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THE r OREGON SUNDAY JOURNAL, PORTLAND. SUNDAY ' MORNING, JULY IV I9M
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I INROADS Bi-i'- SiXPfi -:y
ENGLISH L-'ii'' !v&?"V
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V, I I She married plain Herbert H. Asqulth. who was' 40 I W-p3 I
f '" ' ' ' V I yean old. home secretary under Gladstone, compara- ImmbbbV BMiMl
tT ? Pamela, dear, you vAU
:arry a prayer book?"
England's first lord of the
, admiralty, Reginald McKenna, formerly the
Solemn and staid minister of education, ' in
0 tilled into the heseechingness of his query
Iff much of the gravity pertaining to his quar
" tcr century of seniority as he dared.
- f But he did not dare overmuch. Wilful,
Uncompromisingly esthetic Pamela Jekyll,.
pcn of England's famous society of "Souls,"
iad, indeed, consented to exchange her ravish
youth and seductive charm for the first
lldras distinction and devoted love, albeit his
ears were somewhat frosted, if not hoar.
i He had woi her. She was a "Lost Soul."
But she was bound to lose herself in her own
utterly artistic way, as a tribute to the aspira
tions she forsook, and as a blow at the con
' ventionalities she derided.
Had characterised their ha while aha waa virginal
Margrot
They discovered that new and dangerous creature
of the new and ticklish science of psychology, the af
finity. Some of the afflnltlea happened to be married. Bo
there ensued quit a few scandals, rows, dissensions
and bickerings among the "Souls" remaining; and all
the "Souls" concerned hastened to decide that the best
thing they could do would be" to forget It
But such glory a had been theirs does not entirely
fade; and scandal does die out within a generation, un
less It has aotually landed In the dfvorce courts.
When the children of the original "Souls" were Just
about old enough to discover that they had souls of
their own, a new leader was prepared to revive the
dormant cult.
Sweet Pamela Jekyll drew to her the sweet sister
Barbara, who had her soul ready for the flowing
Greek gown, which Pamela preferred, the minute sh
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And so, when the fateful word went
forth to the expectant world of fashion only a
few. weeks ago that the leader of the "Souls"
id found her Adam and was on the eve of
her departure from that Paradise of maiden-
Siwod which every well-bred hngltsh maiden
t&hould properly cherish until a wholly pros
perous suitor appears to take her away from
, it was made known, too, that the resolute
.Pamela would not carry a prayer book, or
tven a bouquet. She would not wear, at the
altar of St'. Margaret' s, in Westminster, the
close-fitting gown which fashion regarded as
essential as the church regards the prayer
Ibook.
She would not have half a dcrzen brides-
maids. Only her sister, Barbara, would be
permitted to accompany her and that in a
' fareek robe, flowing free.
a Pamela Jekyll, latest leader of the
' 'Souls," was true to :he traditions of her cult.
their varied assortment of pure white, fluttering, soul
ful souls it waa enough to set every man in England
at work, with pick and ahovel, trying to reaurreot his
dead soul because, maybe, it might lit in somewhere.
It waa more than a dosen yean ago that Margot
Tennant. youngest of Sir Charles Tennant's six
daughters, founded the Society of the Souls. At least,
that is the nam which has been popularly given it,
when English folk try to bo really accurate in refer
ring to them.
She was the wonder of her day, as fascinating aa
she was Intellectual, aa pretty as she was learned, aa
lovely as sh was daring, as athletto as she was ac
complished Di Vernon, MIgnon, Fanella and Hypatla,
all rolled Into on entrancing bit of modern femi
ninity. The only heroin she wasn't was burning Sappho,
although she was as bluo-stocklnged as a Madame de
Sevigne and as charming as a Ninon de l'Enclos but
not that way.
She would talk world politics with Gladstone in
' the afternoon, to his Infinite satisfaction; ah woul
do a riotous skirt dance in the evening, to society's
infinite delight.
She would discuss religion with a bishop at night
until he was argued Into dogmatics, and she would
hunt a fox In the morning with a sporting vicar until
he was ridden nearly to apoplexy.
She shocked one-half of prim English society, and
edlfled the other half; then she turned around, to ed
ify the first and shock the others.
And nobody dared hint that she was anything but
a care-free, brilliant, whole-souled, high-spirited, ador
able girl.
It was Just nt the time when England and Scot
land, too, for that matter was thtnklng of the gay
Margot every hour of the time it wasn't thinking
of bread and liuttfr. that she ram to the conclusion
life wasn't worth living, after alL
Her soul was cribbed, cabined, confined and various
other things which usually show that a girl Is about
ready for female suffrnga or for marriage. But Mar
got Tennant simply hud to do something unexpected.
So she did it. he selected from among her vast
circle of friends and admirers, men and women, a few
who, she shrewdly suspected, rralght actually have a
soul lying around loose, waiting for somebody to
breathe life into It.
Beerbohm Tree and his talented wife, the Hon. Ar
thur Balfour. Lady (iranhy, now duchess of Rutland.
and quite a number of others discovered that they had
jouls kindred to hers, that needed plenty of freedom
irom tht- iron-bound decorums of conventionality, with
a lltt.le bit of romance on the side.
They came from the ultra-fashionable set. and they
came from the extremely artistic set; they came from
hlh rolitics. and they came from the etare.
And they had a most lovely time of it, being so
esthetic that they felt as though they were composed
of soul exclusively, and so intellectual that only the
higher aspirations and Inspirations of their souls kept
them from being thinking machines.
Then the marvelous Margot. -who had set the whole
thing going and kent It on a level as lofty as her own
Psyphe fluttering, did her next moat original thing.
She married plain Herbert H. Asqulth. who was 40
years old, home secretary under Gladstone, compara
tively poor, reputed as cold of nature a Margot-was
full of fire, and of all suitors a widower with five
children.
She had become a "Lost Soul" via matrimony; but
ahe had fulfilled her destiny of amaiing the British
public And, incidentally, she had embarked upon the
destiny which she had chosen for herself soma years
previously, when she announced that the highest hap
piness she could enjoy in life would ba to become the
wife of a prime minister. '
It Is an ambition which does not permit of quite so
many vagaries and flauntings of the conventions aa
. had characterized the Margot Tennant of maidenhood.
""But, to use a phrase that fits well with one aspect of
lier chameleon character, she was a good sport; and
she played the game of premier-maker for all there
was In It, from marshaling to her chosen widower's
aid all her vast coterie of friends to playing the
model stepmother to his batch of children.
As Mrs. Asqulth, the gay Margot surely should
have vanished from all but the most discreet brand of
fame. And. Indeed, she did her best to conform to that
ideal of domestic privacy which is so reverenced by
the British pub.ii.
But her old fames, under their varied guises, re
fused to let her sink Into the obscurity of the domes
tic chrysalis for which she now so ardently longed
Very speedily young Benson's book. "Dodo," took
the literary world by storm; and Instantly all Britain
hailed the sprightly Margot In the more sprightly
Dodo.
"Lost Soul," Indeed, was the lovely founder of the "
"Souls," now that she was vicarious mamma to five
young ones, real mamma to another, insatiably ambi
tious helpmeet to a poor parliamentarian, and hence
forth to be known by the sobriquet of Dodo. And sh
didn't like It much, either.
Meanwhile some cf the other "Ronls" aba ho
behind did not seem 'to retain the angel whiteness that
S5
heard Pamela waa ready for First Lord McKenna ana
the altar.
To them came beautiful Viola Tree, daughter of, an
original "Soul," whose person Is as pretty as her soul
can ever dare be. And graceful, popular Miss Cecily
Horner Joined them, wondering whether handsome Vi
ola would stay a "Soul" or turn traitor and marry the
marquis of Grarrby, who, they say. Is engaged to her.
And they won over, too, , the lovely Lady Marjorla
Manners, daughter of the duchess of Rutland, most
courted of the English beauties of today, who would
have been consort of Prince Arthur of Connaught if
King Edward hadn't hated her mother, the duchess,
from the days when, as marchioness of Qranby, she waa
a shining "Soul" among the earlier group.
The "Souls" of this new batch are younger and
mostly unmarried. So it Is only romances, and not
scandals, which thus far have stirred up the Interest ,
that attaches to them.
But It Is a remarkable coincidence that, almost at
the hour when the earlier leader of the "Souls," Mrs.
Asquith, attains the summit of the ambition she set
herself by becoming the wife of the prenirlr. the new
leader, Pamela Jekyll, should make a match that par
allels the marriage of clever, shrewd Margot.
Is she, too, destined to make a premier of her hus
band?' And Lady Marjorie Manners, who Ik generally re
garded as most likely to become .he new leader of
the mysterious society will she continue to ward off
the determined assaults of Cupid?
Already reports have had her engaged no fewer
than half a dozen times, and society Is expecting al
most dally an announcement of a real engagement
Just as it Is expecting the marriage of Viola Tree to
the marquis of Gronby.
'"f-'ige that such a aulful lot of persons as the
n.ou,d be ""'" through the machinations of
the little love god!
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ElEWL
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HO are the "Souls"?
Long, long years ago the world asked
another question, "Where Is the lost Atlan
tis?'' No one has answered positively yet.
ust as no one has yet positively learned what was
: lh lost Atlantis.
So, too, there Is no sure reply to the question,
Wh are the Souls?"
' On grtat coterie In England will declare that the
Fouls vanlshe! utterly years ago, soon after they
f rat began to loe themelvc. a la the winsome, wll-
1 Pameia of today. Another group will declare they
t mere numerous and m..r nouiful than ever, and
j-retty nearly ready now to take the world by th
liars and time by the forelock and make all of us
rtlstlc. esthetic, unconventional, classic and ecstatic
ally eung.
But to say who all of them are would be to take
census of th butterflies, here on minute and gone
tb next; and to say precisely wrsat they are even
. t iiav them say it of themselves would be like ask
ing th butterflies to write their own autobiographies
tat benefit of science.
They doo t know. But, so fr as t!.ey know, they
)r csceplional human beings ho, having dincovered
that they really hav soui. as distlr gulsr -d from tn
VromL wearied. clvllid tody with its gross apre
i'te aad It palnfai vanities, are agreed to loose th
tag ef tbos souls to all the artistic Joys, and all
tarte tatUada of thought, which their eager
star errk
Mo try. they are g1rlat-nd sotn are mighty pretty
Itlrls. If tbey weren't, aobody would ever t.ave cared
k sirgl range klMMin whether they bad souls or
v- ether vry en cf then was Fagging around in
y.ds f br aa ava rorated rhinoceros,
i Uut Bunch f pretty girl, ail troubled with
ADY FAKQUJIAIt tonight entertains
the qucc;. and l'rincoas' Victoria at
dinner find afterward at a dance, to
which the king, the prince of Wales
and his majesty's Jockey Club dinner party will
come on from Buckingham Palace."
Such a modest paragraph in London's society
journal; but whnt a momentous one, this which
appeared on Derby Day.
It chronicled the putting t f the scepter of the
most rigorously ordered gocirty the world contains
from the hand of the dowagor duchess of Devon
shire, in mourning for the death of hey devoted
husband, to the grap of a new uren of the social
activities of England. Long dt laved, the reward
of Lord Faruliar, master of the king's household,
has been received at laau
And Lad.: Farquhar becomes the new social
leader of Kngland, in exercising the functions of
hostess to her kir.g and qui'en on Derby Day.
L
ORD FA nd'HAR used to be modest Fir Horace
Farquhar. heir presumptive to a baronetcy a
century old. with a somewhat earlier baronetcy
la the family, which was created under Will-
ism Pitt, and anutber ancestor who had the honor of
being knight. ! at fur tack as the middle of th
eighteenth cr'.ur Hut still, he aa plsn ir Hrsc
Farquhar, mn tiojxh. he owned In. posing Castle
Rising, nesr t-ei dnagbam.
But be was also Terr rich. f?r he was a member cf
the great banking firm f H err let si Farquhar. and In
111. e had Judiciously married the bandtom widow.
Ladr b"5tt. who brought bin tht magnificent resi
dence, N. 1 iirfivmor fouare hr the nearest
neighbors sr the duke of Manchester. Karl FttswIM
lam. lbs duke ef Portland. Lerl HaversBam and tb
marquis ef Anglesey.
And he was on of tb clot friends ef tb prlnc
eader f England 4oq
"N " a MM TT" WJU ' ' asnannnnn.,.aTi
y t -
rhen Albert
of Wi es. In the Joyous, hslcycn data
Ldward had al. aorta of trouble, from iil-ntling Wigs
te million doi.ar debts, and Deeded friends to
straighten both of them.
"Where's frarquharf tb prince would demand
when anything went wrong, as ft did one night when
r- was due at a fancy diett ball In a French ces
tume and couidn t make the nig stay on.
It w in Marlborough K"a. and there waa vast
S'umtng to and fro to find the omnipotent f arquhar.
Meanwhile th prlnc aad his valets wrestled wltk
th lg vainly.
Thank, fceavear eiiad th prlnc, as his friend an- '
tered. with his air of calm efficiency, "Here'a Horac."
H wouldn't hav been Horac tarquhar if h had
not happened to have some retoarc at hi beck. vn
for that comical emergency. His own barber was
Frenchman, who was hastily summoned. A deft
touch, and tb wig was aa though Albert Edward bad
been adapting himself to It for years. And, an th
spot Hlr Horace' French barber became th prince's.
when the prlnc became the king ther wr all
art of odd million ef indebtedness lying araund
1mv, which he would hav to pay up la full and
wltk nicaearabl promptness. If playing prlnc had
ba aauavagaat, being king wa far mora costly.
and the Income wasn't handy.
He owed the famous Sam Lewis, money lender by
calling to nobility and royalty, the tidy sum of 11.250,
000 on notes duly signed and witnessed. Sam. having
come to die. and affectionately loyal, wanted to make
his prlnc a present of the notes; but Albert Edward
could not In decency accept them. So Sam, anxious to
be truly magnanimous anyway, bequeathed the notes
to the Prince of Wales Hospital.
That proved how testatorlally generous the old
money lender could be; but It transformed the prince's
easiest debt of all into the-most pretslng. for he sim
ply had to pay up when his creditor became his own
hospital. Eatn had been good hearted, but thoughtless.
When the crown landed on King Edward's brow,
after be had become bald headed waiting, that royal
brow was corrugated Into all brands of grapevine
twists over the fearful contemplation of tb debts
that were clamoring for satisfaction.
"Where's Horace?" came to the worried king's llp.
as naturally In this emergency as It had when his wig
needed straightening. Horace was on the Job. efficient,
as usual. He actually worked miracles with those
' mangled finances.
Using his powerful banking influences, he organised
a syndlcat that took over all his king's Jndebttdneta.
He took over. also, the king's income. And, Uktwlss.
th king's household.
Sir Horac arranged to so admlnlstar th king's
royal income that hi majesty shouldn't vn know he
wss economising same old favarlt brand of cigars at
II S1 apiece, sam old happy sporting life so far a
his new dignities would let him enjoy It. same old
everything. And yet. in ten yar. th king should b
free of all hi Indebtedness, and th syndlcat would
hav mad per cent, on Its Investment.
Of course, blr Horac bcam Lord Farquhar. But
that was n reward commensurate with such a huge
service King Edward and. perhaps. Lord Farquhar
waited for th rexl guerdon.
Lady Farquhar ia said to b capable ef bearing her
nw honors with commendable dignity, altbouga she
was never trained for the high position of England s
social leader, leadership subordinate, of course, to
that af the qoeen aad tb member of tb royal family
8b Is said to b a companionable, good-hearted
woman, not especially good looking, but with th tact
and foresight necessary to leadership. Doubtless her
qualifications were duly considered before th king
aad queen promoted her to Uim place long IUld by tb
dachas of Xvonshlr.
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