Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1952-05-18
British Plan
Annual Party
On June 5
Birthday of Queen
To Be Celebrated;
Other Garden Fetes
By Kothorine M. Brooks


afternoon, June S to celebrate
the birthday of Queen Eliza
beth II. Court mourning for the
Queens father. the late King
George vi, will be lifted May
81 and the date for the cele-
bration of the British Sover-
eign's birthday is set for June S.
June will always be the month
for the celebration no matter
what the date of the ruling
monarch's birth. King George
was born in November and
Queen Elizabeth's natal day was
in April. June is the month for
garden parties in England and
there a garden party means
Strawberries and Devonshire
cream, an especially favorite
combination to any English
man.
Strawberries were flown from
Holland for the dinner which
Queen Juliana gave in honor of
President and Mrs. Truman dur
ing her visit here last month. So
English berries and perhaps
Devonshire cream could be
served at the garden party in
Washington.
HighIight of Spring Season
Garden fetes at the British EN-
bassy have been the highlight
of the late spring season in
Washington ever since that dip
lomatic mission has had gar
den. The old Embassy on Con-
necticut avenue at N street had
a garden at the back which
faced on N and Nineteenth
streets. There the birthdays of
Queen Victoria and King Ed
ward v were celebrated each
year. In addition the chatelaine
of the Embassy entertained small
groups Of guests in the garden
for tea. And it was tea then,
not cocktails.
Just across Dupont Circle in
those days, Mrs. Levi z. Letter
made use of her charming gar
den on the Nineteenth street side
of the house that extended to @
street. This garden had a brick
wall around it, making for more
privacy than Mrs. Richard
Townsend had in her garden at
Massachusetts and Florida ave-
nues.
Mrs. Letter always invited
friends during the height of the
rhododendron blossoms for
which her garden was famous.
Her son and daughter-in-law.
Mr.. and Mrs. Thomas Letter
carried on the entertaining in
the garden after they inherited
the property. Now the Dupont
Plaza occupies the site.
Mrs. Townsend's very high
iron fence with a fairly tall
hedge and trees gave protection
enough for tea in the garden.
Nor will this inviting spot be
completely spoiled by the cree
ton of the building which will
connect the main house and the
stable. The Cosmos Club, pres
ent owners of the property,
needed still more rooms than
the 100 in the house and the adj
ditional space in the stable
since the roof has been raised.
White House Parties
The White House, through the
years, has been far from i'm
mune to garden parties. Some
mistresses of the Executive
Mansion have been more fond
of entertaining on the South
lawn than others. Mrs. Theo-
dore Roosevelt frequently had
guests at tea under the trees and
if the weather threatened they
slipped tea from the vantage
point of the south portico.
Dame nature was in her
most gracious mood yesterday"
said the society column of The
Evening Star of May 9, 1902
when Mrs. Roosevelt received
hundreds of her friends in the
White House garden which is
now at the height of its spring.
time beauty. The June roses
will present a new setting to a
similar gathering, which, re-
viving old fashioned customs
in the Inequalities of the
Presidents home. accentuates
as it eclipses their historic
charm in the mind. The Marine
Band held the center of the
lawn and played throughout the
afternoon. Mrs. Roosevelt,
most daintily dressed in white
organdie and a becoming large
hat wreathed in pink roses, stood
under one of the wide spreading
elms across the path from the
south portico to welcome the
guests.
Miss Roosevelt (now Mrs.
Longworth) in pink crepe and
pink and white hat, received
also, the presentations being
made by Maj. McCawley. Re-
freshments were spread under
tents on each side of the gard
en-. President Roosevelt, just
before setting out for his horse
back ride. spent a while with
the company"
Anniversary Celebrated
President and Mrs. William
Howard Taft were fond of the
garden for entertaining and the
south lawn was the scene of
the reception June 10, 1911
celebrating the 25th ami
versary of their marriage.
That party was an evening
affair with lights strung among
the trees. and the brilliant re-
ception in its fairyland set
ting was talked about for many
a year.
The Franklin Roosevelts
opened the grounds for their