshili was
/ Mr.. Brand whitlock, who, after retir-
ing from diplomacy, has returned To
| his former avocation of writing The
| prestige attaching to ownership OF
! the mansion of GadshiIl made a
/ powerful appeal to Mr.. Whitlock. who
j is in London looking after the publi-
! cation OF his latest novel, ~. Hardin
! and Son." which has begun to rur
serially in this country But evil
| IDENTIFY he took a second thought
when the average number OF tourists