Evening star., 1936-11-08
Mrs. ,Benet Finds Washington
Retains Charm, of Her CirLl,00d
Native of Capital Returns
after 81 Years
abroad.
JESSIE FAINT EVANS.

Qearer WIN tne passage OF tne years.
Such q daughter is Margaret Cox
Benet, wife of Laurence v. Benet, dis
tinguished engineer and inventor Of
the Hotchkiss machine gun, and
granddaughter of Col. John Cox,
Mayor Of Georgetown when Lafay-
cite paid his triumphal return visit
to America as the Nations guest.
Mr. Benet, who was with the Hotch-
kiss Machine Gun Co. of France from
1885 until his recent retirement as its
vice president and managing director.
like Mrs. Benet is only coming back
home to live in the Washington that
he knew SO we'll in his boyhood. Born
at West Point, he prepared for Yale
at the old Emerson Institute here
during that period when his father.
Gen. Stephen v. Benet, was chief Of
ordnance, on duty at the War De-
partment, and the family resided at
l7l7 I street. In that neighborhood
in which Mr.. Corcoran Thorn still
has his home, and where Secretary
of the Navy Whitney, Admirals
Schley. Powell and Rogers and Gen.
Hunt. as well as many other dis
tinguished Army and Navy officers,
once lived.
The life partnership of Mr.. and
Mrs. Benet is one of those Washing
ton romances which ripened into mar
riage here in 1899 from an acquain-
tance between themselves and their
respective families which dated back
to their early youth.
Today, although Mr.. and Mrs.
Benet have had their lives cast into
dramatic mold beyond their native
land. and have returned to it with
numerous decorations from world gov
ernments signalling their achieve
ments and distinctive service, each
has maintained that simplicity. poise
and gracious charm for which they
we're known in the days when Wash
ington's population was a long way
from stepping over its 600, 200 mark
Of today. -.
Both Are Bi-Lingual.
Both are bi-lingualists, using French
or English with equal ease. =
In modestly brushing aside my ad-
mlration OF her fiuency in address,
ing a French maid who accom.
panied the Benets from Paris and to
whom many of our American ways
are evidently still a mystery, Mrs.
Benet said. When I found out my
life was to be chiefly cast in France.
I then and there determined that the
first and most important step toward
placing myself in a receptive mood
toward understanding its manners
and customs was to address myself to
mastering its language from the
background Of my schoolgirl smatter-
ing of it."
Weren't there many tremendous
adjustments from life in Washington
to residence in cosmopolitan Paris?"
asked. mo, not as many as YOU
might at first suppose" replied Mrs.
Benet, "once the language barriers
were down. for Washington has from
its beginning been Americas most
cosmopolitan city, socially and polit-
ically. and ones life here Is always an
excellent preparation for the varied
associations which make up ones So
journ in foreign land"
In fact" Mrs. Benet added, zone
OF the many delights that is our por-
ton in coming back to our Nations
Capital to make it our home, this time
for the rest of our lives, We hope, is
that in Washington, as in few cities
in the world, one meets from time to
time nearly all of the delightful
friends that one has known the world
around. Upon some errand or an
other, be it scientific, business or DO
litical, they all seem to pass through
in way that Is equalled nowhere
else"
As striking example of this, Mrs.
Benet commented upon their several
delightful meetings this past week
here upon their native heath with
Madame Jusserand, their friend of
many years standing, both in France
and America.
Find City Much CHANGED.
In response to my queries as to
whether they found Washington
greatly changed, Mrs. Benet added,
Naturally, during our 81 years resi-
dence in Paris, we find that WASH
ington has grown so tremendously in
all directions, with new streets where
once there were the grounds of large
estates or the meadows of farm lands,
that sometimes we almost have diff
Guilty in finding our way about. For
instanse, Western High School now
occupies the site of The Cedars, which
was the birthplace Of my father,
Thomas Campbell Cox, and the resi-
dence Of my grandfather before he
went to live in Cox's Row, George
town. On the other hand, many of
the old Georgetown and Washington
homes are still standing with their
lines not greatly changed despite ex-
tensive remodelings. This Is true of
the home where my mother, Margaret
Robinson, and were both born.
Later used as the Dunbarton Club. It
is now familiarly known as Kirke
place.
But, with all Of the changes which
that passage Of over quarter of q
century and q half was wrought in
the Capital since Mrs. Benet left
Washington as a bride. they are both
finding it good to be home again, to
be renewing old acquaintances and
making new ones against the back
ground Of the years when they knew
a younger Washington. As always,
they are convinced that nowhere else
in the world Is there to be found q
more charming or le-hearted cour-
tesy to the stranger within the gates
or to the old friend returning from
afar. With 2l0l as their base, the
Benets are expecting not only to be-
come better acquainted with the
Washington Of today but to know their
own United States again and to see
much of 1t on frequent trips.
Already their spacious apartment,
with its blending of Old World treas
ures against background of family