Evening star., 1924-08-10
Tales of Well Known Folk
In Social and Official Life
Southampton Eagerly Awaiting Arrival of Britain $
Prince for Polo Contests-Notes of Dis
tinguished People.

ana Where Sne n1tnerto mas spent Hei
vacations. Nine. Galli-Curcf pur-
chased nearly 200 acres of land in
the mountains and intends to pre-
serve the utmost privacy during her
rest period. 1t is near the Maude
Adams estate. Incidentally she has
learned that she is located right in the
heart of the Rip Van Wrinkle country
ard she is spending some of her
leisure over the legends which abound
in every glen and valley of her new
preserves. After the 'painstaking
ideas of all Latins. Nine. Galli-Curcis
house is all pegged. and not nailed,
custom prevalent in old England
centuries ago, but now as obsolete
there as ii is in this. But in many
parts of Italy nails are still un-
known for holding wooden parts
together. The wood in the Catskills
home of the singer is principally for
'wo alike. and for the numerous long
doors leading to balustrades.
Both the Harry Payne Whitneys
and the Payne Whitneys followed an
old colonial custom when they Sc
Iected the great wide hall which di-
yides the lower floor of their homes,
one at Old Westbury and the other
tions which followed the wedding of
Mrs. Barklie' Mckee Henry and Mrs
Charles ShiEman Payson. During the
regime of the builder of the present
home of Mr.. Harry Payne Whitney, the
late william c. Whitney. this long
wide hall served the purpose of an
assembly or living room. and the vast
fireplace, filled with Madonna lilies.
, and syringa for the wedding in June,
could hold logs long and thick
enough to give sufficient heat for
the company. The hall leads at the
am hx-S Of dc Il ;v,I,
to tiers Of terraces and porches, and
the company parted gracefully into
two sections for The dining rooms or
the confections on the verandahs and
overcrowding was thus avoided.
Practically the same arrangement
holds at Greentree, the Payne Whit
ney home. and both bonny brides,
Barbara Whitney, now Mrs Henry,
and Joan Whitney. now Mrs. Payson,
received fluctuations in the recess
made by the grand stairway. Many
portraits have been made. of Gen. and
Nine. Washington in the fine old hall
Of Mount Vernon, where they received
friepdS gathered for many purposes,
and. where the splendid fete for Gen.
Lafayette was held just before that
hero set sail for home. and when
the gentry of the Potomac section
of Virginia and all the military were
hidden. When Eleanor Custis, the
second granddaughter of Martha and
adopted daughter of George Wash
ingtoh. married Fielding Lewis. son
of WaShingtons sister, Betty Wash
ington Lewis. she stood at the left
of the stairway to receive congratu-
lations.
New York society is radiant with
JOY over the fact that Miss Marian
Hoffman, one of the major heiresseS
of the mighty city. has chosen life
partner among her own people and
one, like herself, of the historic line
of New Workers who have so consid-
eraoly contributed to its greatness
Her fiance is Aymar Johnson. son of
the late Bradish Johnson of Islip,
Long Island. Time without number
Miss Hoffman has been reported en-
gagged to this and that British duke
or earl, for her mother. Mrs Charles
Frederick Hoffman. for FIVE consecu-
tive summers leased superb coun-
try estate, Cobdam Hall, near Graves
end and Chatham, and was a promi-
nent hostess to the titled gentry
thereabout. Mrs. Hoffman has in fact
become SO welded to British country
life that she recently purchased Bick-
ling Hall at Aylsham, in Norfolk.
though she spends every late Summer
and Autumn at her. Newport place,
Armesea Hall. Miss Hoffman will be
Cathedral of ST. John the Devine and
will reside in New York City She is
the daughter of the late Charles
Frederick Hoffman, and the grand
daughter of the Rev. Charles Hoff-
man, who was for many years presi-
dent of the General Theological Semi
nary on Ninth avenue. The Hoffman
fortune in real estate is one Of the
largest in Gotham. Mr.. Aymar John
son comes of an opulent family domi-
nant in the social history of Man
haitian Island. He served in the World
n ho .in haf
the arrival of Gen. Pershing, with
the American legions.
Sir Arthur Cope. R. A.. has given
distinct impetus to the revival Of sign
shops in England by his quaint produc-
tion for that old hostelry on the Kent
side OF London known as the Good Fell
lowship Inn, and which is always used
as an example of a public house which
can flourish under the new dispensation.
The Good Fellowship Inn is of the "re-
formed type" which would rejoice the
heart of Wayne b. Wheeler and Vol
stead, and the royal academician has
painted sea of snowy pillows on which
a ship sails calmly under picturesQuely
tossed clouds whereon the words Good
Fellowship are entwined. Lombard
street has recently broken out in a per-
feet epidemic of painted signs recalling
the olden ways of this financial district
The American traveller may eat his NUT
Ton chop ana guam MS glass or ale un-
der the Sign of the Cat and the Fiddle,
as Ben Franklin did more than $50
years ago when he last visited the Wall
street of London. The Cat and the. Fid-
die of today, is, however a revival
sign. house furnishings and all. Nearby
is another revived inn also of the re
formed" type. the Grasshopper, which
was the scene of much merriment for
the coaching parties in the opening nine
teenth century, The reformed inns of
London are those which sell strong
waters or even ale and beer only at GER
tain hours. and where the food is tempt
ingly prepared and displayed and the
idea. is conveyed that it is the proper
place to eat and not to fiirt with bar