Evening star., 1935-03-24

She did not fill it with recipes for
soups. jellies and pickles but made
it snappy and wrote about things
women in all walks of life liked to
know about. And now here's secret:
Mrs. Banister confesses to writing
poetry; loves it and says she has
always been intrigued by the rhythm
Of words: the sounds are to her like
color is to The painter-one might
say kind of chiaroscuro in the light
and shades Of meaning. She also
edited successful society magazine
in washington.
Gov. Ross, as she is addressed
in the Treasury Department, has also
the honor of being 1.-TWO firsts": The
first woman to be appointed Director
of the mint and the first woman
Governor of a sovereign State, having
taken Office several months before
Gov. Ferguson Of Texas-the only two
women in the United States to hold
the Office of Governor.
The three Graces were seen on
Saturday morning when they were
awfully busy, 1t being half holiday.
The Governor was signing mail at
about 100 per and talking at the
same time When asked why she did
not use a rubber stamp. she replied
that this was not a rubber stamp
She is used to cam
paigning and as national commit
tee woman spoke in almost every
State in the Union-she is used to
the give and take of debate and has
a quick answer and ready wit. In
passing, may it be said she resigned
from the national committee when
she was appointed to her present
position.
When one enters Gov. Ross Office
there is an instant impression OF
warmth, light and hospitality. She
came from Tennessee, and the WIN
dows of her Office also look out over
the Presidents south or back yard.
and over to the Department OF State,
where another TenneSSean reigns.
She has a blue velvet carpet, too, and
lovely blue plush curtains at her win
dows, all of which corresponded with
the blue frock she wore and her blue
eyes. Otherwise, it's a rather severe
business office in its furnishings and
there are no feminine touches about
the desks of any of the Graces. Not
even a photograph or a donkey-they
leave all that for the men. Two flne
old group engravings with President
Lincoln, hang on her wall. and her
books are technical and legal.
BY the way, no books OF poetry
were seen in Mrs Banister's ONCE.
People with old-fashioned ideas about
manish women in public life should
see these three smartly-even dain-
tily-dressed women of Uncle Sans
Treasury Department.
All America and especially Wash
ingtonians have a lively interest in
a new biography of the late lamented
King of Belgium, Albert, who met his
untimely death when mountain climb
ing in Switzerland several years ago.
The author Of this forthcoming life
of the soldier-king is Mr.. Emile Cam
maerts, a Belgian living in England.
He is said to have received much as
sistance in his work from the Queen
Mother of Belgium, who supplied a
good deal of original material for
the book and personally went over the
manuscript from time to time. The
biography was written in English
and will be brought out in this coun-
try in the Fall by the Macmillans.
It would be rare in these days,
when books of exploration and travels
in the remote regions Of the earth roll
off the presses with almost lightning
rapidity, to take down an old thumb
worn volume Of the Travels" Of
Mungo Park, q book that once thrilled
the reading public. And yet Mr..
Stephen Gwynn has been able to
again arouse interest in the brawny
Scottish doctor and explorer whose
book was one Of the thrillers of the
eighteenth century. Mr.. Gwynn's
"Mungo Park and the Quest of the
has staged a comeback for
the neighbor of Sir Walter Scott,
whose life was so full of adventure
and hair breadth escape from can
nibals and other terrors of darkest
Africa. Expeditions in those early
times were not conducted on the
lavish and even luxurious scale OF
explorations, when every
branch of science contributes its share
to making the work not only sue
cessful. but comfortable to a degree.
And now right here in these United
States, in Greenwich Village. great
granddaughter of Mungo Park writes
verses and has new book to be out
on Thursday called "Pansy Joyce:
A Fantasy" Miss Eirene Mungo-
Park, she hyphenates the name, does
not write about man eaters, lions and
tigers, but very poetic fancies.
The third and fourth volumes of
Mr. Winston Churchill's MARI
borough: His Life and Times" is now
out, and aside from the elegant die
tion, the at times almost too classic
style, the charming illustrations one
cannot help but have the feeling that
it was written by one of the blood and
that sometimes the too sympathetic
attitude oward the Great Duke, is one
of klnsmanship.
The reviewer tells one that these
two volumes treat of the AguStan
Age of Queen Anne. "As architect,
Wren was completing st. Paul's
Cathedral. AS scientist, Newton was
knighted. Defoe was evolving Robin
son Crusoe. Pope was polishing the
precisions of his poetry and an
obscure individual called Newcomer
quietly devised a steam engine that
pumped water for fifty years."
That was a swell party the direc-