The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1888-03-04
CLARABELLE'S SUNDAY TALK
How Mrs. Rockefeller Looks After the
Costuming of Her Wealthy Husband.
The Sequence Of the French Masquerade at
the Metropolitan Opera-House-A Short Es-
say as to the Proper Hour for Dining.
Special to the Indianapolis Journal.

is to say. her poignant grief does not make her
forget that she is going TO be an object Of
scrutiny, and her feminine instinct impels her to
dress carefully. Moreover, she will usually
to it that her live husband 10 suitably costumed
for occasions of interests. John d. Rockefeller,
the great and growing millionaire of the Stand
ard Oil Company, is seldom seen or talked about
socially. He has been telling committee Of
New York law makers, as you have heard, what
he knows about trusts, and 50 has brought him
self into unusual public notice The first day
on which be testified, mutual friend tells me,
he found at his Office in the Standard build
ing. where he was earning his hundred dollars q
day as presidents of the trust. and counting up
many more hundreds that come tumbling
into his Golfers from his multitudinous in
vestments. He left his desk and went
at once to the investigation. He had on
plain brown cutaway suit and derby hat He
is a man of medium stature and slightly built
His hair Is dark brown, with here and there
suspicion OF grayness He wears no other beard
than light, immature mustache. He looks at
one gravely from his blue eyes, and all his man
nerisms are marked by reserve, and he seems to
have no regard whatever for his clothes. His
testimony was not completed on the first day of
bis appearance and when he told his wife that
he was to be called the day following, she in
sisted that he put on better clothes. The coat.
which he obedently donned, was dark blue di-
agOnal. in the Prince Albert style. and the trous-
ere were of somber gray with black stripes, with
the creases of newness still in them. His modest
derby had given away to a tall silk hat 1t was
such outfit as he would wear to church. or to
an afternoon reception, and the law-making in
vestigators, no doubt, felt duly honored by the
sight of it
The Metropolitan Opera-house has had such
dressing up as ought TO make il feel like
man with new clothes after his old suit had
been discarded on account of smallpox. I went
into that big and fashionable home of grand
opera yesterday, and found the corridors, which
had SO often seen swept by the dainty skirts
of Fifth-avenue women, being cleared with
plain, everyday brooms OF immense quantities
of cigar STUBS cigarette ends, broken bits Of
victuals. and other debris OF. the Cerc!e de
L Harmonic masquerade ball. In previous years
this fixture of New York winter dissipation and
revelry has been held in the Madiso n-square
Garden. which belongs to the railroad company
controlled by the Vanderbilts. On several of
these annual occasions the late William
II. Vanderbilt looked in the orgies, ana
seemed to be amused by them. At al events
he never declined to take the 81. 200 rent money
paid for the single nights occupation of the
premises and enough previous time for prepara-
tion. But when the present generation of
Vanderbits got the estate and Cornell
of the house. he ordered the door shut against
all masquerades although he does not object to
walking matches and other athletic shows. The.
Opera-house, however. have this year
rented out that establishment to all the
ball people who wanted it and could
pay the price. What I there yes
terday was sequence of the great French
masquerade. Not only had the orchestra seats
and the stage been foored over for the dancers
nd civ fn In froff
in wine and viands. but the hucdred private
boxes, sacred to ownership by the nobs OF our
best society, were sold for the night to the worst
gangs that ever had the money to spend in
costly drunkenness and indecency. Each of
these boxes has little ante room behind, and
some of these sre delicRtey fitted up with drap-
cries and furniture. These adornments were
taken out for the occasion, as far as possible,
and what remained was covered with
muslin to it from the CRIME and
splash of amateur bar-room. These tiny
parors of the rich and preten.ious became for
the time being the dens of extravagant vice. A
study for carlcaturst or novelist was the be-
havior of men and women under masked condi-
tions at the Circle de PHarmone masquerade.
Your typical man, be he upper ten or one of the
million, has one way of behaving; your typical
woman of any grade You choose has another and
perfectly distinct way am not referring to
the conduct in a masquerade march, but to that
infinitely repeated incident whore person with
a mask on approaches one who is undisguised,
and SLAMS him or her the back. calls MIN,
her. by q pet nickname and then waits for
recognition. When man Is approached thus
by masker, he invariably smiles in superior
Ton yoDr fnn muGa old boy dr to say Old er
I know you-you can't fool me-" and
all the time the masker is fooling him com pete-
ly. After a time. when the situation grows ir-
ritating. the masker dscoses his or her 1denti-
ty, anG the man in the case laughs feebly as il
he enjoyed it all-wbich he doesn't by several
long shots. But in the case of woman under
similar circum stances, the case is adically and
sensibly different. The woman approached
by masker never smiles in familiar, good
na.ured way. She looks coldly at the mask
wearer, frowns a bit, stares at the cleaning
eyes, and then takes moderate, supercilious,
comprehensive survey of the entire costume,
and the plan works to charm; for the masker
cannot endure the thought that the friend is
mentally saying, "WhAt fright" and imme-
diately discloses his her personality. Then
the woman. high or low, good; bad. or jolly,
didn't know you" That is the way they did at
the French ball. and 1 will wager they never
vary it at any similar occasion anywhere.
piece of social news is that Mrs. Hicks
Lord, famous here as the comparatively youth
full and very handsome widow Of aged mill
ionaire. and celebrated for great entertainments
in her Washington square mansion has rented
a house in Washington and is going to show the
people of the capital how well she can give re-
ceptons, balls and dinners There WILL at least.
be something of novelty in her Washington hos
pitality. because il will have no furtive object
She has relatives in federal Office. who are
after POSITIONS she is not the lobbyist for any
legislative hobby, and she will simply try TO dis
tinguish herself by extensive and resplendent
assemblages, so look out for social coruscation
in Washington.
De Quincy is acknowledged by bon vivants to
have been the authority, in days gone by, upon
the art OF dining, and even cur own Sam Ward,
OF blessed memory. was wont to uncover at
mention of his name. De Quincy once said:
I'm proportion dinner has advanced to-
ward evening, have we and has that advanced
in circumstances of elegance of taste OF intel
lectual value" What a precious secret is IN
volved in this sentence Does any suppose
for a moment that either of New York's after
dinner stars-Depew, Ingersoil, Dougherty.
the rest-if called upon to set a barren table IN
a roar at in the afternoon. just after leaving
his off nil inns decA IL hEa