Evening star., 1935-05-12

| each. He later wrote that he was
80 agitated" at being in the presence
of the great man that he could scarce
| ly mix his colors, and that his father,
Charles Wilson Peale. had to work
on canvas at his side in order to
give him assurance. In rare manu-
script in Peale's own writing, now
owned by Haverford College, he says:
This had the effect of calming my
nerves, and I enjoyed the rare advan-
tage of studying the dismal counte-
nance whilst in familiar conversation
with my father"
Mr. and Mrs Truxton Beale are GER
tainly charming to throw open De-
catur House. Lafayette Square, on the
22d and 23d of the month. Sweet
charity and fine treat for the money,
for it is not only historic, but uniquely
old fashioned in it's arrangement
Most interesting, and hallowed by the
memory of many of the early states
men of the Republic, among them
Henry Clay, Edward Livingston and
others. BY the way, Gen. Sam Hous-
ton would not have thought Henry
Clay could have hallowed anything
And President Andrew Jackson would
have had his doubts. The historical
paintings, and especially the collec-
tions of firearms, will be of great
interest.
If the fortunes of war or depres-
sion-just as bad-should ever prove
unkind to Mrs Edward c. Meigs,
president of the Woman's National
Democratic Club. she could go into
the antique business and show her
beautiful collection of old furniture,
portraits and silver.
From the time one enters the front
door of her spacious old house in M
street, just off Connecticut avenue,
surrounded by business and apart
| ment houses. one is impressed with
the delightful honey atmosphere and
the air of Colonial days when Chip
pendale and Sheraton furniture were
cherished possessions in everyday life
and portraits of personages looked
down from the walls dressed in their
eighteenth century clothes: when rare
old tones with their mellow looking
morocco and leather bindings peered
out from the book shelves and in
vited one for a quiet hour.
| OF course, it's not polite when enter
| ing drawing room to examine the
| furnishings. because the hostess might
come quietly in and catch one But
| if she's like Mrs. Meigs, she will be
pleased that some one has tastes in
common with hers and that they like
the things that have been part
Of her life since her birth-and of
several generations of her family be-
fore her.
She says she does not know whether
| she is a connoisseur Of antiques or
not because the beautiful old chairs.
tables. highboys and sofas came from
her ancestral home up in Pennsyl-
vania. and she cannot remember the
time she did not see them. Some
of these family pieces in her draw
ing room suite date back to the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
and on some of the chairs there are
today the exquisite silk tapestry made
by her grandmothers and her mother.
Mrs. Meigs, wife of the distinguished
scientist of the Department of Agri-
culture, DR. Edward c. Meigs, is how
ever. much more interested in the
reported plan" for the Woman's
Democratic Club than in antiques.
! 1t is a plan recently inaugurated to
get out information to the public
relative to the New Deal activities,
and the club women are just crazy
about it.
1t can readily be understood that
the alphabetical activities of the Re-
covery Administration causes a good
deal of guessing, for they are not
only hard to remember, but the COM
oination of some of those letters while
euphonious are not easy to run OF
the tongue Realizing all Of this
for she must have-the woman chair