The Washington times., 1935-04-10

NOW
BLOSSOm-Tinle
Weather Here
NARCISSI OUT
BY HELEN ESSARY
Cherry Blossom weather.!

=, It comes to Washington every
year at this time when the Japa'
nese trees around the Potomac
are in bloom. Cherry Blossom
weather Is like yesterday and
the day before and last week.
It Is sogginess and gloom anu
damp tourists and daffodilS
dropping under April snow. 1t
Is the chill in the spring air
that penetrates the marrow
bones of a visitor in a thin
suit and makes a washing
tonian wrap his old winter coat
close about his neck so the
drip from umbrellas won't
trickle down his spinal column.
Cherry Blossom weather! 1t
Is guest rooms Cummy with
visiting galoshes. 1t is wheezeS
and sneezeS and disappoint-
ments.
It is a trick of nature to
bring the. Department of -igri-
culture and hotel proprietors to
a meekness " spirit. For with
all of their representations
and their START arrangements,
they can't push one small clout.
away.
In Alexandria they are show
Ing their flowers-indoors. To-
morrow and Friday, in the Ar
mory, thousands of narcissus q
be- your pardon, narcissD will
be exhibited by the Garden
Club of Virginia.
Mrs. Frank M. billiard, Mrs.
Malcolm MatheSon, Mrs. Julian
T. Burke, Mrs. Francis Carter,
Mrs. Willoughby Reade, Mrs.
William j. Boothe, and Mrs.
Thomas Cochran are awfully
happy over the showing.
AS I heard them talk about
the many kinds of narcisSi,
which are really daffodils
(same family, began to sus-
pect that perhaps the spirit of
Mr.. Wordsworth will be wan
dering there more lonely than
his famous cloud. among the
radiant new species of daffo-
dis which have been developed
since he wrote his poem.
Mr.. B. Y. Morrison, editor Of
the National Horticultural Mag
aZine Che. himself, has devel-
oped 100 species Of 'narcissD I,
says the daffodil was first a
little modest wild flower.
"The daffy-down-dilly" made
her first sophisticated appear
anee. according to Mother
Goose, when "she came up to
town in a green petticoat and
a red gown" This was prob.
ably the beginning "of the
civilization of the daffodil."
The modern daffodil or mar
cissus, or jonquil, may be like
q big lily. It may be a bright.
gay creature with orange red
or pinkish cups.
Maryland's fine daffodil show
several years ago inspired Mrs.
Leslie s. Gray and Colonel
and Mrs. Floyd S. Harris Of
Stoke, Aide, Virginia, to ar
range Virginia's first narcissus
show.
Mrs. Richard wainwright and
Mrs. Richard Hammett are d.
recting the Alexandria show,
which is the fourth annual State
event.
Still on the poetic note. When
Percy Mackaye read from his
Ballads of the Kentucky Hills"
the students at Mt. vernon Semi
nary in pale yellow, green, and
pink frocks OTIS their spring
afternoon custom) must have
been an inspiration to further
poesy.
Mrs. Peter Goelet Gerry, the
dramatic and lovely wife Of the
Senator from Rhode Island,
sometimes wears with formal
evening gowns high open-toed
sandals and no stockings.
"Obstacles in the Career Of
Alben w. Barley" was the
astonishing heading over the
picture in a Lexington news.
paper, of Mrs. Barley, wife OF
the Kentucky Senator, and his
three attractive children. But
that wasn't all of the insult, so
Mrs. Barley told me. The pic
ture of the Senator, used in the
same group, was one taken when
he was in college.
Mrs. Barley didn't mind the
heading very much. Pretty WON
en- aren't easily offended. Be
sides, the incident was part OF
q campaign.
Letters have come asking
about Tony, the police puppy in
our household. Is he good and
quiet now? How does he sleer
at night?
When I started to write this
paragraph, Tony was gallopine
through the hall with a tin
measuring cup, batting it as he
went on the bare floor between
the rugs. How he found the cur
in the kitchen, don't know
Now he's tired of his toy. He
just brought me an apricot satir
spread from my bed. He Il
tangling himself up in it, kick
ing and biting it's folds. Stor
it! Bad dog!
We promised the Head Of thu