Lawrence democrat. (Lawrenceburg, Tenn.) 1884-1925, 1893-05-19
WASHINGTON SOCIETY.
Gay Times for tho People at the Capital In
the Old Day.


Some one has said that there was q
! time in Washington's social history
when woman might give a ball if she
had a case of apollinaris That simple
time has departed. The woman OF
Washington who undertakes ball in
this day of the city's history faces all
the expense and a good many more of
| the difficulties that confront her sister
of New York or Philadelphia or Bos-
| ton.
1t was a great event in the old day
when the state department found itself
charged with the duty of entertaining
some duly accredited foreign embassy,
pagan or Christian, dusky or otherwise,
Then what has been dubbed in the
navy the royal yacht" meaning there.
by small, Enthusiastically vessel sup
posed to be useful in time of war as q
despatch-boat, was utilized for festal
purposes, and the embassy and
the guests of the secretary OF
state were carried down the Poto
mac to visit the tomb of Washing
ton. There were lunch and music
and talk, bright sunshine and much
gayety. If the ambassadors were inter
esting they became acquainted with
what of Washington the secretary OF
state or his family thought good enough
for themselves; but if they were pecu
liarly and irreparably pagan they en-
joyed the view of the river and its
shores in the society of their accom-
panying missionaries. Perhaps these
| pleasant excursions continue to be a
feature of Washington society, but II
they do an invitation must be far more
rare than it used to be, for necessarily
there are many more people in the cap
ital whom the secretary's family are
obliged to consider good enough, while
the accommodations of the boat remain
| limited.
In the old day-the men and women
who made part of its panorama call II
that, especially if they have moved
away and are not of the Washington OF
the present-in the old day there used
to be moonlight excursions down the
river to once ambitious terminal
point"-to use a seductive railroad
phrase-and society lunched and gos.
siped and fried at SO much head in
behalf of the Garfield Memorial hospi
tai, or of some other equally worthy
object of charity.
During the winter the cabinet officers
and their families used to hold what
were known as "card receptions
They were comfortably crowded. anC
were pleasant Other and unofficial
families followed the example, and one
might go almost any evening of the
week, iecluding Sunday, to some par
ticular house, and meet the same people
that one met the evening before, nn(
that one would meet the evening fol
lowing. These were assemblages o
friends, with an infusion of whateve
distinguished visitors might happen t.
be in the city. Naturally there was 4;
tinge, sometimes amounting to faint
of oflicialism in the gatherings; for tn,
cabinet families can not neglect tn,
law makers who provide the means 70
carrying on their departments, Con
grcSs and its wife was asked in due 70
tation, but the people who were reall,
wanted were invited to the seasons ser
les, and there was hardly single even
ing in the week when one who was ad
mitted might not meet most of the 9th
ers at n designated place.
There was no OStcntation in theS
evening parties. There was sometime
a rude intrusion. Occasionally "A hostes
who, in common with her other receiv
ing friends, had endured the insolenc
of an unasked intruder-man or wo
man-fclt compelled to take strong
measures. The capital of the nation i
infested with a human insect that de
votes its energies to boring into place
where it is not wanted. Possibly it
kindred exists elsewhere; but there ha
been so much freedom of access to tn
houses of men whose careers depent
upon popularity, and so much drea'
among those in high places of un
Willingly trampling upon Influential
feelings that the breed is especially en-
couraged there. Then, again, there ar
society of the capitalize presence o
officials and statesmen who are know
far and wide, and the abseEs5 of tn
men who are distinguished in tn
sciences and the arts.-lienry Loomi
Nelson, in Harpcrs Magazine.