Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-05-10
Tales of We'll known Folk
In Social and Official Life
President and Mrs. Coolidge Generous as Hosts
Aboard the MayAower-ManyN Notable
Events Sketched
BY MARGARET b. DOWNING.

by MARGARET Is. DOWNING.
President and Mrs. Coolidge have
"cn generous in extending the hos
.tality of the Mayflower to many
cups of Washington people. Max
; the journey as regularly as they
-. they have become familiar enough
III the lines of the noble Potomac
20 Identify its most significant points.
I ne river bank is, in reality, the old
I t part of Washington proper. and
ne redoubtable Capt. John Smith
lied up as far as the Little Falls a
injury and a half before the agents
President Washington arrived with
'cir measuring lines to plan the Fed
{ al City. L'Enfant. the French en-
neer, who drew the ground-map of
ne Capital, has left in his correspond
! zee many references to trips by skiff
al the Potomac as far as Georgetown
hen he was viewing the future city
= ON every angle and designing what
has proved to he the most beautiful
I'D adaptable plan of any city in the
""rld. On what is now one of the
..'"st unsightly parts of the wharves
nearly 200 years ago there stood the
cgant mansion Of Motley Young, one
- the original proprietors of the land
esident Washington purchased for
The Federal District. This was part
:" the Duddington Pasture grant, and
;he house of brick was spacious, sur
FUNDED by noble groves of trees, and
,ood on the high bank at what is
npw G between 9th and 10th streets
southwest. In this mansion was the
!,rSt Catholic chapel in what is now
he District of Columbia, and in it
'rass was celebrated in 1862 for the
rst time within the boundaries of the
capital.
If the Chief Magistrate 10 years
hnnce takes his friends a sailing down
the Potomac instead Of up in an air.
Hlane, now probability, there will
10 among the sights of interest a
hite marble cross, which is to be
'"ected on the site of the Motley
Dung mansion in connection with the
ir;tional celebration of the 30oth ami
Nersary of the landing of Gov. Leon
"rd Calvert on the Dove and the Ark.
At st. Marys City, Nd, which will
ncgin March 25, 1884.
The Spanish Amba ssador, Senior
Don Juan Itiano y GayangaS, dean of
the corps, who recently received the
decoration of the Grand Cross of
charles III. has lived in this country
long and speaks the language SO
Perfectly that outside of Washington
20 is rarely identified in his present
"Nalted role. During his recent visit
- st. Augustine he was constantly
tapped on the back by some one
,Iaying golf on the Fort Marion
green, who called him this and that,
and they were from almost every
state In the Union. But the Ambas-
;ador's most amusing experience was
when a caddie rushed up breathlessly
md asked him to watch two bottles
II pop, while he. the caddie, went on
IN errand, a request which the Am
,aSSador most gracefully granted.
hough the youth delayed his return
or half an hour. Charles III of
pain, who founded the Order of the
rand Cross, just bestowed on the
lean of the Washington diplomatic
,;urps, was the monarch under whose
patronage nearly all of the famous
spanish missions of the Southwest
we're established and in whose honor
20 many in California. New Mexico
md Arizona are called San Carlos.
lie was the benefactor of Padre
Iunipero and made many gifts to
the missions of California.
George Henry Vanderbilt Cecil,
the young son of the Hon. John
Francis Amherst Cecil and his wife,
who was Miss Cornelia Vanderbilt,
could not have had more colorful
born in the Old World castles of
either Amhersts or Cecils. This i'm
portant younGster renowned the
devil and all his works and pomps,
of course, by proxy, in All Souls
church, where his parents had been
married, and the chief godmother was
Princess Beatrice of Battenburg.
with Miss Rachel Strong of Cleve-
land acting in her place. The Henry
in the name is for the late Prince
Henry of Battenburg, the intimate
friend of Mr.. Cecil and his chum in
college and in the army. The George is
for his maternal grandfather and
likewise the Vanderbilt. The religious
ceremony took place a little after 4
o'clock and then buffet supper was
served for about 800 guests in Bilt-
more House, while at the same time
the tenantry of the vast estate sat
down to similar supper served in
/ large recreation hall on the
grounds. AS soon as it was dark,
across the wide esplanade hlazed
forth in large electrically lighted let
ters, welcome, Young GEORGE" and
for three hours there were set pieces
of bouquets, flags and fountains
lighting up the scene while the
merry making went on and light re-
treshments were served during the
entire evening. 1t was, with per-
haps a half dozen exceptions, a party
composed of the Biltmore neighbors
and friends, many from Asheville
and from adjacent estates. Young
Vanderbilt, as he is to be called,
ened into Van" long before he
reaches the school age, is in the care
of a fine ruddy-complexioned English
nurse, the same who watched over
the infancy of the Hon. John Francis
amherst Cecil and his numerous
brothers and sisters.
The Earl of Lathom. who is passing
he Spring in New York. and who has
come very quietly into Washington
several times and renewed ties of
friendship here, is about to produce a
play, published under d nom de plume,
and he is awaiting the outcome OF his
venture. The earl Is not in the most
robust health, the result of a painful
wound during the Dardanelles cam
paign, and he has sold all agricultural
interests in England and is going in
for a sedentary literary career. He
has so carefully guarded his assumed
name, which he has been using in his
visits to Washington and Chicago, that
no one save a few know 1t or where
his play is to appear in New York,
though the offerings of all new candl-
dates in the line Of drama are being
carefully watched. The earl is the
first cousin Of the former Ambassador
from Italy, Prince Gelasio Caetani,
and he inherited the title when less
than Is years Of age. He has large
fortune, which he devotes principally
TO aiding impecunious playwrights
and authors, though always in an in
volved and anonymous, way. He has
been for years identified with the
Young literary group in London, and
D,-in nd