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About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 4, 1907)
1 1 COMPLETE INVASION OF BRITAIN Complete by Purchase of Historic Mansions Along Tnames-Nearly a Million Spent by New Owners in Entertaining During This Season Alone-British Nobles Very Sore Over Events AMERICANS vS- f f ; J COTT AGErt v By Hayden Chureh. papers over the acquisition of the fa-Espectnlly coniiiderlnK that many names rnnvrlcht hv riirtia Rmwn Bious "III versdale' by George Keasier, are left out because the writer lias not (lpyrignt ojr curtw Brown. . made ,overa of the fashionable been able to ascertain definitely from LONDON. The river has been "reachei" of the river begin to look what American cities thtlr respective AmerlcanUed." That Is the cry about them. And lo! on every side were bearers "hall." Significant enough, thut now In raine un In Eneland the latest variety of American "In- however. In all conscience, and, as I that now is going up in England, v(jdert Jn posBeaaloIl of tn0 moBt de. have said. Intensely exasperating to the and an uncommonly doleful one It Brable houses and the most pretentious Britishers who hold that the Thames Is. For the "river" referred to "bungalows." v at least might be left an English pos- 1s the Thames, and the Thames, or at Now. ' e river season at its e' terJ !inhv0HX"'of , ex- promises to become one of the foremost The abbey Itself was built a matter of extensive grounds. Tenant after ten- least the faahlonable part of It which S,'e h "i nrthuSr ke. fulllW cJuslve reaches of the upper Thames of Liberal hostesses, must have taken seven hundred years ago and housed ant suddenly threw up the ease and Ilea between Richmond anH Oxford and nt thS AmSlraM who have houses In that onseTvat"v English folk resent a lot of pride In showing the king over for several centuries the Cistercian left saying they could not live there, lies between Richmond and Oxford, and of the Americans hYe Ohfou"" MghU "but the faf that with the her river home one of the fairest monks. In the days of the Georges the Vacant for years the house was Anally includes Henley and royal Windsor, ever the vicinity of Maidenhead of U""ie .'j ..,, places" on the 'demesnes" In Britain. Hawthorne, former monastery had become a real, ordered to be pulled down. So soon as has been regarded as a sort of English n,2 Situated- H will be sufficient river have fallen Into the possession of who visited Nuneham park in 1857 de- dence and was owned by Sir Francis excavations were-made, ten years ago. "holv of holies " 80 now that wealthy Fn indicatj f a few of th best known of the enemy. scribed it as "perfect as anything earth- Dashwood, who gathered around him the workmen came upon grave after noiy ornoiies bo now mat weaitny to indicate a lew or ine Dest Known 01 me enemy. alwayg wni be Clleve- lv can be," echoing the sentiments of some of the wildest blades of London grave. The skeletons were all of Americans practically have taken pos- tnem-. .th ,. fh , .7 , hmi t ilk. a Horace Wnlpole. who found It "worthy town. He established a mock order of women. The mystery of Bolney Court jonn whs soivea. ruiy years previously 1110 fame, owner or tenant, a giant of a man, re- was the purea crazy, uvea mere aione in son- e order tary grandeur but for female servants, the ah- These servants gradually disappeared the Hell and new ones took their places as fast nanct river district before, of course. " ;-.. ,. .:. . uX-i... ,- k. k uvi.h .m.H.in. not and point out that Lord Desbor- Fire club. Though now In American as the old ones left. No local women , . ,1 WllCr-lII-lttW llic i 1 " 11 1 v r , nun I'M ' 1 " ' " ' - ' , . , , . A. al- I, ,. ,J A11 I - 1 l wV.I wsi.ilrt taVa unrvin on on uui vniy hb single spies in ins per- ni..,n. . .heir nnr nlirhhnr Th inir at f'l eveden recently than at anV "UK", wno uwi.b i.uuii, bii '"J."" fons of William Waldorf Astor. Mrs. Th" f.miv sr estflhlisherf at "The time since the stately seat passed Into George Young, proprietor of thefamed tues ny this lively name. When royal cession of It lovers of the old order or , Cottage," one of the cosiest" and pearl among the emerald woods, but, of or the bold pencil or Kubens. or to De rranci scans uiere. or wriicn Ihlnn itlirnn.nl.it nnH h tnn- r.L.n.ni rlv.r rnti.ra in tho hand, course. Its sale bv the Duke of West- the subject of the tranquil sunshine of Wilkes, of Wilkes and Liberty in it . m ' - , j. nf Tvi.r Vnr. nt tin-m Vnrlr Mrn minster to William Waldorf Astor is Claude Lorraine. was a member, sir Irancis Atlantic conques of England 1. re- of lotldat what the mwtnclVnt . rf a t history' A- Will all the other -reat "show" grand prior The ofth ffnrrlorl Ail nmn ntji . j ... , . 4 a i rtlnpPM alnnsr th Tnnm hfl Amprlcnn. became SO rlOtOUS that it ann " A.rrcn; hVve "tnvsned'- thl. sacro- " T,,1'" ceJ,." ? L Vl.f cl".,cL" "V"'""""' Wed In tmm'k ThameV f enthusiast, if Arm bey finally became known as rown Potter and one or two others. tiermitage." "Bourne End. which has been transatlantic hands. Young Waldorf jnow nowever. tne Daitauons nave ar taken , the name of tne Countess of Astor and his beautiful Kentucky wife rived, and this summer, for the flrsj. Yarmouth. The Fosters, of Boston, are have been having a succession of brll- tlme, the pick of the residences which t ..Thfl Arrhes," Henley, while Mrs. llant house parties there, prominent fringe the banks of the classic stream Brown potters former home. Bray among the guests having been Mrs. from the point where It practically van- IO(1g0 has DPPn BOl( t0 the Baroness John Jacob Astor and Mrs. Charles Dana Ishes to that at which It becomes merely Mny de paliandt. formerly of Cleveland, Gibson, commercial are in tho hands of wealthy 0h)- -Downe Place." Ascott. which ioik rrom across tne pona. it is tne hplmilr. to Colonel Harford. Is occupied lfinr VUit Mnneham Parlr l . i.iL I" i 1 j T U.m Ka S iy inin. Ariiminy ui mei, hiiu i iicnr turn for one week of the Ascot races the rental of this beautiful house was $1,600. would take service there and so the girls were recruited from London or Formosa at Cookham, and the Earl of ties and distinguished visitors to the distant parts of the country. Raglun, whose Thames seat is called country are taken for a river trip it OHkley Court, all are ardent river has been usual to visit Medmenhnm as Murdered Score Of Maids. lovers and would not sell or lease for a stopping place ror rerreshments on tale of Mayfair, of the English country nouses and or the Scottish grou.se jnoors over again but the Americanl- satlon of its beloved 'river is the blt- trainload of American dollars. Americanizing Old Palaces. One would not care to bet on it. how ever, especially with such places as the way up, the occupants of the old place acting as the hdsts. terest pill which the English fashionable t . i ol, ti. t.ii world yet has had to swallow. Principal Show Places Taken. Abbey the. Last Straw. 'N Haunted House of the Thames. Bolney Court, whfch the American Hbr Clleveden there is perhaps no M,,mpnhBm Ahhpv HnH Rninv Court bacons are occupying this season. nner seat on tne oanKs or tne Thames aireaf)y under the stars and stripes Blnce llme immemorial nas iaicen pre- The discovered skeletons told their own story. The master of the house had unquestionably murdered a full score of his maids. Bolney court was built up again and the skeletons properly burled. Ths ghosts have now disappeared and the than Nuneham park and here again we Tne former or these, which is situated mler POB,tlon as the haunted house par new tenants probably never even heard find an American chatelaine, in the per- x, Tornni 't.u h excellence of the river. Of course every ,lir;, ,, -n..i So the list might be continued for a son of Mrs. Lewis Harcourt. I am not 8criheti without exaggeration as one old nouso on the rlver ,s haunted or at has hoisted the stirs and stripes, was good part of a newspaper column, did It 8Ure If I am right In saying that this of the most Interestinsr niles in Ensr- least has the reputation of possessing a built by Earl Russell, prime minister of And the capture of Medmenham abbey seem desirable. It would Include the Is Mrs. Harcourt's first season as a land. The best known of its recent ghost of sorts. In olden days as now England, known best to fame as Lord was the last straw. Until it was an- names of A. H. Mellon, of Pittsburg. "r?.at",Jlvr, ""i18,8' ihHfm,um',,Jam ?wnf,ra, wfl5 Herbert Oakley, whd .when the river mansions were owned by the i"" JfU88e"- f v,"6,,8 Zl0? . i. . m . . , . . . j. . m . , park s former owner, Sir William Har- he died a few years ago, left It to h a nob lltv. and It freouentlv happened Amberley at the time of the American nounced. recently, that most historic of who is established at Sunninghill park; ourt( dled only two years ago, but beautiful young widow She later mar- that when some noble ' wanted I to get clv11 war and so christened his river all the Thames-side residences had been Dr. Abbott Anderson, who has Bray Rise, certainly It had a brilliant beginning ried Colonel Sir Douglas Dawson. King rid of a friend an lnvitatl on was ex- house. The house though called a cot taken over by Henry Marsh of New ttn(j J- - Clarke, who Is resident at the when King Edward himself expressed Edward's master of ceremonies, who tended to visit the river Here In the tage Is a big place with a score or r. ,t jllKri it o ' k ( ,v. Clock house. Maidenhead. Not to men- a wish to see the wonders of the seven- lately has taken up the appointment house standing by the murmuring more bedrooms and large grounds. It I or, u is aououui n any out tno tlon pauline Chase, one of the luckiest teenth century mansion and incidentally of controller of the lord chamberlain's stream the visitor was done to death lssltuated Just above Boulter's Lock "house agents," as thoy are called here, of American actresses, who is chatelaine get better acquainted with Its mistress, department, and it is Sir Douglas who and the body easily got rid of by throw- and opposite to Clioveden Woods, realized how complete had become the of Littlecroft, near Maidenhead, and and passed the week end with the first has leased Medmenham Abbey to Mr. lng it In the river "The Arches" which a Boston fam American domination of the upper Camille Clifford, who one day will be commissioner of works and his Amerl- Marsh, the New Yorker. But Bolney Court formerly had more Hy are occupying this summer, has a Thames. But the sight of the Stars and Lady Aberdare, and who is entertaining can wife. She, of course, is a daughter On the site of Medmenham the Danes than one ghost. Years ago there were historic ghost supposed to be Lady Btrlpes floating over the ancient head- with her husband, at a bungalow Just of the late Walter BurnB, brother-in- established one of their camps and people who declared they saw nightly Elizabeth, daughtor of the Lord of quarters of the "Hell Fire club," adriei across the river. law of J. Plerpont Morgan. Incidental- In the neighborhood tho remains of a procession of white-robed women Wargrave who lived In the manor to the noise that was made In the news- Rather a striking showing, Is it not? ly the former New York girl, who other ancient encampments- can be seen, wandering through the big house and house lose by. At the Arches lived her lover and many were the stolen meet, lngs of the twain beside the river ban' i"" v i'Biiv' iiu vinir jyv for his daughter and had forblddrany meetings. Lady Elisabeth's wibaenca being suspected, one dark night she was followed, and seenv to meet her lover. Her father and brothers rushed the man and killed him before her eyes The Lady Elisabeth went mad and years later her body was found In the river Since then her ghost wanders through) the grounds seeking to meet the lover of 300 years ago. Tradesmen Rejoice. Regarding "Rlversdale," the beauti ful place at Bourne End which George Kessler recently bought and has re named "New York Lodge" many de. tails have been published, so they need not be reprinted here. I am told, how ever, that this, one of the few river places that have been bought outright by Americans, cost the champagne man 156,000, and he Is said to be spending 1100,000 In remodelling, enlarging and furnishing It. It has anly 20 Bedrooms and la not quite large enough for its new owner's requirements. Incidentally British Journalistic pens have been dipped In gall to write of the renaming of "Rlversdale," and comment on the announcement that 2,000 electric light will illuminate the grounds at night. However, all this means business for British "tradesmen" by whom, and by the Thames watermen, the invasion of the river by Americans Is welcomed. mougn it do gall ana wormwoo&asjfclhc exclusive Ens-lien set. For whYTiT lK ... i i nun iiu icii, yvt Ajuvi ii are spend ing more money. It will easily ap proach 11,000,000. the sum that the newcomers will spend there . this sea eon. Each bungalow or house Is com pletely furnished when rented by the season. And this furnishing on the river means a proper equipment of boats such as canoe or punt, skiff and launch. The latter may be a steam, gasoline, electric or motor launch, but every house of decent slse has on of all sorts as well as the Other boats. The cheapest kind of bungalow costs $50 per week and the cheapest kind of house is $100 per week. In a bungalow one needs three indoor servants and) one outdoor who attends to the garden, la engineer of the launch and perhaps chauffeur of the motor car. The houses need from half a dosen to two dozen servants or more, depending on their size. This, of course, runs Into a lot of money. Demand for River Homes. The other day I went to see the head of a well-known firm of real estate agents at Matdonhead. They have branches everywhere along the river and handle most of the property -so that It is to them that Americans rush If they want a house. It was this Arm that sold George Kessler his house, that sold Mrs. Brown Potter's house, secured a tenant for Amberley and practically all the other houses mentioned. "The Invasion of the river by Amer icans," said this authority, "Is sudden. They have come with a rush. I have had more requests for river places than are on the market. It Is the first sea son that the Americans have come on the river In such numbers. July is Just the middle of the season for we have scores of applications for houses and house-boats from August 1. We are finding already that many Americans who have Just rented places for the season are so much In love with the gay river life that they have Instructed us to buy tho property for them If possible. Others again have already given us Instructions to rent places for them the same place if possible next year. "The Americans will spend an Im mense amount of money on the river. Many who cannot get houses are tak ing apartments at the river hotels. How Money Is Spent "Roughly I should estimate the money which will be spent this year by Amer icans here as follows: Rents $ 260.000 Upkeep and living expenses .. 400,000 Fetes, extra hotels, upriver ex penses 80,000 Spent at hotels, apartments, houseboats 100,000 Outlay of day by day visitors . 50,000 Rough total $ 880,000 "Should one Include what Americans spent at Ascot and Henley on special entertainments and special clothes, the rought figures might go well over the million mark." Now that glorious Henley Regatta is over several Americans will be spend ing the August weeks In houseboats. Before Henley the owners of these palatial floating homes would not hear of renting and oven now they want an enormous figure. Beside the hundreds of American families domiciled for " the season on the Thames one must figure In the in vasion the 2.000 or 3,000, perhaps more, who spend week-ends and weeks at the old-world river inns, or the newer ho tels, ot who motor down from London, under the hour, and spend the day along the beautiful river stretches. AMERICAN PRISONERS BUILT CHURCH Captured in War of Caroline Prescott Says TLat Doing the Best O 1812 and Confined at Dartmoor CKurck Gone to Decay Money Needed to Repair It Rector Appeals to Americans to Contribute Can Is Better After All L han Being a Genius nc LONDON. Most of the American prisoners captured by England In the war of 1812 were confined in what was then a military prison on the big bleak moore of Dart moor, In Devon. Some of those prison ers helped build a church there. On that account the church possesses some claim to interest Americans. It has fallen into decay, and an effort is being made to raise the funds neressnrv to re pair it. The rector, the Rev. George S. Thorpe of Brldestowe. Devon, thinks the fact that American prisoners of war Were engaged on the construction of the church may move some Americans to contribute to its restoration. I don't know whether any of them will feel like "shelling out" on that account. But there Is no doubt that they will be inter ested in the following account of tho church which I have received from Mr Thorpe. Upon the rugged heights of Dartmoor, exposed to the blasts of every sound that blows, there stands the unique church of St. Michael and All Angels, Prlncetown; unique in being the church of the highest inhabited village in Eng land, 1,400 feet above the level of the sea; unique In its position in the parish of Lydford, the largest parish in Eng land, of 60.000 acres of moor and heath and streams; but unique most of all,rh Begun by Frenchmen. Th manner of Its building is proba bly unparalleled, certainly so in Eng- land, it was In the early days of the nineteenth century, when the whole world was convulsed with war and bloodshed and England was solely pressea cy JU iwo wars wun iapoieon and with America. The history of those wars concerns us only in Its relation to the building, of this church. Many of the French prisoners of war were re moved frr safety to a military prison formed at Prlncetown. To supply spir itual, needs, these French prisoners were allowed build a church themselves. ' i -. horn n In tnA French prisoner working at slxpense lt cent) per day. They were paid quarterly, but If anr of them escaped while employed on thl church outside th prUon the whole ray for all the gang wa forfeited. The reason for thl I bytous. It made each man pr uoon hi neighbor, few - - -"7 v 7 -r" WSj? ' - life V-' - r St - ' MPti-'i $? iS$gML tit& The Church of St. Michael and -All Angels, ;Dartmoor, Which Was Partly Built by American Prisoners Captured bir England In the War of 1812. " their wanes and thereby their power of peace of Pafls in" 1S14 found the church war confined at Prlncetown, were al- v"11""1 naauionai comfort in rooa na una luxuries. additional comfort in food half finished.- it was at this Juncture lowed to take the place of the released i. that the connection of the church with French nrlsoners and on the same condi- The fall of Pari .n' tv Khemtinn innrluTii besins. A month after the tlona as to nav. etc. These Americans of th French prisoners after the first peace of Paris. 60 American prisoner of continued to labor on the church until some time after the war between Amer ica and England had been ended by the treaty of Ghent in Belgium. In Decem ber 1814. The work of building was actually stopped in April, 1816. when the discharges began. By that time the church was practically completed. It appears from the records that to American hands were due the roof and higher parts of walls and tower. Neglect, Fire and Tempest. Though thus unique In Its origin, yet bravely for nigh on a hundred years has It borne the rigor of tho Dartmoor climate, looking out unceasingly with its dark storm-beaten tower to the graves of those stranger exiles, but escaping not scatheless. Neglect and fire and tempest successively Impaired Its strength. Fallen into ruin and forsaken by the government In the late fifties, it was adopted by the parish of Lydford and reverently restored in the early sixties, only to feel the devastating In fluences of fire in 1868. ! Again re stored, it gradually began to crumble and decay, till the hand of the spoiler fell on It in 1899, ostensibly to restore, but in reality to mutilate and mar. Better davs have since dawned for the historic building; little by little the ravages of the restoration are being re paired, the obliterated porch replaced. The restoration scheme now In hand will cost 860, and even then much more could be spent upon beautifying the In terior. Of this 850 not more than 260 la In hand. And this account Is written in the hope that each American who reads It will be willing to send a dona tion, however small or large, "to help to restore and beautify a church which w:is partly built by their ancestors, when they. In love of their' country, were- suffering the rigors of exile and captivity, and many of whom lie buried almotft under the shade of Us tower. This donation mav be sent to the Rev. George S. Thorpe, M. A.', .Lydfprd rec tory, Brldestowe, Devon, England, and will be. gratefully acknowledged by him.- The trade agreement between the United Brotherhood of Carnenters and Joiners and the Amalgamated Society of Carpenter and Joiners has again been extended to September 1. This exten sion was made to afford the general council at Its next meeting time to fur ther deliberate on the - propositions of amalgamation. , By Carolyn Prescott. THEY say that all geniuses are con ceited; that modesty, one of the greatest of the virtues, is la mentably absent in the breasts of the tgreat men and women who have achieved prominence. Gluck, Meyerbeer, Handel, Beethoven nearly all musicians were conceited, if not to say egotistical. Nearly every writer, actor, lecturer and public man, we are told, carries about with him an exaggerated opinion of his own im portance. How refreshing, then, U is to see some one who is perfectly content to be a "violet by the mossy brink," mod est, unassumfng, willing to keep on with the work that life points out. without exclaiming of their greatness to the whole world. Down in New Orleans not long ago died Madame Begue, 76 years old, who until six month before her death had been a cook. Just -a plain, ordinary cook no, not ordinary, either; but a cook. Just a square from -the statue of Jackson In the quaint old picturesque part of New Orleans stands a plain two-story dwelling, which was Madame Begue's home for the 76 years she lived upon this earth. On a corner near her home stand groups of Indians, who sell curios, and who for a copper penny will direct visitors to Madame Begue s es tablishment. Here, with the chimes of the old Cathedral of St, Louis chiming in their ears night and morning, Madame Begue and her husband kept a cook shop for 40 years or "more, and for 40 years past the country's most famous men and women have breakfasted at. Intervals at Madame Begue's wonderful place. Just breakfast, that is all; for the old woman knew how to do but one thing; but this she did well. She could cook a good breakfast a breakfast that, once, tasted, would never be for gottei; a breakfast that had power to call' men and women back from foreign lands breakfast that waa an ounce of poem and comforter. ' j jlo uiiuug I win u ii, uliiliieh aujuiireu. and always standing upon the threshold to bid one welcome, stood Madame Begue, plainly dressed In black alpaca frock, her laee collar fastened with an old-fashlotted rold "breastpin." her black hair plainly parted and oralded In o neatcoll on the top of her head, a quaint" sair of earrings to match the "breast pin." And this Is a picture of Begue. Her table was not laid with a glitter ing array of silver" and cut glass; there were no softly shaded lights and satiny texturea napmns ana taoiecloths, and liveried waiters and water boys. Mad ame Begue and her husband waited upon the table themselves, and the room was Just large enough to hold 30 persons. And If one wanted to eat breakfast at Madame Begue's. one had to engage a meal two -reeks in advance. The quaint windows were filled with gay flowers, and curtained with chintz. The old-fashioned round table was cov ered with , snow white linen. Heavy delft plates and horn-handled knlveif and forks, a queer old castor and plated spoons went to make up the table fur nlshment. "Nothing very attractive in this," on says. Oh, perhaps not. It was the breakfast and Madame Begue that formed the attraction. In the old vis itors' register sonv of the best-known names In the Unite States, the owners of which, during their stay in New Or- ' leans, sought Madame Begue's tabid are contained. Every noted actor, lecturer, traveler, politician that has' thrilled the oquntry for 40 years past has, at one time or another, had breakfast there If he could. Madame Begue has gone, and with her has faded the memory of those breakfasts. This plain, modest little French woman, who laid no claim to being a genius, did the one thing she knew how to do, and did it Just as well as she could, so well that people came from hundreds of miles to eat at that plain table In her old-fashioned dining room. If she had been a genius she might also have died famous, but I dare say there are more people who were really and truW grieved to hear of Madame Begue's death than would have been were she a conceited genius. Doing the best one can, even if it U but to serve the best breakfast in the country, is better, after all, than being a conceited genius. ine lniioriHi women s iraoe unnm league, the bromoters of which (NUiIrn to. have over 100,000 workers enrG? In membershle. held a convention New Tork recentlv and elected officers. The delegates also mapped out work for the coming year and formulated plans for a national convention. The French unit of horse-power, i one-seventh less than the .English. 4 'i U ;. : V , f Si -r 4 n 1 '., ; 1 . . - . . . At. j . j . if