Evening star., 1941-08-14
Mrs. Winont Happy, if Little Homesick,
AS Ambassador Wife in London
BY SHEILAH GRAHAM,
| Correspondent Of Tie Star and North
American Newspaper Alliance.

SOIlcSpuuuenL OIL 1.Ic Quar- ana NOE III
American Newspaper Alliance.
| LONDON, Aug. IA (By Wireless).
Il called on Mrs. John Winant,
wife of the American Ambassador,
at her London home to find out
what she was doing and what she
| thought of life in England under
front-line war conditions.
Surprise No. l YVES the smallness
of her apartment in Grosvenor
Square There is one medium sized
living room, a very small dining
room, three bedrooms, and her fur
niture is rented. Here in this mod
est home live Mr.. and Mrs. Winant
and their Scottie dog, Pebble.
Mrs. Winant, who gives the i'm
preston of extreme shyness, arrived
in this country in Az il of this year,
following her husbands appoint
ment in February. A few days later
came the most severe air raid yet
suffered by Londoners.
What did you do?" I asked her.
Unconditional Reply.
I wish I could reproduce the calm,
Unconditional tones of her answer.
Her behavior during the raid got
her off to a flying start with the
Britishers of all classes. When the
sirens sounded Mrs. Winant and her
tin hat went next door to the
American Embassy, took the ele-
vator up to the roof and watched
the blazing fires and followed with
her eyes the bombs as they fell in
Grosvenor Square.
After q few hours she became
sleepy and went back home to bed,
where, she assured me, she slept
soundly through the rest Of the
blitZ.
Another reason for Mrs. Winant's
popularity in this country is her re-
fusal to take advantage of her i'm
portant position for differential
treatment regarding food and cloth
ing. She sticks to her ration cards
and gets the same amount of butter
and meat as the poorest person here.
So far she has used up only five of
her 26 dress coupons, she tells me
with smile.
Entertaining at Minimum.
In former peace days the Amert-
can Embassy in London was the
setting for lavish receptions and
dinner parties. Now its host and
hostess are too busy for anything
but small, intimate dinners, often
with Prime Minister and Mrs.
Churchill. The latter, next to Lady
Reading. is Mrs. Winant's closest
friend. The last and only big func-
ton given by the Ambassador and
his wife was on July 4.
The Winants have an EliZabethan
country farm of 200 acres in Buck
inghamshire. near Chequers, the
country home of Britain's prime
ministers and hence the country
home of the Churchills. But Mrs.
Winant has been too busy visiting
munition factories and centers en-
ploying women in all parts of Eng
land, Scotland and Wales to have
time for more than two week ends
in the country.
One afternoon recently Mrs. Wi
nant attended a small party at the
American Eagles Club in London,
and she says she would have danced
with them all if she had the time
and energy. Both the Ambassador
and his wife follow the present
custom of no evening dress at night
unless the occasion is very i'm
portant and official.
When I asked Mrs. Winant for
news of her family she told me that
her two sons, aged 19 and Is, re-
spectively, are in New England and
both training to be air pilots. Her
married daughter lives in South
America with her Peruvian hus-
band.
May Visit U. S.
Mrs. Winant is homesick for her
children and may at the end of
this year Clipper back to the United
States for a brief visit. When I
asked her why she does not have
her sons visit her in London she
told me that there are enough
mouths to feed here without adding
two more Winants.
In the United States Mrs. Winant
is famous for her kennels and has
won many prizes with her Scotties.
But the Ambassadors wife in Eng
land must conform with the ruling
of six months quarantine for dogs
coming into the country. Not wish
ing to inf1ict this on her pets, Mrs.
Winant had the happy idea OF
sending up to Scotland for the
mother of some of her prize pups
sent to her in the United States.
Before leaving to make speech
to an American group OF nurses
(she hates speechmaking, nciden-
tally), Mrs. Winant told me she en-
joys her present job in England
and reiterates the sentiment ex-
pressed in one of her recent speeches
because of the superb manner in
which they stood by their posts we
(Americans) owe vast debt OF
gratitude to England"