The Washington times., 1895-05-19

the heat of July and August is here in all
its fervor.
There is another pleasure ground of the
ultra set of the fashionables that will III
timately command fine pToAt Tor the
present owner and that is the enclosed
square near the boundary, which Mr..
John Mclean purchased sonlesyears since
and has transferred into gaftie5i for the
benefit of his own fanliiy. IN IBIS garden
has been set up ore or the htuE portable
houses generally used by suIllfner residents
at seashore and mountain resorts.
There is very pletly little Bstsor senti-
ment attached 10 the mannerifl k hich this
house OF three rooms was 81 pp and the
garden enclosed and put in tspIcsent state
of cultivation by the owner
1t was all accomplished as -as birthday
| surprise to his wife, with wilefn he went
driving on that auKpicious urcas1on some
three or four years since and upon their
| return from driving in the eaailtry droye
| to this place Were she found awaitiug ller
large Invited company, whom Mr Nc
Lean had hidden to welcome her and take
/ part in her surprise. Se2 y
Since tbFnit has been used by the fam
| lily as sort of roundup 10 their after
! noon drives, and coy little domain from
/ which afternoon tea is Dispensed To their
| friends after o'clock during the spring
/ aud earl Y, sun namer. One, of lire rooms is
fitted up for their youngest son as a bed
room in which he can rest whenever he so
Wills it after riding cut on his pony or
i driving his fine little tally-ho coach which
his parents purchased for him from the
| Worlds Fair.
When the present owner OF the property
takes a notion TO divide it up into building
lots. the facility with which he can dispose
OF 1T will be decidedly in the nature of ''hot
cakes" aud ali this because of his far
reaching business instincts.
Some years ago when Mr.. Mclean first
purchased the property it was down ON tiie
city maps as ''Holmead buryIug ground.
When the marc> of improvements aud The
real estate boom started in that direction
the old buTying ground that had for SO
many years, in its utter neglect, been an
eyesore, was boliged to give place To the
general spirit of progression that had
siezed the city. The remaining bones OF the
/ long forgotten dead buried therein, had
TO be removed, a1d when it was purchased
by Mr. Mclean il was indeed a sorry look
lug place.
Had he at that time endeavored TO put
it upon the market in building lots, he
would have found himself i'll the position
OF trying to uphold a white elephant.
People would have neld up their hands in
horror at the bare idea OF making homes
over the graves of Washingtons dead and
gone citizens More than that, not a rod or
the ground would have beeupurrtascd.
Like a wise man. Mr.. Mclean having pur-
chased the property at a bargain, put on
his thinking cap, with the result that he
has never even intitnated that it is his
ultimate intention of dividing the place
into building lots Yet when the time does
come that this is to be done, the memory OF
social gayeties and charming afternoons
spent upon the place Will be so uppernH,,st in
the public mind, and the memory of 'Hol-
+ mead burying ground will be SO very
Sua6nwV not the
. slightest difficulty will be experienced in
, reaping fortune from the property.
r During the past winter for the third time
in the social history of Washington the
''blue ribbon" episode has been enacted
, among the fashiouabes. The first time his
! was done was at q reception given in the
Edward Everett house, on the corner oil
Eighteenth and streets. That raised
q hullabaIloo at the time, the echo of which
still rings at intervals in Washington.
, The second time was when, several years
Since the famous cotillion was given i'll one
| of the largest houses in the west end, wheT
/ the room in which the diplomats danced was
rallied off with blue ribbon from the second
drawing room in which the other guests o
the evening went through tlie intricacIes oi
| the cotiilion.
The third time was during the past win
ter at one Of the largest OF the West Enc
W "
instead of blue. The meaning and effect
, | however, were identical and in consequence
there has been no end OF talk over the mat
ter. This occasion alluded to Was musi
Gale and the white ribbons stretched pro
tected such of the largest ADMINISTRATIONS
ly cushioned chairs as were reserved TO
those whom the entertainers were pleased
to class as their most distinguished guests
In this list were two Ambassadors an'
their wives together with another mem
, her of the Diplomatic Corps, and severn
of the Cabinet The fact that at a musi
Gale in which all Of the guests were suppps
! edly on the same plane of social distinc
| tion there should be any division ON th'
1 order of the sheep and the goats, yer,
naturally was most marked feature c
> the evenings programme. AS the elet
: in whose honor the white ribbon had beel
i stretched, entered the drawing room, tile,
i were escorted beyond that ribbon aud as
e signed the seats arranged for them.
i Naturally this rendered them very con
; | spicuous and in several instances was ct
j. iected to by those same guests of specia
g distinction one of these, the wife Of
cabinet officer, spoke SO freely of he
t dislike to any such method that at the sec
o ond entertainment of the same kind give
q at the same house several weeks lateI
s she was carefully omitted from the list o
q Invited.
d When supper was finally announced til
t blue ribbon episode was carried out {
e the finish AS the company was too larg
t for seats to be arranged about the suppe
d table, and as the fashionable expedier
of multiplicity of small tables was no
r ed on that occasion, the guest
e seated themselves about the sides OF tn
{ room or stood, according to fancy.
n That is, the majority Of guests did sc
v The white -ribboners of the dipioInati
aorpc tnuafhpr with the host and lOSft.s