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LADY ASTOR, M.P,

FIRST WOMAN COMMONER

INTERESTING CHARACTER

SKETCH

Twenty-odd years ago: A Virginia belle, dancing all night in Richmond or riding to hounds in the Albemarle hills, playing a great deal, thinking none too much along conventional lines, yet always brilliant, alert, witty, with a mind that made up in natural flash what it lacked in serious training; altogether fascinating, temperamentally fit for endless social gaieties in town or gruelling outdoor eports in the country—a typical Southern girl of tho leisurely.- pleasure-loving type not unusual in the aristocracy of her day in the Old Dominion.

To-day: British Viscountess, wealthy beyond.ini...;inatiori: still beautiful, turning from the world's pleasures with which she has been surfeited to seek new. excitements in the fields of British politics; using her old wit and fluoncy, and sometimes displaying her old tomper, in a picturesque campaign among the rough elements of her neigh-; bom-hood, still fascinating, still the same Nanny Langhorne who contributed to the fame of the "five Langhorne sisters" and made their beauty a by-word.

Mrs. Lewis C. Albro, a friend of Lady. 'Astor from tho days when both ran around- in short skirts - in Albemarle , County, in - Virginia, end shocked the neighbours by their tomboy pranks, gives some of her 'impressions of her dd playmate in the New York-. "Times" :-r-

"It is very difficult to tell offhand the things that will give people,an idea of Nanny Langhorne. Yon -can't nut your finger on individual instances that will show her brilliancy, wit, and good humour.' Not because there weren't sny individual instances, ?iut. Ix-cause. tho general run of her conversation and her life were filled with them.

"There, are phases of .Nanny's character of which the -world at large has little conception—her loyalty. to her old friends, no matter of what station they are, her deep sincerity .and honesty, and her- sense of '■ religion; all shot through with her rich, .colourful spirit. Theso are. the things that made her the favourite she was-.and is. • ■ ;■

"Nanny lias always been. deeply religious, not in:the seDse of being ,a devout churchwoman, but in having a fine faith in the words of the Bible. She knew her Bible as none of the rest of us ever pretended or hoped to know if. She would on the most -untoward.-occa-sions quote Scriptirp at-us in a mn'nier that only she could do- and not offend us. ' It "was the' vibrant, sincere spirit behind it that made it possible. .

"She was always different from the rest of us. It was no unusual thing for Nanny Langhorne. to act as nursemaid when she thought the "situation demanded it. She would go into a train, dressed

as the Langhorne girls knew how to dress, and find a tired old mother wearily taking care of a half dozen children. Nanny would look at the woman, then at the young tribe of -unwashed youngsters, and decide immediately that there was something she could do in the wav of evening things up a-bit. ' In unite of the expostulation? of the' embarrassed mothev uhe -rould bundle the children off into another section of the ear. and tell the woman to take a nan. ' Nanny rook care of the children." 'And ''Nanny loved it! So'did Hie children, I might add.

"It was not that Nanov thought that *hi» had to he chn'-Unblo because t''e Bible said 50. ' She was iust simnly following her natural' inclinations. She always did.that. She never ;l'd things in'order to be spectac'iilar.ajfhougli very often what .she did was spectacular. It just happened thnt. Tvamiv'a "natural inclinations went that way. "Sl'e always. Htcd.'t)'." 'tprm ehar'ty. She hated the things' it imniied. . And yet I believe there i= no other wonie.n oh the other fide, who has the reputation she has of taking care of folks. Nanny Langhorne not only takes"'care .of the

folks., who. .need her help on the other , ~'fijde, 'lint'also of those',oyer." here! ..She ".'.has alwavs : ke;it a ...special, account., in . Richmond far ' this work. There ■ is .1 little nii'l in the Sheltprinf Athis ITospitai in Virginia who lias for years received an . arminl from Xannv ; Lnnghorne. Nanny didii't want hev to feel that she was just a eharitv patient. Whenever Nanny, comes to Richmond- . one of the first visits she pays is to this girl. - -•• .

"After Nanny married info the .-Ufor family, we wondered what her attitude would be when she came bock to visit her home in Virginia. We didn't have to wonder very long. • It was the same

old Nanny .Lnngliorno wlioiu everybody

ndored. She visited her old school , teaches, ami 'sasscd' Jit-in the old way. •When she came "to visit., lis—our home : was next door tn. hers—one of 'her first . ouestions -wns,-'How is the' old Hoinp TCulei:?!. She..was referring to. an , old Irish maid of ours from whom she used to wheedle cookies. ~ "Nanny Lniigliorne, though not physie- . ally as strong as her nisters—=he is a •Small, slight wonvjin. not at <all .of the statuesque type of Mrs/-,Charles Dana • Gibson—was more' than"their equal as a sportswoman.. It.was no .unusual -thing to find her playine football in the street nyif.h tho boys of Richmond. Her tongue! .was as quick as the rest of her young body: None was snared her good-natured sallies., . . ...._ .■ . • ■ "She could, however,, be just as caustic as she was kind. She .was a. good sport flboTb ail. Nothing enraged.her so greatly as to have a decision of any sort based on prejudice instead .of justice. Once at,the Warrenton Horse Show. Nanny was showing n. favourite of he.rs which, a*--| cording to the best opinion of people who were authorites on horseflch. was in line for the first ribbon. Another woman, an elder woman, was showing her horses. t She was. better, known at the track,than .Nanny. The other woman's horses got the first and Rccnnd ribbons,, and . NnhiiyV got tho third.. Nanny was pretty mad. When that third "ribbon was awarded her'she turned to the judges and said: 'Don't ,you think there is some old mule in Mrs. — : 's' stables that would like this ribbon? I certainly don't want it.' . "Nanny, has never, broken away from her connect'ous on this side of the water. No matter how arduous .her'work ' « : as slip always managed to keep-in touch with her" old friends. Her letters are . full of tire Hashes that make her talk so entertaining. They arc short, almost Hunt, ,bnt always typical of her. ' She has ,i; habit of abbreviating her words A short time ago when she heard I ivas laid up in bed she wrote me ono of her laconic notes. '"Why don't'you try C. S.? Affly, Nanny.' By 0. S. she meant Christian Science. She has been a Christian Scientist for a number of years. It's a good thing for her. Although she has never suffered from any serious nhysical ailment; she is nevertheless ,'iibject to overstrain of her nervous abilities. "A short time ago an old boyhood friend of hers received a letter from h.or. Again it was the old. Nanny. , 'Bear'.St. George.'' it tend,' 'how is your fmnily? I have five children and I don't think (he end is yet.' • "When Nanny married Waldorf Astor there was a great to-do in the Astor •family; His father was very ambitious for his'son and-wanted him to marry ■ into the English peerage. But the son ■ had met Nanny. That settled it. Nanny knew of the objection. What's more, sho could understand it. After tlie old gentleman had given his consent Nanny wrote him a characteristic letter. She neither played the humble pensioner nor the gushing in-law. She simply .stated clearly and coneii-ely what, she thought of his decision. She told him that she thought it was quite wonderful that he had consented to a marriage between her and his sou.

"Nanny's house in England has always been open to her Virginia friends. No matter who it is that goes there is made to feel at home, She dispenses a hospitality that is entirely Virginian in its flavour. The owner of a big. clothing store in Richmond—a place everybody down there knows—went over to England not so long ago. Nanny heard of his arrival and immediately asked him to come and spend a week-end at her place. She took him about with her and drove him around the country just as sho would onv of her Engl'sh friends. It made w> difference to her whether he was a clothing storekeeper or" the Crown Prince of Norway. "It. is the same sort of attachment to old friends that one so often finds in Virginia. People will sit through hours while' a decrepit organist' wheezes out

some old times eo as not to hurt bis feelings. They never dream of dismissing- him and getting a younger man. It's not very good for art, this sentiment, but it is mighty good for the soul. _ "The false impression is often gained that' Nanny Langhorne has no depth, that she is superficially clover and sparkling; that there is nothing below tlio surface. That is the impression that a "cod many people of her type give. But it is not the true one, Nnnnv Lang : home has a fine mind, made the more attractive bv tho sparks of firo of which she is capable. Her sincerity and loyalty to principles and her fine, appreciation of human values aro rare indeed."

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19200223.2.10

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 127, 23 February 1920, Page 3

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,557

LADY ASTOR, M.P, Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 127, 23 February 1920, Page 3

LADY ASTOR, M.P, Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 127, 23 February 1920, Page 3

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