Evening star., 1934-10-14
Tales of We'll Known Folk
In Art, Literature, Politics
ights-Dinner for Col. Dodge Who Dined With
Queen-Roosevelts Luncheon on Wharf.

| con WlIn IEe resi- OI LIE party. WIldG
was to be done. AS usual, in true
Rooseveltian style, they put every one
| at ease by announcing that they had
brought their lunch with them and
if there was no objections they would
like to eat it sitting down on the
wharf overlooking the Potomac. 1t
was jolly meal and the first time
such distinguished visitors had
lunched SO informally there.
OF course one does not lunch or
dine in the old mansion-except Queen
Marie of Rumania. Her majesty is
perhaps the only visitor to have
been entertained at luncheon in the
banquet hall at Mount Vernon since
| is was made a national shrine. 1t
will be recalled that this was the
room that Gen. Washington planned
as banquet hall and reception room
to meet the growing needs for dis
| tinguished guests arriving in ever
| larger numbers as his public service
| increased. 1t was in this room that
the grand ball was given in honor
of the Marquis de Lafayette, after
| Washington's resignation as COM
mander in chief, in December, 1888. I
LldG Ndo d Gay pal ~. Ad1dyClIC5
! ing his hostess, Martha Washington,
much worried because the ball room
was not entirely finished, with other
| guests volunteered to put it in order
for the ball. 1t was in 1875 the marble
mantel in this room, Sculpt by the
great Canova, arrived after having
been seized with the English ship
which was captured by French pirates
who boarded her and stripped her of
! her cargo. Col. Dodge tells this
| charmingly in his book. He says:
When the boxes containing the
mantel were discovered, so great was
the renown of the man to whom they
were consigned, that, at some con-
siderable risk to themselves, the
pirates arranged to have the gift
transshipped and forwarded to its
proper destination"
But the luncheon party for the
Queen of Rumania-a unique honor
both to the Queen and Mount Ver-
non. 1t was like this: When the
Department of State telephoned Col.
Dodge that they would like her
majesty entertained at luncheon in
the mansion as a signal honor to
the beautiful granddaughter of the
late beloved Queen Victoria, the
colonel replied that there were no
facilities for such an entertainment
But Mr.. Butler Wright prevailed upon
him, so he arranged the luncheon in
due form through caterer and was
requested by the Queen to sit beside
her. His description of the affair
the dramatis personae of the party
all arranged in the form of play bill
is one OF the interesting things in his
book.
And now the lovely Marie who has
just recently been enjoying a delight
full, Carefree visit to England and
seeing her little l1-year-old grandson,
the Crown Prince of Yugoslavia, now
King by the assassination of his
father, King Alexander. and her other
grandchildren, is shrouded in grief
for them and their mother, Queen
Marie. Peter, who will now ascend +
the throne Under. regency, was at |,
the Sandroyt School in Gotham,
Surrey, England, when he heard of
his fathers death. He is described
as a sturdy chap. loves sports and
entered into his school life with zest
and a feeling of comradeship for his
school mates. After all the royal
children of Europe are usually reared
! in sensible, simple fashion with a
| feeling that there is something In
! life for them to do, and seriously.
1t would be horribly inapropos to
say anything about those charming
Whistler etchings which Mr.. Julius
Garfnckle has recently lent to the
/ Corcoran Galleries, for it is said that
Miss Mechlin is going to write about
! them in a rather serious and more
artistic way than it could be done
here. Buff permitted-the etch-
| ings are really most pleasing. "The
Rag GathererS" with the girl with
| the exquisite wistful eyes is lovely;
''Bicket, the Fiddler is most in
triguing with kind of Moorish look
IN his eyes; "Soupe a TroiS Sous
! look at the man at the end CT the
tablets he not like the artist him.
self? "Bibi Latonette" with the
wonderful hair-just what is it about
it that one would like to touch? And
then another little girl-Whistler
liked to paint little ones, Annie
Haden"-either his little niece or
/ great niece - charming and the
"Vielle aux LoqueS," the room in
| semi-light, yet minute in detail, and
the old woman asleep at the door.
This week there will be on view
! in the National Art Gallery, COL
lection of bird pictures that is rather
unusual and most attractive. A
number of paintings of the birds of
! the Northern and Eastern part OF
the United States, also some etchings,
all by DR.. Henry Smith Williams,
who writes for Natural History, those
! fascinating stories for bird lovers
and who is not?
The craftsmanship OF the birds In
building their nests and the in
genuity with which they contrive to
surround their homes with color
| full background is in this instance
| largely due to DR.. Williams help. He
put out yarns and cruels in bright
colors, where the birds could get
| them. AS a result they have some
times woven bits into the nest and
when that was not practicable strung
| the yarn on the branches or made
hanging draperieS of it from the nest,
giving an ensemble of color that is
very pretty. Mr. Herbert Friedman,
curator of birds at the National
Museum. has arranged the exhibit In
a most interesting manner.
The hard-working Secretary OF
Agriculture, Mr. Henry Wallace, must
have had on his fighting clothes when
he wrote, New Frontiers" his latest
of some 314 pages containing much
of interest even for the city man
and woman. One hears so much
about farmers that there must be an
enormous population of them. Mr..
Wallace has been dirt farmer, but
this book is about many things which
are just at present agitating the
/ VANITY CH0ppE