Evening star., 1927-05-29
Rapid Development
| In Homes Has
f Followed World
War.
Has Many Gardens.
Area Is Almost En-
!. tirely Suburban.
Industries
i Sought.
BY THOMAS r.. HENRY

Il
Arlington County, Virginia, is the
Mrs. 1927 of Washington's suburbs
~ The gawky little girl next door
quite suddenly has stepped out as
, % very charming young housewife
who steps on the gas, cuts her hair
Short, plays golf and tennis, puffs
IAN occasional cigarette and captures
the hearts of all who look upon her.
iShe is child of the age, delighting
jim bright colors and shattered tra-
Sditions. Altogether she is a whole-
some and energetic young lady. She
lis the life of the party with such
companions as matronly Montgom-
! cry County and those two delight
full, white haired grandmothers, Fair
: fax and Prince Georges Counties.
Lively Mrs. Arlington has no old
fashioned ideas to curdle her delight
in mere living.
She grew UP a neglected child. The
1neighbors rather turned up their
noses at her in the days, not long
past, when she was playing with
: her rag dolls and making mud pies
on the Potomac banks. Few saw
s the beauty of complexion and feature
under the CRIME on her face. The
great alteration came during the hec-
tic days Immediately after the World
War when the so-called younger
generation" type in American life
was established.
Plenty of Cash.
I'd
a alick-haired city chap named
sSubdivisfon'' fell in love with the
girl, courted her and married her.
He was a bankers son with plenty OF
ready cash to lavish on his bride
5 He bought her silk dresses and sill
yer dancing shoes. She had her own
: car and a spick- and span bungalow
with a bathroom and a sleeping
porch. Their babies are being reared
according to pamphlets issued by the
Children's Bureau.
~ GAY Mrs. Arlington, remembering
her poverty stricken childhood, con-
fesses to an irresistible impulse some
times to stick out her tongue at her
sedate older neighbors and drive her
new car, 1927 model, past their homes
lust to arouse their envy. But for
all that she spends most OF her time
at home with household duties and
she is a regular attendant at church
on the Sabbath, although she may
go to the golf links as soon as serv'
ices are over. Her home life Is as
: substantial and respectable as that
of her Grandmother Fairfax, although
it hasn't the stiff corsets Of trad1-
tion to hamper 1t.
Arlington County, just across the
Potomac from the National Capital, is
20 square miles in area. 1t Is, ac-
cording to the local Chamber OF Com
rnerce, the smallest county in Virginia
and, with one exception, in the United
States. All of its western portion Is
on elevated land overlooking the dome
{ OF the Capitol. The county is almost
I. exclusively suburban Agriculture is
practically non-existent. Many of Its
inhabitants look forward to the day
/ in the near future when it will not be
a county at all but a suburban city
8 an integral part of the National Cap
ital, but with its own local govern
fment.
Houses Are New.
II IL hardly an exaggeration to say
that so per cent of it's houses have
been constructed during the past eight
: years. Most of them are Of high
quality Of construction and represent
ing the most progressive ideas In
architectural art. Across the Potomac
one can see the foundations OF mod
ern city which has sprung UP without
any deliberate planning and very
rapidly.
Just now its hills are garlanded with
blossoming roses climbing over bunga-
low porches like May day dresses on
school children-white Silver Moons
and Scarlet Climbers mingling in ex-
!. quisite silken designs with yellow.
stamened Reve d'ors and American
Pillars. The peonies and the irises
are in the full flush of blossoms in the
back yard gardens. Mrs. Arlington
tends her garden and loves 1t.
There is plenty OF aristocratic blood
In the veins Of the young n1atron1-
although she doesn't harp upon 1t and
none might not suspect it to talk with
her. But she could join the Daugh-
ters of the American Revolution any
day she wanted to file her application
md her sons can get into the Scions
cf Colonial Cavaliers without trouble.
The line runs straight back to the
Eay, colorful court of Charles II and
bis verse-writing cavaliers.
1 But Mrs. Arlington makes light of
all this just now. She will remember
II only when she gets a little fat, with
her children off to school and plenty of
time on her hands. At present she
needs all her leisure time for tennis.
Named After Earl.
The Earl of Arlington, from whom
the acounty indirectly derives Its name,
has small part in American history.
Charles the Seconds courtly and un-
scrupuious secretary Of state GER
fainly never stepped foot on these
few square miles Of oak and chestnut
forests which We're to perpetuate his
title In the New World. Probably he
never heard Of the locality. Few men
were less likely to have ventured into
the hardships of a rude unsettled land
than this scholarly diplomat, writer OF
cold and polished couplets after the
style Of his friend Waller. whose crafty
double dealing had much TO do with
the eventful downfall OF the Stuarts.
Sir Henry Bennett, nose SCARED for
life by Puritan saber, was one OF
that loyal but dissipated band of
cavalier exiles who surrounded
Charles the Second on the continent
during the years OF the protectorate
There one of his intimates was the
still less scrupulous but bolder young
knight, Sir John Colepeper or Gull
peper. After the Restoration, Ben
nets rise was rapid. First as minis
ter to Spain, where he was distin
gnished for his intrigues agains
France, and later as secretary OF state
he wss leading figure in English his
tory until his death in 1855.
AS reward for his services ir
filB4HS an emu u Tue buttn war
which included negotiating A marriag,
between the Duke OF YOrll's eldes
daughter. Mary, and William o
Orange, he was elevated to an earl
dorn. He had sYcnt his boyhood fl
the village Of Harrington in Middle
sex, about 20 miles from London, ant
chose his name for his new title
The I'll" was dropped almost imme
diateIy. Bennett may have though
darlington" sounded more aristocratic
or the change may have resulted from
q Cockney clerical error.
AeLad for Recall