Evening star. [volume], August 22, 1949, Page B-6, Image 23

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
Women's Clubs
Mrs. Kearns, Leader of G. 0. P. Women,
Has Background of Accomplishment
By Ruth Dean
Though she would rather direct
from “behind the scenes,” Mrs.
Carroll D. Kearns will be very
much “on stage” this year as
president of the
District League
of Republic a n
Women and
chair man of
special events
for the Con
gressional Club.
"But t h a t's
the way it’s
always been,”
laughed the
mild-mannered,
sandy - h a i re d
wife of the Rep
resentative from
Penn sylvania. Mr*- Ke»rn*
The temperature was in the high
90s, but Mrs. Kearns looked as
fresh as if she had Just stepped
out of a bandbox.
Perhaps it is this cool poise
and modest desire to “take a back
seat” that has put Mrs. Kearns
In the forefront of all she has
done. Behind her shy reserve is
a quiet determination to see
things accomplished perfectly
and on schedule.
Congressional wives still re
member the elaborate pageant she
staged a year ago, marking the
Congressional Club’s 40th anni
versary.
Characteristically she demurred
taking all the credit. “I had a very
fine committee working with me,”
she said. But in telling how she
gathered the material, she re
vealed how much of herself she
put into the 2%-hour show.
“You know there was no formal
history of the club,” she said “so
I had to go through old letters and
newspaper files dating back to
1908. I practically lived for awhile
at the Congressional Library.”
Digging into musty newspaper
flies was not a new experience for
Mrs. Kearns, however. “When I
was working for my masters degree
in history at the University of
Pittsburgh,” she recalled, I spent
one summer in the basement of
the New York Public Library
looking through old British and
French newspapers of the year
1852 to get material for a thesis.”
A graduate of the American
Academy of Dramatic Arts in New
York, Mrs. Kearns has produced
and assisted in the production of
dozens of plays and pageants. A
native of Greenville, Pa., she put
on its centennial pageant in 1939.
She also found time to be director
of the Greenville Theater Guild
and play roles under other direc
tors. One of them- was Hedda
In Ibsen’s "Hedda Gabler,” in
which her husband played oppo
aite her as the male lead.
* ■■ * - - ■
In tribute to her abilities, the
Pennsylvania Historical Commis
sion asked her to do historical
writings and pageantry.
From early childhood, Mrs.
Kearns has had an interest in
drama. %
When she wasn’t capturing
swimming honors in college, she
took part in amateur theatricals*
and later in New York, after fin
ishing her dramatic training, she
had opportunities to go on the
Paradoxically, Mrs. Kearns
chose not to stay. “I’ve always
been more interested in produc
tion and playwriting,” she said,
“and felt I could realise my am
bition better by returning home.”
So she went back to Greenville,
where she, taught history and
drama at Penn High School and
Jhiel College for several years.
It was there that Mrs. Kearns
met her husband, who was then
supervisor of music for the Green
ville Public Schools. "Though we
worked together on many school
projects, we always kept our jobs
separate,” she said.
Che is very proud of the fine
voice of her husband who is re
lated to the late Irish singer,
John McCormack. Representative
Kearns was once a baritone soloist
with the Chicago Symphony Or
chestra. "He’s, always considered
singing an avocation, however,”
she said, “and after a time gave
up music in favor of education as
his real career.”
Mrs. Kearns’ interests are by
no means limited to music and
drama.
"I always say I swam my way
through college,” she remarked.
Even before she attended Thiel
College, where she finished a reg
ular four-year course in three
years, Mrs. Kearns was winning
swimming laurels. By the time
she graduated, she had established
numerous swimming, diving and
boating records, including a 10
mile swimming record which she
still holds—but which title she
will not defend.
High on the list of her serious
interests is, of course, her or
ganization work. Besides the
League of Republican Women
here, and the Women’s National
Republican Club of New York, she
holds membership in seven county
councils of Republican women
back home in Pennsylvania. She
also is a regional membership
chairman in the Pennsylvania
Council of Republican Women
and a charter member of the j
Greenville Business and Profes
sional Women’s Club.
Her clubs here include the Dis
trict League of Women Voters, the
Club de Liaison des Femmes de
France and the Spanish Club of;
Washington.
I
Modern Marriage [
-r.&OCU.—1C r
Should Daughter, 30, Forego Marriage
To Support Aging, Dependent Mother?
By Dr. Paul Popenoe
It’s a hard decision for Agnes
to make. Shall she marry and put
her mother on “relief” or give up
marriage — probably forever — in
order to support her mother?
“My father died a few months
before • I graduated from high
school,” she explains. "My mother
was left with a little insurance
money—to be exact, she has been
getting about $40 a month for
the last nine years. It will end
in 1950. I took a job and the two
of us have been living together.
“I’m not too far from 30, and
I want to marry. I am engaged
to a fine man, who doesn’t get
quite as large a salary as I do.
If I marry him and start a fam
ily I can’t ask him to support my
mother, but then I can’t support
her either. The , only alternative
Is for her to go on public relief.
“She wants me to marry, but
every time we talk of it she be
gins to cry and says none of her
family ever had to be beggars
and live on charity. She hints
that I ought to wait until she dies.
That might be 20 years. Dr.
Popenoe.
“I lie awake at night until I
Anally cry myself to sleep mulling
over this. My Aance won’t wait
forever for me to make up my
mind. What on earth can I do,
Dr. Popenoe?”
I think you are entitled to a
chance to live Agnes, and that
you aren’t called on to be merely
a living sacrifice. It’s entirely pos
sible that your mother could be
largely self-supporting if she
wanted to. Your letter does not
suggest that she’s incapaci
tated, but merely that she found
it easy to let some one else support
her.
In any case, there is no reason
why she should look on an old
age pension as humiliating and
degrading. She—and you—have
been paying for it in taxes all
these years. It’s her right.
I say marry your man at once
and start your family before it is
too late. Do what you can for
mother, especially in reasonable
attention and assurance of love,
but let her live on “relief,” if she
insists on calling it that.
That’s my opinion. If readers
would advise you differently 111
be glad to hear from them.
Questions and Answers.
Q. I’m a 17-year-old boy. Fa
ther insists on opening all my
mail. Is that fair?
A. Far from it. Half the fun
of getting letters is to open them.
Dr. Popenoe will answer qutriee
•bout marriace relationship* without
fcharse. Address all l^^tera to Dr lPaul
Popenoe. in care of The Star*
in* self-addressed, stamped envelope.
(All correspondence strictly conn
dential.) (copyright. 1949.)
ADVERTISEMENT.
“Sophisticated Tweed" ... is what
“Glamour” magazine, September
issue, calls a three-piece ensemble
highlighted on their cover. The
Cover Girl who wears it is the
winner of their prize wardrobe
and trip to Europe . '. . she will
fly to London and Paris wearing
this ensemble in fact. The suit
... “a suit that shuttles urbanely
between two worlds—or catches the
8:29 ...” to quote Glamour again,
is a beautiful light tweed in navy
with-gold or navy-with-plum. It s
the new. popular, tightly belted
suit with four-patch-pocket jacket
and a slender skirt. The great
collared topcoat is in reverse-color
heavier-weave tweed, and Glamour
shows it with the same belt. We
think a survey would show more
than “Ten Girls With Taste”
would And this a perfect career
fashion in Washington. And in
sizes 10 to 16, they will find it.
The suit, $68.95. The topcoat,
$69.95. Both in Suits and Coats,
Third Floor at Woodward &
Lothrop.
Now—Nylon for a Negligee . . .
or two or three of them. For
we have seen it in a sweet young
peignoir with little-girl collar,
trimmed in all-nylon lace and
sashed in contrast pastel nylon
satin. It comes in bridal white,
pink or blue; $35. Or, you may
have a draped wrap-around neg
ligee, more in hostess gown fash
ion, belted in nylon satin, too.
This for $29.95. Or, perfect
perfect for late summer travelers
.. .'or travel any calendar month
. . . the straight, simple tailored
robe, with contrast piping. This
in white, pink, blue, too; $29.95
This wonderfill trio . . . with all
nylon’s long-wear, easy-washing,
quick-drying wonder properties
... is in soft, lightweight nylon
tricot jersey. All in Negligees,
Third Floor, Woodward &
Lothrop.
Have you seen a grand collection
of handsome import wool tweed
skirts . . . from Britain? Yes,
then chances are you’ve been
shopping in Sportswear, at wood
ward & Lothrop. In a season of
delightful young separates, these
beautiful skirts should not be
overlooked. First, because they
are wonderful-to-handle, wonder
to-look-at tweeds . . . and because
they are. beautifully English-tai
lored. One I liked was a many,
many gored skirt with multi
light-color plaid ... so many
colors in fact that you could never
go wrong in a sweater or blouse
choice no matter what you wore.
This, and a much heavier mixed
tweed were both $35. Thene, there (
was a menswear worsted, in gray,
buttoned down the front . . . and
you know how smart buttons are
this Fall . . . $22.95. In Sports
wear, Third Floor at Woodward
& Lothrop.
The designer hats are beginning
to appear in fair numbers now in
Washington . . . and we cannot
resist the impulse to shop, and
shop and look at least. Jeanne
Tete has some wonderful things
. . . and, for orginality we liked
one we saw recently . . . black,
felt with bordered veil in mink
brown. But the silhouette is the
news . . . very high, in almost
Medieval fashion at one side, and
intricately worked and dipping
very low at one side . . even the
turned-straight up brim follows
this high at one side, low at the
other line. This, $30, in the Mll
linery Salou Second Floor.
Woodward 8c Lothrop
10th, 11th F and G Street* Zone 13 Phono District 5300
BRANCH STORES—Bothosda, Maryland The Pentagon, Virginia
■
it's a wonderful buy ... every blouse,
every skirt in this simple os ABC
color-planned wardrobe . . . come, see
' This is the way to buy your clothes ... the Sacony ABC Plan.
Skirts and shirts are cleverly planned for blending ... for
carefree upkeep . . . and easy buying. Both shirts and skirts
are all-wool. And can you believe it . . . the Sacony tag on
every shirt reads "Washable" and you can choose them in
many colors besides the blending ones.
a. Shirt classic with three-quarter sleeves . . . fleet red, light
oxford, black or pine green. Sizes 12 to 18 in the group, $10.95
Skirt, pencil striped gray, turquoise or red. Sizes 10 to 18 in
group_$12.95
b. Button-back blouse with push-up sleeves . . . light oxford,
royal, pine green, black, scarlet, maize and tan. Sizes 12 to
20 in group-$8.95
Ribbed-stripe skirt . . . light oxford, scarlet or wine. Sizes 10
to 18 in group-$12.95
c. Blouse with a bold stripe all around about. Light oxford,
Cpp*i or light tan. Sizes 12 to 20 in this style-$10.95^
Little stripes merry-go-round on the skirt . . . oxford, royal,
In this, sizes 10 to 16- $12.95,
WOT—Sportswear, Hilrd Floor
^ ' v
a.
b.
e.
Sisters agree that jumpers are fun ... for school, or even pre-schooj,
and playtime. And how fetching they are in Woodward & Lothrop's
Young Fourth Floor collection.
Katherine likes the full-skirted twirl of her wool jumper. Its vee
neck shows off her blouses and sweaters, too. Cocoa, gray, navy, deep
green; sizes 7 to 14 in this style-------$6.95
Little Mary finds it easy to button the shiny metal buttons front-parad- •
ing her cotton corduroy. Sizes 3 to 6x . . . colors in group: red, olive,
aqua, gray_—-$4.95
Sweet*Sister Blouses, white cotton with little round collars, lace and in
sertion. Mary's, $3.95; Katherine's, $4.95.
W<fcL—Girls' and Juveniles' Apparel, Fourth Floor
W d, nj, ^
Z'P-l”'d Goats
^S'S-sa..,
teL,h"2ot „. w*"0 *>"-«*
s-stts*?. siffe-* **•
•; -f°r*t greens? fro™ *£ £?**»*
cherrywine . . 'jjjj ®r°y* brown or^P Colors
*39»
— PPW*J* fourth Wow