Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-04-27
Tales of Well Known Folk
In Social and Official Life

City. His mother was Miss Amy Hol-
land Of Long Island.
X X X
Mr.. Philip Guedalla, the London
writer, who has as much of vogue in
this country as in England, has been
intriguing his friends about a hand
some, unusually large tortoise shell cat.
| Whenever the author invites friends to
tea in his apartment on the Thames
embankment this cat is stretched out
| full length on a leopard skin rug and
adds that touch of color and life so
highly priced by the artistic. The cat
will lie in the most graceful pose for
several hours at a time, and the query
among Mr.. Guedalla's friends is whether
he has trained Master Tom for the part.
1t also is a much debated question
whether the author first got the cat a
gift of his friend, the late Sir Edmund
Gosse, and then furnished his home as
background. He never replies to such
queries, but no company ever assemblies
about his hoSpitable hearth, and con-
Sequently around the cat, that these
questions are not discussed. Such a
fad by so well known and popular a
man has of course influenced others in
the writing or dramatic world. Talulah
Bankhead, the Alabama girl who has
such a firm hold on the affection and
admiration of the British theatrically in
clined public, has a most gentlemanly
Pom" who will pose for hours, and he
wears ribbon bow matching the gown
which the actress wears and the flowers
which deck the drawing room and tea
board. But cats are more quiet at
tea than any sort of canine, and they
are having the vogue at present, al
though Mr.. Guedalla's is given first
honorsSin his role.
Mr.. and Mrs. George Bullock re-
their estate, Yeadon, in Oyster Bay,
Long Island, which in size and general
contour resembles that most famous of
aquatic pleasure grounds in all the
world. that of the Villa d'Este near
T1voli, suburb of Rome. These older
gardens have the tallest expresses in
Europe surrounding the falls and pools.
This feature Mr.. Bullock has been I'M
able to reproduce, although he has had
expresses of considerable size trans
planted from an ancient manor house
in Maryland, and those who own Yeadon
so years hence may be able to boast
the tallest expresses on Long Island.
Villa d'ESte, which every conscientious
visitor to Rome visits twice. once for
the splendid gardens and once for the
art treasures collected by Cardinal
d'Este in the sixteenth century, was
the property of the Austrian Emperors
until the Italian unif1cation, and it now
is owned by the government and has
been turned into an arts and crafts
museum of the medieval years Mr..
and Mrs. Bullock, who are active in
sporting circles of the Sound, are close
neighborS of Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt
at Sycamore Hill and are often her
guests: Their water garden, which is
now the point of interest in that sec
ton of the island and visited by hun
dredS OF its denizens, differs from the
italian model in that it has been placed
in full view of all the rooms facing the
Sound and is within a few hundred
yards Of the house along a winding
path. In Villa d'Este the gardens are
aloof, as IN all Italian handicapped
spaces.
Mrs. Edward Savage Croker, I'd, was
before her marriage Miss Lispenard
Seabury Of New York City, and was
known for artistic tendencies expressed
IN remodeling ancient houses and
gardens. Mrs. Croker gave free rein |
to this prediction during the service |
Of her husband as secretary of the |
United States legation in Budapest. |
The stately capital of the Magyar
cities, has superabundance of palaces, |
but few comfortable houses of smaller |
dimensions. Mrs. Croker, however, |
found q comparatively modest house |
on high hill commanding a winding |
turn Of the Danube, built In 1400 and |
apparently architecturally unchanged
There were 80 rooms, many even of |
the sleeping apartments of heroic size,
but undaunted she set out to transform
the interior while leaving the exterior
lines unbroken. Mrs. Croker, who
superintended the work. drew the plans
and chose every detail, frowned on any
attempt to tear out old walls for the
necessary heating, lighting and VEN
tilating of the modern home. Super
flcial wood partitions divide rooms and
conceal pipes, while hardwood floor
performs the same task for heating
coming from below II
There were, of course, magnificent
chimney pieces which were retained in
many rooms and which give the needed
ancient touch. Mr.. Crocker, who
entered the foreign service about 10
years ago, has been transferred to
and the handsome mansion
which he and his wife spent two years
In changing and two in occupancy is
now being negotiated for by Mr.. S.
Pinckney Tuck, who succeeded him in
Budapest, and whose charming wife is
the former Beatrice Beck, daughter of
the Representative from Pennsylvania.
X \ \
Such eminent citizens of this Re-
public as DR.. Nicholas Murray Butler,
president Of Columbia University; Mr..
Edward Hartman Simmons of the
Stock Exchange, New York City, and
Mr.. Samuel insult, well known financier
Of Chicago, were In Rome at the same
time during the first week of April.
Dr.. Butler and his wife and daughter
were received in special audience by
he Roman Pontiff and spent pleasant
hour looking over some newly acquired
lrt and book treasures, and they were