The Washington times., 1935-10-26
NOW
English Women
.... Abroad
VERY SUPERIOR
BY HELEN ESSARY

BY HELEN ESSARY
Halfforgotten entry in my
European notebook advises me:
Don't forget to write about
the Travelling English Gentle
woman.
Say that you see her every
where on the Continent of Eu-
rope. In big hotels. In rather
sweet" little pensions in France.
On glaciers and mountain tops
In Switzerland. At the opera in
Milan. In a gondola in Venice
and at the roulette wheel at
Monte Carlo.
Everywhere the Travelling Eng
hsh Gentleman looks the same.
A little weedy, disillusioned,
and wan about the eyes. Opaque
as to complexion-foreign cook
ing affects the liver. Wispy
about the skirts, Firmly shod
about the feet. Variegated about
the narrowing to the tendency
Of foreign coiffeurs to expert
ment with rinseS. And given
to bangles and beads bought at
clearance sales at "the seasons"
end.
In personality she is a sport
ing character-takes chances
on sweepstakes and funiculars,
she is intensely interested in
the world at large. Is passion
ate about the integrity Of Eng
land and its superiority to the
rest of Gods Universe. But
she never stays at home long
enough to test these qualities.
She says this is because OF
'the climate"
I sat across from two of her
at luncheon on q French train.
They had never met before.
One had been in Spain and
the other in Austria. But
they recognized each other as
blood sisters and instantly fell
to talking about the places on
the Continent where lone
could be sure of a good cup
Of tea"
Another Travelling English
Gentlewoman I met in a hotel
in France. She had just re-
turned from British Honduras
where she had become a grand
mother. While waiting for this
event she had knit herself a
pair of silk gloves which she
was wearing at the moment I
met her. They were large
gloves with ample room for
expanSion-a true British note.
But she liked them. She wore
them haughtily and made us
feel somehow vulgar in our
new French suede.
The Travelling English Gen
tlewoman may be any age. But
she looks as if life in a per
sonal sort of way had stopped
at 40.
I should say undoubtedly she
once picked up an adventure
here and there-there's some
times a flash in her eye. But
see her on a Channel boat with
the wind off the Isle of Wight,
whipping her two-yearS-before-
last tweeds about her and you
know her present adventures are
reduced to finding good hotels
and reading thrillerS.
Emphasize "the thriller" my
notebook says. Next to tea, its
pursuit is the absorbing quest
Of the T. E. G.
In. Switzerland I met a thrill
Ter addict. Grade A, I should
say she was. Quite six feet tall.
Pale brown hair. Square jaw.
She marched into the dining
room three times a day with a
Thriller under her arm. Before
she shook out her napkin she
opened the book and fell to
reading intensely. Quickly she
gave her order to the smiling
little waitress. Then turned to
the book again. She read
throughout the meal. Even
managed to biSect a. pear or an
apple with a knife and fork-a
trick an American seldom learns
without taking her eyes off
the pages.
One night in the hotel lounge
after dinner she introduced her.
self to me with these words:
al see you are an American,
Tell me, are there and new and
good thrillers to read in your
country? My supply is running
. little low" -,
Whether the Travelling Eng.
liSh Gentlewoman is married or
not, I can't say. Her sex ap-
peal appears low. But she's
awfully: interested in the ro-
Inances of anybody she en-
counters in the south Of France
or Singapore or Indo-C China. Or
even in the Argentine where
foreigners" are apt to be a
little exaggerated.
Although she has no evident
kinsfolk, people seem to write
to the Travelling English Gen
tlewoman. She sometimes gets
letters from her very favorite
nephew, urging her to go to
that delightful Cannes. Under
no circumstances to come home
to Surrey, where it is fearfully
damp
Whatever peoples the Travel
ing English Gentlewoman de-
scendS upon she makes all
-LI-- Ra~I I;I~a EEfa,.ainr~, a,.s - r.