Evening star., 1928-11-24
THE LIBRARY TABLE
By the BookloUer

washington has passed by the win
dows of Mrs. Marietta Minni6trode
Andrews house, on Sixteenth street at
she has seen, both actually and with
her minds periScope, she tells in her
recent book, My Studio Window" AS
reminiscen9s, this book Is a continua-
ton of Mrs. Andrews earlier book,
Memoirs Of Poor Relation" Past
her window have gone makers Of his
tory, the Clevelands. the Harrisons, the
McKinleys, the Roosevelts, the Tafts,
the wilson's, the HardingS, the Cool
idges; on foot, in equipages. in auto
mobiles, on horseback. attended by the
inevitable Secret Service men," Not
only Presidents and their wives have
| formed the Washington parade IN Mrs.
Andrews time. She recalls John Hay,
"well groomed, one might say dapper
William Jennings Bryan, "untidy
McAdoo. "enigmatical, electrical, ap-
parently endowed with inexhaustible
energy and perpetual youth; Buffalo
Bill, 1.-THE handsomeSt man I ever saw;
Winnie Ream Hoxie, "a loving, roly-
poly little person; DR.. Swami Burnett,
"a man retiring by nature, lame,
great scholar, and placing himself COM
pletely into the background Of his gifted
and rather spectacular wife--FrAnces
Hodeson Burnett" and, because q list
cannot 60 on indefinitely, nearly al the
people Of note who have lived In wash
ineton or come there for stays OF any
length during the past 40 years. sne
and her husband, both artists, painted
the r,ortraits of many of the dwellers
and soiourners in Washington, and OF
these portraits she speaks with hunlor-
GUS in1personAl criticism: second
rate portraits, it is true, but that hard-
Iv matters now; at least they were
sincere. Nevertheless, among
our victims we're generals and admirals'
cave dwellers and journalists, Senators
and cabinet officers, diplomats and So
cietv climbers, ladies and gentlemen,
heroes and four-flushers poor paint
er-or q pair of them-must take peo-
ole as they come, and during 50 years
or more some heartbreaking canvaseS
were taken from our easeis to be seen
no more!"
During the period covered by MY
Studio window" washington has
evolved from q comfortable town-city
of Southern atmosphere into a greater
capital, stretching out into many Mary
land and Virginia suburbs ana wrestling
with a traffic problem daily becoming
more complicated. When the Studio"
was first built, herdicS and vctorlaS
rolled up Sixteenth street, guided by old
coyored coachmen. THE afternoon pa
rade of equipages drawn by. well
groomed horses has vanished forever
and with 1t a graceful detail of womarl'S
afternoon toilet, the paraSol.
Today, at the old hour for driving or
calling, a trafflc jam equal to that at
Park avenue and Fifty-seventh street!
Clasps and groans OF motors, the WHO
siren of fire engines and anlbulances,
the chugging, choking sound of gas and
screeching Of brakes-the traff1c police
man arguing in vain with the lmper-
turbable old coachmen of Mrs. Arthur
Addison and Mrs. Norman Williams, the
last private carriages in washington.
Events extending over this period have
reflected the changing life of the Cap
ital City. Old residences have been
torn down to make way for tall new
hotels and office buildings. THE most
popular clairvoyante ever known In
Washington" mulattress. lived in a
little brown frame house where now
stands the Martinique Hotel. We have
seen the once famous residences in the
vicinity of the Capitol fall from their
high estate. the old homes Of George
town yield for time to K street, Six
teenth street and Massachusetts, avenue,
and now we witness q return to George
town, an exodus TO the more restful dis
tricts near the Cathedral, as the FASH
iorlahle Northwest is invaded and con-
uuered by business" The different In
aukuYations. dinners made successful
by clever guests, testimonial celebra-
tions and memorial services, studio par
ties sustained by conversation, Virginia
ham, chicken salad and Rhine wine.
veterans paTades, Red Gross mass meet
ings, military funerals, fashionable we'd
dinRS at St. Johns. musicals and teas
at the homes of society leaders-are all
part of the Washington life described
so intimately by Mrs. Andrews. In this
book the old Washingtonian will find
familiar things and the reader outside
washington will find much interesting
information about the events and per-
sonages of the Capital, both in the pres
ent and in the past.
** \
Jacob Wassermann, considered by
most German critics one of the fore
most of present-day German novelists.
has In his romance "CaSpar HauSer,"
recently translated into English, told
more or less true mystery story. The
supposed facts of the story are related
by WasSermann in his introduction to
the English edition. In the summer Of
1928 a boy Of II who could neither walk
nor speak, with the exception of few
sentences, mysteriouSly appeared in Nu-
remberg. The famous crinlinolog1St, An
selm von Feuerhach, became interested
in the boy and a few years later pub
lished a paper about him called AN
Example of q Crime Against the Soul of
q Human Being" In this paper he at
tempted to prove that Caspar Hauser
was "a legitimate prince of the house OF
Baden, a brother of Queen Karoline OF
Bavaria, a brother of the Duchess OF
Hamilton, a brother of the Queen OF
Sweden, who had been removed from
the scene in early childhood" Caspar
was according to this theory the son
of the Archduke of Baden and his wife
StefAnie. Three other sons died shortly
after their birth, murdered according 10
Feuerbach, and Caspar was immured IN
q dungeon, where he remained until ne
was II. A sinister. coHrt intrigue, IN.
volving a morganatic marriage, was At
the root of the tragedy of Caspar. In
publishing the pamphlet, Feuerbach
knew that he was running terrible risks
and his death not long afterward was
attended with suspicious circumstances.
which gave rise to rumorS of violence.
Caspar himself was murdered, some
time after his appearance at Nuremberg.
He has since become one of the mys-
terieS of minor history, like the Man
in the Iron Mask" and the woman
whom today many are proclaiming the
Grandduchess Anastasia of Russia Was
Caspar Hauser the heir to the Archduke
of Baden or was he an impostor? Jacob
H.. ftnC
the thesis that he was the rightful heir.
y X X
wild animals are much less danger
.ous than automobiles. One Is in great
er danger attempting to cross Fifth
avenue in New York than in going un-
armed through the $4,000 or more