Evening star., 1950-10-22

things such as binoculars with
high grade lenses which are still
surprisingly cheap. One of her
colorful memories of Paris is of
the horse chestnut trees in bloom,
turning the pavements raspberry
red with their fallen blossoms.
Bicycles jam Traffic.
At Avignon. where the exiled
Popes lived, all traffic was stopped
by an exciting bicycle race.
Traffic jams in rural France
result from bicycles rather than
from autos" she stressed. There
are literally hundreds upon hun
dreds of. them everywhere, many
of them tandems, with places for
the riders wife and children. All
the riders and their families dress
alike in the same color combina-
tions. Didn't see single woman
in slacks, except in the seaside
resort town of Biaritz."
Before they took their return
plane. they toured the Basque
country in Spain. Everywhere.
they saw jai alai being played,
with every little town having it's
court and with rivalry keen be-
tween the various localities as to
which should produce the cham
pion team. 1T is as popular with
the Basques as our American game
of baseball on our sand lots"
she reported.
Broad humanitarianism and a
strong sense of civic responsibility
are an integral part of Elsie Bell
Grosvenor's heritage from her
father and her mother. AS a
little girl, she and her sister
Marian, now Mrs. David Fair
child, used to sit in the hall be-
hind the drawing room curtains
to listen to scientific and cultural
table discussions which were a
weekly feature of the Alexander
Graham Bell household at 1881
Connecticut avenue.
This city owes its present high
grade of pure milk standards to
her pioneer efforts in this direction
as chairman of the civic section
of the Twentieth Century Club of
which she later became president.
She is past president of the
Women's Board of the George
Washington University Hospital.
and is now a vice president. She
is a member of the Women's City
Club, the Bethesda Women's Club.
the Washington Club, of which
she has been president, and of the
Molly Pitcher OAR Chapter.
She is vice chairman of the Pro-
gram Committee for the 6Oth ses-
sion of the National OAR Con-
gress when it meets here next
April.
Met in Nova Scotia.
The wedding anniversary to-
morrow follows by a year DR.
Grosvenor's observance of his half
century OF service as editor of the
National Geographic Magazine
They met in Nova Scotia in 1897
at the Bell summer home. Elsie
May Bell was just 10 and had
her Washington debut the pre-
vlous winter. She had spent much
time abroad studying in France
and Italy or travelling extensively
with her parents.
Young Gilbert Grosvenor had
put half a world behind him to
keep the summer meeting with his
future bride. He was born in Tur-
key at Istanbul (then Constan.
tlnople), where his father was
professor of history at Robert
College for 20 years. He was
graduated magma cum laude from
Amherst in the spring of 1897.
After his graduation he taught
at Englewood Academy for Boys
at Englewood. N. j. Then. in
1899. at DR. Bells request, he came
to Washington to be editor of the
National Geographic Magazine.
1t was then but a slim technical
journal with few readers.
DR.. Bell was the society's presi-
dent and anxious to keep the
magazine af1oat. From 1899 to
1904 young Editor Grosvenor got
his salary only because DR.. Bell
paid 1t out of his own pocket. DR..
Grosvenor, who celebrated his half
century in the editors chair last
year. performed many duties in
those early days. For he was
not alone responsible for getting
out the magazine. but he was
charged with increasing society
membership. bookkeeping and fis-
cal reports and he had to address
by hand all the envelopes in
which copies were mailed. But
the publication turned the finan-
clal corner in 1905 and has be-
come a worldwide success.
DR.. and Mrs. Grosvenor have IA
grandchildren, and for several of
them 1850 also has proved a
memorable year. Their names ap-
peared on the list of graduates at
the United States Naval Acad-
emy, Annapolis, Md; Harvard
| Amherst, Sarah Lawrence and
Colby Junior College. New Lon
| don, N. H.