Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1888-12-22

Etiquette OF the Omcial Season--Enter.
ADMINISTRATION Notes.

talnme nts-PerSOnal Notes.
In ten days the ot,cialiy cerem onious season
VII begin After the first Of January the SIM
p,sst forms and courtesies will take ON Q new
tn Gaming and fuller significance. without
the traditions and hereditary formulas of long
centuries Of courts and courtiers to guide and
direct its social laws, this country has still q
formal etiquette that has descended to the pres
ent generation from the fathers Of the Consti-
lions that govern society under a monarchy.
the official etiquette Of the United States IL he
ing changed and modified TO suit the needs and
s1igencies Of rapidly-increasing population.
Mrs Hamilton Fish was able to return in person
all her calls, and everybody who went the
rounds on cabinet day expected to have the
carriage Of the Secretary of State stop at her
door some day. The cabinet ladies of this adj
ministration found themselves utterly unable
10 return the calls made upon them each week.
IL was physical impossibility 70 do so As
many as 800 and 200 cards are left in each
cabinet house every Wednesday. The ladies
held meeting and decided to return no visits.
and TO make only the calls that official duty re-
CURED 80 they make the first calls upon the
wives Of the justices of the Supreme Court.
me wives OF Senators, and Of foreign ministers
70 those looking for monarchical tendencies IL
would appear that the cabinet ladies only made
this new order OF things when they found
themselves princesses Of the blood royal as il
we're, and after the bill had been passed turn
ing the presidential succession into the cabi-
net The simple entertainments that take
place In December will not be possible in
January. In the former month the cabinet lady
receives her Gale rs as her friends, and intro
duces them to each other. In January all
those familiar courtesies will be out of place.
and the wife of q high government official re-
ceives in an official capacity. nice question
now arises as TO whether the calls that have
been laboriously exchanged among the fami-
lies OF ofdcial and congressional circles this
month really count as official visits. Happy
hostesses can seat their guests at dinner as
they choose before the meeting of Congress.
When the season is on they viii send their
dinner lists to the White House for the master
OF ceremonies to diagram.
The New Year ceremonies at the White House
viii be the same in every respect as in former
years. The order of procedure is the same,
the Presidents reception beginning at IL
O'Clock. At the close Of the reception Secre-
tary Bayard will entertain the members Of the
diplomatic corps at a breakfast at his house
and Secretary and Mrs. Whitney will entertain
officers Of the army and navy at break
fast. 1t is possible that the Secretary of the
Interior win keep open house on New Years
day, az Mrs. Villas health is greatly improved,
and she hopes to be able to see callers on that
day. The cabinet houses and many others will
then be open to callers all afternoon. And 1t
remains for the days development to demon
strate whether the good old Knickerbocker
custom of Manhattan is to survive and flourish
In Washington after il has been long neglected
In its native state.
The program for the official season that will
soon be issued from the White House will con-
tain the dates for the members Of the cabinet
to give their state dinners to the President and
Mrs. Cleveland, as well as for the social events
at the White House. This is regarded as a
wise forethought, and will bring together at
each cabinet dinner all the members Of the
Presidents official family. Last year, owing to
rfpCQ fnfu of LOTT thara
dinner parties in progress in two cabinet houses
on the same night.
The majority Of the cabinet ladies are e1-
pecting to entertain deliberately and frequently,
and IL Is only possible that the brief season of
nine weeks will not contain dates for them all
Receptions, dinners, balls, germans teas. musi-
Gales, readings, and morning musicales are
some Of the features of the season. and it be-
gins to be most heartily regretted in many d.
rections that Inauguration day has not been
set for the 30th Of April. thus almost doubling
the season, within six days of it. barring the
Intervention Of Ash Wednesday and the Lenten
time. The new cabinet members never get
ready to Ahtertain each other until the next
autumn There is a likelihood that some MEM
bers Of the present cabinet will remain in their
houses until late IN the spring and will give a
series OF dinner parties to the members Of the
displomatic corps 1t Is an open secret that
the ex-President and Mrs. Cleveland will spend
some weeks at Oak View after the Inauguration
Of General Harrison.
Mrs. Russell Scott-Lord, the sister of Mrs.
Harrison, has been detained from leaving for a
visit to the family of her sister in Indianapolis
by the illness of her father. Dr. John W. Scott
The reverend gentleman was out in the rain on
Monday and received a severe wetting took
cold, and had an attack of bronchitis in conse-
quence. DR.. Scott receives a number of letters
every day from people begging him to use his
influence with his son-in-law for their advance
ment in office. DIR. Scott is q gentleman of the
old school, and In vain does his daughter tell
him it is not necessary for him to answer each
letter, because as a government Official he can
not NEEDLE in appointments to Office in any
event He persists in replying to all, saying:
II must be courteous" and he is quite broken
down with his labor of courtesy. He has been
very i'll during the week, but is now conyalesc-
ing. Mrs. Lieut.. Jno F. Parker the daughter
Of Mrs. Scott-Lord, who has been il1 for
several weeks, has recovered and spent the
week with Mrs. Major Parker on NJ street
From private letter received from Mrs
Harrison 1t Is learned that the family have been
alone for few days this week for the first time
since the nomination, and they enjoyed greatly
the quiet and rest of home. The immediate
household consists Of Gen. and Mrs. Harrison
and Mr.. and Mrs. Mckee and their two chill
dren, benjamin Harrison, twenty months old.
and Mary Lodge Mckee. four months old
Mrs. Russell Harrison is in her mothers home
In Omaha, Mrs. Saunders has two children the
youngest being eight months old Mrs Harri-
son expresses with much enthusiasm in her
letters the pleasure they all had in the visit of
MI. and Mrs. Morton. They enjoyed the COM
pany Of the Vice-President-elect and his wife.
and look forward TO their association for four
years with great pleasure The two families
had not met before. Mrs. Dimmick, who is
the widowed daughter Of Mrs Scott-Lord is in
Dresden with the sisters of her late husband
who are pursuing the study of music; and thew
are all receiving many kindly attentions from
the secretaries Of the American legation there,
who have prodered their services in present.
ing the ladies at court.
Mira j. G. Carlisle gave handsome luncheon
to q company Of ladies in her elegant residence
to-day az l:30 o'clock in honor Of Mrs. Cleye-
land The table was laid with twelve covers.
and bad an oval basket Of flowers composed OF
camelias, Virginia trumpet, orchids, spirea and
smilax, fringed with the red leaves
OF the poinsetta. In front of Mrs.
Cleveland, who sat at one end of
the table, and Of Mrs. Carlisle, who sat at the
other end, were round baskets of flowers and
between we're tall silver candelabra with the
white tapers capped with pink and blue shades
Scattered about the table were dishes of olives
mixed candies, iced fruits cheese sticks. and
almondA The menu cards were specially
unique, and were designed by the
hostess. They were square, and had
. small bow Of blue ribbon tied in one corner.
The card was set diamond shaped and under
the ribbon was laid on smoothly q small
photograph Of Mrs. Cleveland, pretty Laughing
Themes: OF the lady, that her friends present