Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-02-14

Asst TUESDAY NIGHT, Or TO BE MORE
IL accurate, last Wednesday morning, the
following dialogue was overheard. He was
assisting her into her carriage at about Q
O'Clock in the morning, after magnificent ball,
and as he shook hands with her he said:
swell, good night, good night! 1t isn't all
over, is i1 When can see you AGAIN.
She smiled upon him sweetly. mot for forty
days. Goodbye"
"And what are you going to do for forty
| days?" he said, az he held the carriage door
open, waiting for her answer.
II am going to-" she hesitated moment
and then waved her hand lightly to him. 81
am going-to sleepr'
He shut the carriage door with bang, bowed,
took out cigar, Lit it and walked home rumin-
ating. What seemed to trouble him was that
the lady should have entirely forgotten that
forty days sleep was out of the question, in
view of the certainty that there would be ball
in the middle Of Lent. Probably she did forget
1t, for it may be depended upon that no society
girl would miss a mi-careme ball
Well, it's all over for while at any rate. Put
up the fiddles, call in the French horn, let the
rugs be laid upon the polished floor, choose an
evening when you viii always be at home to
your friends, arrange a number of dinner par
ties and theater parties with supper afterward,
go to church every day if you are an Episco-
palian or a Catholic and settle down for Lent.
Such an existence, when compared with the life
you have been leading until the past week,
might, by comparison, be called sleep.
REMINISCENT.
1t has been jolly winter-there is no doubt
Of that. The names Of those people who have
given the jolliest parties might be given, if it
were allowable to name Manassas it isn't.
They might be printed in letters Of gold, and
those who have given only comparatively Jolly
parties might have their names in silver, and
beaten brass might stand for the people whose
balls have been failures. There wouldn't be
long list of the failures, however. The young
people Of this town carry a good time with
them. Here is what Washington lady once
said on this subject
Il never hear my daughter say she had
stupid time at party without thinking how
ity herself"
That is the point. II you go to party in
bad humor you will come away and say it was
stupid party; Did you ever reflect that you
made 1t soI The man who won't be happy is a
milestone around the necks Of happier people.
and sooner or later he will drag them down to
his miserable level. He ought to be put out
and told to go homo. In the same way that
morose girl who won't enjoy herself ought to be
put out of sight. Her glum, cold countenance
congeals the champagne and freezes the mar
row in a terrapin's bones.
Now, sleep and retirement for Lent are all
very well, but they are merely the impulsive-
ness that seizes upon people who have been
over gay-a sort OF reaction, as it were. and a
reaction that never lasts very long. elf it we're
allowable to compare SO innocent pleasure as
going to balls and parties with so pernicious
custom as regular drinking it might be said
that person once addicted to society never
voluntarily gives it up any more than a hard
drinker ever gives up his drains. society
woman may abstain from going out for awhile
just as the drinker may swear off for a month
or SO, but the ruling passion is pretty apt to
return in one shape or another Therefore it
happens that when Lent begins everything is
quiet for time but soon entertainments be-
gin again in a modified Lenten form.
THE SEWING CIRCLES
There are those sewing circles, for example.
Can anything be said against the pious custom
OF young ladies coming together for the pur-
pose OF making clothes for the poor children Of
this country or Of foreign lands? Such sweet
garments as are made, too! So appropriate
and 30 skillfully manufactured are these clothes
that one cannot help wishing that he lived in
an orphan asylum himself. A piece Of cloth
that has been fashioned into loose body or
bosom or seat by one young lady is handed
over to another, who inserts into two holes that
have been provided for the purpose a couple Of
sleeves or receptacles for legs. The little In.
dian or orphan or Hottentot, as the case may
be, can take his choice whether he will use the
article OF apparel as a coat or pair of trousers.
The poor unfortunates are, as every one knows,
sometimes deformed, and these are especially
provided for by Lenten sewing circles, for
one leg or sleeve is often half foot shorter
than the other. Then there are those dear
little red jackets that they make, all covered
over with braid and having the dearest little
tails attached to them, just like young mems
cutaway coats. These are not, as an ignorant
person might suppose, manufactured for the
monkeys Of Italian organ grinders, although
they have sometimes been coveted by those
gentry, as the following true story will illus
trate:
One Of signor Crispi's compatriots was per-
forming the novel strains Of Strauss waltz,
The Beautiful Blue Danube" in front Of
fine house on street last spring while sew
ing circle for the benefit Of the little Sioux
Indians was in progress. JockO, his monkey,
impelled by curiosity, had climbed q tree box
and peered into the front parlor window. He
was observed presently to give manifestations
OF the liveliest pleasure and rushing down to
his master perched upon his shoulders and chat
tered vigorously. His master seemed to un-
derstand. for when one of the young ladies adj
vanced with the garment she was sewing in her
hand and opened the window to throw out
some small change the Italian and Jocko took
of their hats simultaneously.
'.Na! Ma" said the former. 'sNa throwa the
money for Jockoi Jocko wanta the coata
Lady give Jocko the little red coata!''
1t Is needless to say that the covetous
monkey and his master didn't get the coat. It
""e scut W uttlc SIOUX lnuldu, VINO wore IL
and was christened Little-Boy-i Monkey
Jacket in consequence.
Nevertheless the Lenten sewing circle is an
excellent thing. 1t gives the ladies something
to do and it affords an opportunity for the men,
all tired out with their days loafing, to come in
and have refreshing cup Of tea.
OTHER LENTEN DIVERSIONS.
The sewing circle is only one form Of Lenten
amusement The reading class, especially the
Shakespeare reading class, is another, but this
is thing to which the men do not gain admis-
sion until after all the reading is over When
two soft-voiced girls read the quarrel scene be-
tween Brutus and Cassius in Julius Cesar for
instance, it must be quite horrifying. When
Cassius cries to Brutusin high treble, ''Give me
You handr' and Brutus replies in thrilling
falsetto, 'And my heart, too" it is certain that
no men are around or they might wish to take
part in the scene, putting q far different con-
struction upon tho use Of the words hand and
heart. These reading classes are doubtless
most instructive, but for that matter to in
| struct ones self seems to be especially Lenten
| fad. French circles and German circles, where
people come together for the purpose Of COM
municating with one another By q sort Of
polyglot tongue, are also popular. II 10 related
| that q real German from Germany once at
tended a meeting Of . German circle and in
| uuired what tba uukuowu ton1ue that ha