Evening star., 1932-11-13

IN hornes inhabited OF these the
! 4 a bravest was Nancy.
b. At Mirador, Albemarle County
Va, dwelt Master and Mistress Chiswell
Dabney Langhorne, who during the era
of the cotillion and lancers and before
the tango, of the coach, the trap and
sidesaddle and before the Ford. be-
slowed upon their happy community
living Pleiades, smiling constellation
of five beautiful Star-eyed daughters.
OF these sisters Irene Langhorne was
the most beautiful and the most
gracious; but sister Nancy was indeed
the bravest, and 1t is of her we sing.
1t is a pleasant song to sing: One
about Nancy Langhorne. A song pitched
largely in major chords and broad,
cheerful, ascending melodies. Undoubt-
edly it is battle hymn more often than
not, but not without romantic nocturnes
and ballads. 1t is pleasant song to
sing because it is about girl who never
has grown up. OF course, none of us
in fact does grow up. We know and
do lots of things when we are young
and growing. Later we simply con-
Solidate our ideas and realize upon the
result with bit more restraint, We
cease to invent. We simply become
cautious. Accordingly, in order to
understand something of Lady Astor,
British member of Parliament, who has
JUS arrived in America for a short
visit to her native State, we must first
observe Nancy Langhorne in her teens
Child of Contrasts.
She was as a child devoted to amaz-
ing contrasts of habit that were
never-ending source of delightful, anus
ing or painful surprises to her devoted
parents and sisters. She was graceful;
She loved pretty clothes; she was
musical; she danced lightly. She could
be delicate in manner, sweet and
thoroughly feminine; that is, for one
moment she might. The next moment
she was Virginia's champion tomboy.
She would put down the lid OF the
piano after finishing quite prettily
saccharine Chopin nocturne and five
minutes later, if you heard a hubbub
outdoors, you would find Miss Nancy
in the middle of the street playing foot
ball with the boys-and as boys played
1t, too.
She was dainty or rough, respectful
or impertinent, peaceful or turbulent,
as she seemed to believe the situation
demanded. But undoubtedly her rough
ness and her turbulence were the emo
ton of the ever-reforming woman. II
YOU were the one she roughed or insult
ed 1t was for your own good.
Take the case of John Powell, later
the famous American pianist and COM
poser. John was the fattest and most
oyergrown boy of the community. He
had a complex about 1t and summed
competitive contacts with other boys.
The Langhorne girls liked John. and
Nancy had plan to cure him. 1t was
plan which required strength and
he Eno clNa T11IIcf have holm
So she went to the more beautiful, the
more gracious but somewhat larger
sister Irene.
Waited in Ambush.
One day sisters Nancy and Irene
waited in ambush at the Langhorne
gate. where John Powell had to pass on
the way home from school. When he
arrived abreast of the gate the two
Young ladies pounced upon him, upset
him and rolled the surprised boy about
in the dust This was for his own good.
they informed him. 1t was to induce
him to go back and play with-and,
yes, when necessary to sustain his self
respect, to fight-each and every boy
of the neighborhood.
John Powell rubbed himself here and
there, and reflected. He knew Nancy
and he knew that he had choice. He
decided that he would be better of
taking the chance of conflict with the
boys than the certainty of daily assault
and battery of no gentle variety at the
| hands of the gracious Irene and the
| feminir ely accomplished Nancy. He
has been generous enough in later years
to tell this story himself and to say
that he actually did go back and fight,
that his former boyish tyrants were so
ccnfounded by his unexpected and fero-
cious belligerency that they let him
alone and paid him decent respect from
that day forward.
This narrative reveals the young girls
waring, courage and rough-andready
| determination to achieve a purpose
which, outwardly gesture Of bravado,
was inwardly an emotion Of sympathy
and understanding.
Sense Of Democracy.
But Nancy Langhorne also possessed
a more strictly feminine type of SYM
pathy. Another story, which proves
that her sense of democracy was sin
cere, automatic and natural, also will
help explain her later political success.
1t was said that she had a most fas-
tidious taste in manners of speech and
dress. When the occasion demanded
Sl4S COul0 w 4lCI6C1l up W
the point Of immaculate perfection.
On one occasion, when she was trav-
cling by train, dressed in her usual i'm
peccable manner, she observed a tired
and poor mother surrounded by five or
six Of the dirtiest children to be found
in the commonwealth. The dainty
Nancy stepped nearer and noticed that
the woman was so tired it was impoS-
sible for her to keep from nodding.
Every time she would nod child would
tug or sQuawl and awaken her.
This was too much for Nancy's i'm
pulsiVe nature, so she quietly herded
the children about her and drove them
down to the farther end of the car
Then she went to the only means OF
ablut1on on this day coach-the water
cooler. With a combination of Ice
water and her handkerchiefs she re-
duced their hands and faces as nearly
to a condition of cleanliness as heI
equipment permitted. And she kept
the children about her, quieting then
with stories for the rest of the trip
while the tired mother slept on.
Tempestuous Yet Tender.
When, therefore, we jump abrupt!
over the years to the vigorously cam.
paigning Lady Astor 1t will be well TO
us to carry with us these pictures o
this tempestuous yet tender American
schoolgirl
For when she left for England an,
the Langhorne PleiadeS had lost one o
its stars, she brought with her memo
! ries Of things pleasant and unpleasant
. All had not been riding to hounds ant
dancing in the Commonwealth of Vir
. ginia. There was a stratum there tina
walked and limped, that never rod
or danced There were. particularly
. too many tired women and too man
poor and hopeless children.
! And when she reached London sh
4 found still wider there the gulf be
D tween the carefree luxurious and tn