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"As Ambassador of the United States I met them at Westminster Hall, where they were assembled at the invitation of the British Government. That, to me, was the proudest hour of all my sojourn here!"
The Ladies Flayed. Among the ladies who may consider themselves to have been flayed by General Dawes are: Mrs. Despard Goff, wife of the West Virginia Senator of General Dawes' own party; Miss Vera Bloom, daughter of Democratic Congressman Sol Bloom of New York; Miss Doris Duke, richest of all heiresses ("Bull Durham"); two Philadelphia debutantes of bluest blood, the Misses Frances Hutchinson (her mother a Stotesbury) and Isabel Henry (her mother a Biddle), and furthermore the daughters of the presidents of Campbell Soup (Miss Charlotte Kelsey Dorrance), Thermos bottles (Miss Eleanore Edwards) and Atwater Kent Radio (Miss Elizabeth Brinton Kent).
If none of these ladies is in a position to make Ambassador Dawes smart for such words as "self-invited . . . purveyors of the trivial and irritating . . . with their minds occupied by thoughts of society reporters," there was at least one other presentee with power of rebuttal. She, Mrs. Bertha Baur, widow of Jacob Baur, Chicago's late famed Liquid Carbonic Co. tycoon, possesses abilities and energy which have brought her "up" from stenographer, to businesswoman, to society lady, to politician. Four years ago she ran a surprising though losing race against Congressman Fred A. Britten in the Republican primaries (TIME, Aug. 9, 1926). With her political and social contacts and popularity in General Dawes' home city and party she can well avenge the honor of U. S. presentees at court.
Naughty Mrs. Courtney. First of its character in 27 years, the following notice appeared in last week's official London Gazette:
Lord Chamberlain's Office,
St. James's Palace
Notice is hereby given that the presentation of Mrs. Christopher Courtney at Their Majesties' Court on May 14 has been canceled.
An American woman might cheerfully have sustained the blow, but to an Englishwoman it is grievous indeed. What had Mrs. Courtney done? Chin up, this singularly lovely woman, wife of smart Air Group-Captain Christopher Lloyd Courtney, C.B.E., D.S.O., refused to speak to newsfolk. She had been presented by Lady Salmond, wife of the Air Chief Marshal, who said: "I was not aware that the cancellation was to be announced. I cannot enlighten the newspapers as to the reason for the Lord Chamberlain's action."
The usual reason for refusing in advance an otherwise eligible candidate for presentation is divorce. Mrs. Courtney is a divorcee, used to be Mrs. Alexander Arnold Rayson. It was presumed in London that the Lord Chamberlain's Office did not find this out until last week. Even so the cancellation was unusually speedy. Strict though she was, Queen Victoria always allowed a considerable time to elapse before shaming a woman who had curtseyed to her. But Queen Mary—as King Edward VII often complained (TIME, March 17)—is inflexible where the morals of women are concerned.