Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-08-21
BY MARGARET b. DOWNING.

President and Mrs. Coolidge will
without doubt accept the invitation of
the proprietors board Of manage
ment of the new Chamberlin.Vande
bilt Hotel, to be erected on the site of
the old Chamberlin at Old Point Com
fort. According to present plans, the
hosiery will be opened with formal
ceremonies about the first week OF
April. and since the entire acreage is
a military reservation. the Secretary
Of War will be the official host. All
about this spot are presidential mem
cries, and few of the Executives of
the Nation since the Civil War had
failed to visit the old Hygeia and its
modern successor. the Chamberlin,
which was destroyed by fire in 1920.
1t was from the Hygeia. where Presi-
dent Cleveland was spending a quiet
week, that he issued his famous Vene-
zuelan message which so electrified
the Nation and for time made war
clouds gather. Such exciting days
had not been spent in Fort Monroe
since the famous battle between the
Monitor and the Merrimac as those
which followed that historic VeneZue-
Ian document, which, by happy coin
cidence, sent from Fort Monroe, up
held the doctrine of that President in
the most powerful terms. Benjamin
Harrison. as President. passed many
brief holidays at the Hygeia, and also
President Mckinley, who, with a
group of intimate friends, like the
late Mark Hanna, often tarried for a
rest during the stressing days of a
busy Congress. There will be a
sumptuous presidential suite in the
Chamberln-V Vanderbilt, and it will af
ford a delightful place to rest during
q voyage of the Mayflower.
Mrs. Herbert Hoover is giving much
attention to the formation of a garden
club by the Girl Scouts, and she will
when occasion offers, aid her young
wards in finding a suitable location
for the purpose. Montclair, n. j., two
years ago had the Girl Scouts begin
garden in its most congested district
and the result has been of incalculable
benefit. The seeds of vegetables anC
flowers of simple habits were fur
nished by the local plant and flower
guild. Weekly chats We're conducted
on the best methods. Children's gar
dens are springing up in all large
| cities as the result of the Scout activi
| ties and the tireless efforts OF the
| National Plant, Fruit and Flower
Guild. Three blocks in New Yorl
| City, on Avenue A, right in the hear
| Of the upper East Side, were given tt
| the children by the Rockefeller Insti
| tute. For eight months this space
| furnishes open-air exercise for the
| children, together with course o.
| systematic instruction in garden lore
| This venture began in 1912 with s.
little ones enrolled. In 1925 there
were more than 1000, and this pas
! Spring witnessed so many applicants
| that more space is needed. Lettuce
early onions, radishes and cucumber.
are raised, with some beets, beans anG
corn, and each child has her own aIlot
| ment, and she owns what she pro
| duces. In the closed-in months these
| children work in the same garden
| helping to plant and later to distribute
the living Christmas trees presented
| each Autumn for distribution amons
| the sick and shut-ins of the neighbor
| hood. As Washington has so much
! vacant ground under municipal con
| troll Mrs. Hoover will have little
| trouble to obtain a site for a Scou
| garden when the time is ripe for it:
| selection.
| Mrs. Charles S. Dewey, wife Of tn,
| Assistant Secretary of the Treasury
has an interesting memory of he
| recent presentation at court in {
handsome pastel, done in London will
| such care taken of detail that the
| picture might pass as one Of the
| famous Romney portraits. Mrs. Dewey
| selected a gown of cloth of gold, made
on the ample lines of the Victorian
| era, with gathering of the materia
about the hips to form wide, flowing
| train of deep cream satin. A bodice
| familiar in the pictures OF the 40's
| with lace extending across the arm:
| and rounded hack and front and fin
ished in scallops embroidered in golt
was another revival of the fashions
of long ago. Mrs. Dewey, who has q
| calm, intellectual face. wore her hail
parted in front and caught without
any sort Of establishment in a low
knot at the nape of the neck, and
across her brow was a heavy circlei
of pearls and diamonds, with the
Prince of Wales feathers caught or
| the left side. The only modern touch
was a huge. deep-yellow ostrich fan
with richly incrusted handle of gold
Before her marriage Mrs Dewey was