New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-01-29
SOCIETY IN VIENNA.
TIE CARNIVAL DECLINING.
Vienna, January 10

Vienna, January 10.
Two great fetes naugurated the carnival hero
on Monday last, the one at the Imperial Paiacc;
the other on the ice. The court ball was OF
unusual brilliancy, notwithstanding the absence
of the Empress. who is now travelling in Spain.
Her place was taken by the Archduchess Maria
Therese whose husband is heir-apparent to the
throne. and it was to her that were presented
the debutantes, among the faircst OF whom was
Miss Julia Grant, daughter Of our Minister. Miss
Grant, like all the other young girls present was
arrayed in white while her mother appeared
in an exquisite Partisan creation OF rose-coored
velvet. bordered with feathers Of the same hue
and trimmed with beautiful lace and silver en-
brodery. She likewise wore some beautiful dla-
monds, and her toilet was greatly admired Tie
favorite style OF dress among the ladies present
was the princess robe. and some OF the shot silks
had remarkable effect under the sbft and brilliant
electric light. The modified Empire and Marie
Louise toilets wcr. also mach patronized the over
dress being OF lace fastened with briants. The
ball took place in the old Rcdoutensaale OF the
palace which had not been touched in fifty years,
and which has now been entirely renovated. fur
nishch with electric light and hung with priceless
Goben tapestries. The court made its entry %
o o'clock. the Emperor conducting the Duchess
of Cumberland. who is sister of the Czarina and
Of the Princess OF Wales. and who wore her cele-
brated pearl necklace while the Duke Of Cum
berland escorted the Archduchess Maria There's,
who was arrayed in a sky-blue DOirc antique dress
richly embroidered with gold. l may add that
only two Of the ladies present carried Douquets.
They werN two brides-namely the countess
Gabrielle and Marguerite IIarrach.
On the same evening the fancy dress enter
tainmcnt which has been in preparation for The
IL 10 xl,o anff
park, and proved great success At one moment.
however, 1t appeared on the eve Of being turned
into a tragedy \ couple Of white horses in tho
procession SHE'D at an elephant, and dashed
across the bright mirror Of ice from one end OF
the place to the other dragging for some distance
the medieval hunting sledge in which sat two
women and child. Strangely enough, they
escaped without injury, but a young girl IN the
crowd, in endcavoring TO escape from being run
over by the horses. fell and broke her leg This
was the only casualty Of an otherwise most anus
ing festival, during the course Of which almost
every animal both of present and antediluvan
times. made its appearance on the ice.
Notwithstanding this brilliant Inauguration Of
the carnival, there are loud complaints that the
once celebrated Fasching" has lost much OF its
former gayety and brilliancy. johann Strauss,
who NAV we'll be described as the King of the
vienna carnival, dttTlDutts tliS ut-tHhc parity W
the fact that the young men Of the present day
have become too lazy to dance, and partly, too,
to the increasing cost of ball dresses. He declares
that the rivalry in toilets has assumed proper
tions which quickly enrich dressmakers but i'm
poverish middleclass households. The price Of
ball toilet of the present day would suffice for
several weeks of a summer trip so that the latter
is now preferred. Herr Strauss, however, is hope
full, and declares that our bathrooms will once
more be filed when simplicity in dress again be-
comes the fashion
Accustomed as we are here TO hard winters, tho
present is Of altogether exceptional severity
and so firmly is the Danube frozen over that o
passage across it has been opened just above the
city, at the foot of the Kahlenberg. Usually the
river is impossible, in the severest frost. be-
cause the great boulders Of ice that come down
with the current push up against each other and
freeze together with their sides uppermost But
this winter the frost has come suddenly, and the
floating ice stopped all at once, so covering the
entire river in the neighborhood of this city with
mirror ice Meanwhile, most Of the country
around is showed up. The trains are not yet
running to Buda-Pesth nor to Trieste. In the
wooded plains of the Danube not far from here
the game is dying in large numbers, and hares ana
deer. being unable TO move about in the deep
snow. lie down and freeze to death. The whole
city is covered with snow, and along the splendid
Rinpstrasse mounds of snow are piled twenty feeo
high. So heavy has been the snowfall here tha1
some of the suburban portions OF the capltai arc
cut off from the centre of the city.
Let me advise those of the readers OF mo
Tribune who propose to travel in Europe during
the coming summer TO avail themselves OF the
opuortunity 10 visit the snail town OF Fogarasch
in PENNSYLVANIA, which has Just been placed in con-
rection with the Hungarian capital by means OK
n railway II is in Fogarasch that Is stored the
great silver treasure Of the Hungarian gypsies.
Whenever wandering gypsies obtain any money
they invariably buy some silver object ana 10 50
cure the safety thereof they deposit it with
ccrtoin merchant of Foearasol. BY far the great
cot number Of these silver objects belongs to the
seventeenth and eighteenth cntuIies, but there are
some much older. When tie fair is held az
Forarasch the gypsies redeem their property 10
have n look at it, and drink from the goblets as
they feast. At the conclusion of this carouse Is
the time to purchase them, as when they are
sober the gypsies will not sell these Vaiuaole
remnants of an artistic period. After the fair they
deposit them and go their way Intending tourists
NAV like TO hear that four fairs are held there
ON the Thursday after Whitsuntide. on the 2Otb
of .July. on September 0 and December 6.