Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-11-10
BY MARGARET B. DOWNING.


Mrs. William Howard Taft has bee
keenly interested in the opening Of tn
thirty-fifth season of the Cincinnati
Symphony Orchestra, but was unable t
attend the first concert. She hope:
however, to visit her home city befor
the close OF the season, which is II
every sense memorable one. Mrs
Taft was the organizer and first preSi
dent of this group of splendid musicians
and she did yeoman work in the earl
years trying to place the association OF
a music-loving city as Cincinnati thi
proved q difficult task. But this sea
son the orchestra opens with an excel
lent endowment and with assets which
include valuable real estate and re-
nowned work of art. Mr.. and Mrs
Charles P. Taft were the principal ben
efactors, but generous sums were con
tributed from all over Ohio. Mrs. Taft
Is unique among those who have pre-
sided over the White House, in that SHE
graduated with first honorS from the
Cincinnati Conservatory, and the faculty
recognizing her pre- emtnent gifts, in
vited her to become member. Sht
gave two years to actual teaching, anc
then Cupid interviewed, and the care
Of her husband, home and little ones
precluded her following the vocation
She remained president Of the orchestra
during her residence in Cincinnati and
until the present Chief Justice was sent
by President Mckinley as governor gen.
eral of the Philippines. Many recall the
exquisite silver bowl presented to Mrs
Taft by the members of the orchestra
when she was about to start on heI
Eastern journey.
4 4 =
A,,Jra io.n NOM yNYafraioV. nj
France, spent more than two years in
Washington as high commissioner OF
the French republic after this country
had Joined the allies in the war against
the Teutonic powers. For time he
lived in the lovely old colonial man.
Aion, Evermay, in Georgetown, now
owned by Mr.. Lamont Belin and leased
curing his absence as secretary of en-
baSSy in London to Representative Ruth
Pratt Of New York Eventually the
French commissioner removed from the
mansion and found quarters for him
self and staff in Harvard street near
Fourteenth street. Evermay then be-
came the residence of Baron and Baron
eSs La Grange, the baron being a finan-
cial expert assigned to duty in Wash
ington pending the French war loan,
which has since become such grave
international issue. Baroness La
Grange daughter of Mr.. Henry Sloane
Of New York City, was the principal
hostess of the French war mission, since
Nine. Tardieu never came to Washing
ton and, in fact, never lives in Paris.
Evermay was once part of the estate of
Bellevue and belonged to Charles Car
roll, younger brother of Daniel Carroll
Of Duddington, principal landed pro-
prietor of the Ten Miles Square, now
the District Of Columbia.
4 X
The late Mrs. Charles Frederick Hoff-
man, who died recently in her home in
Norfolk, England, had attained loftier
social heights in Britain's inner circles
than any woman from the United
States since the historic reigns of Mrs
Potter Palmer and Mrs. John Mackay
But unlike these eminent prototypes,
Mrs. Hoffman became absorbed in Eng
nsh politics, and in order to further
certain reforms she became subject of
his Britannia majesty and sought a
seat in the Commons at the election,
standing for North Norfolk. According
to her friends, she made a memorable
campaign and set a new standard In
the Liberal party, which she had
espoused. But she had an invincible
foe in Mr.. Noel Buxton, who is Mr..
Ramsay Macdonald's minister of agri-
culture. Her defeat was deeply humil-
Eating, as she had been assured of VIC
tory by seasoned politicians of M folk
However, Mrs. Hoffman's chief interest
was In her beautiful garden at BlicE-
ling Hall and her patronage of the Nor
wich and Norfolk Horticultural Society
she made the paramount issue. She
was recently made president of this old
organization, and had, in company with
the Prince of Wales, recently opened
its Autumn flower show. Mrs. Aymar
johnson of New York City, formerly
Marian Hoffman, was her only child
and will inherit her vast fortune. Mrs.
johnson never shared her mothers de-
votion to foreign parts and rarely, even
in he% girlhood, spent more than a few
months 10 Blickling Hall. She was
married IN the Cathedral of st. John
the Divine in New York in 1926.
-
The Minister froAA the Unitea States
to Poland and Mrs. John B. Stetson are
active leaders in the social wing resid-
ing in Warsaw on other than diplo-
matte concerns The legation Is a
lovely old palace with grounds which
make respectable park, known in local
circles as the Blue Palace from the
lavish way in which azure embellish-
ments were used. 1t was erected in the
early seventeenth century and stands
in old Warsaw near the Stare MiaSto,
or the center of things when Polish
Kings ranked with the most powerful
in Europe. The Blue Palace belongs 10
an old noble family whose members had
resided in France for years before the
World War. 1t was offered to Mr.
Hugh S. Gibson, who became the Min
lister from this country to Poland in
June, 1919, after that nations indie
pendence had been acknowledged by
the Congress of Versailles. Mr.. Gibson
accepted the offer, and for time ii
seemed that the government would pur-
chase it as a permanent legation. But
the negotiations were never completed
Mr. Gibson served five years in Warsaw
and is much esteemed there. His sue
cessor, Mr.. Alfred j. Pearson of Iowa
remained less than year after Mr.
Gibson had been transferred to Switzer-
land Mr.. Stetson has five years to his
credit in Poland, and he and Mrs. Stet-
son, with the financial adviser and Mrs
Charles S. Dewey, have almost trans
formed the grave and somewhat Sor-
rowful city which it was during Rus
sian oppression and during the World
War into one of the cheeriest and most
active capitals of East Europe.
4 4
The Bishop of the Established Church
in London In response to the protests
of his curates is making strong appeals
against the prevailing custome of young
couples walking off to the magistrate