The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-02-11

prevent trouble, but their presence was
not needed.
At midnight the great ball was at
It's height. All society was there. gath
ered to portray the regal splendor Of
past centuries. The great ball room of
the Waldorf, beautiful with a wealth
or roses and fragrant flowers, was then.
scene of grandeur never before
equaled in this country.
Great social functions Of the past
IN this town were eclipsed, even the
memorable Vanderbilt ball of 1S83
with which since then all other affairs
nave seemed to suffer in comparison.
FOR lavish expenditure, for artistic dec
orat1ons and surorundingsc, for a re-
Hect1on of the most picturesque cpl
sodes in Old World history and a gath
erlng OF the fairest and the richest in
the new world life, the ball tonight
marked an epoch. 1t was more than
mile post in New York's history:
1t was the event Of a decade.
Arrangements for receiving the
guests as they arrived were as nearly
perfect as could be. The guests alig,ht-
ed from the carriages at 13 West Thir-
ty-thlrd street, which is the private
residence Of Manager Bo1at, of the ho-
tel, where sixty apartments had been
set aside as dressing rooms.
The guests were received bv Mrs
Martin in the small ball room. The
scheme Of the decora tiOns in this room
was that Of the time Of Louis XIV, and
before the dais passed the counterfeit
preSentments of all the prominent peo-
pie OF that time, to mingle in pictur-
esque confusion with characters of
other days. After being received by
ttn hncStr
da1s under a canopy Of rare tapestry
the guests passed through a flower
lined corridor into the large ball room.
In the early portion of the evening
dancing in the main ball room on the
first floor was general, but it was not
until all the guests had paid their re-
spects to Mrs. Bradley Martin and she
had been escorted to the ball room
proper that the fancy dress ball was
declared formally opened.
In the small gallery, where were
members of the Twerty-second regl-
ment band and the Hungarian band.
the music suddenly stopped, for just
moment, to be broken by a flourish of
trumpets, as Mrs. Bradley Martin and
her escort, Mr.. John Jacob Astor, en-
tered the room. A moment later they
had taken their place at the head Of
the room, there was another flourish
Of the trumpetS, which told that the
quadrille d'honneur, arranged by
Mrs. VIM. Astor, was about to open.
The forming for the first figure, ''the
salute" was like the turning of pages
of history. The characters gathered
from all sections Of the room There
was Mrs. Martin, wearing a Marie
Stuart costume copied from an old
plate Of that queens time; Mrs. John
Jacob Astor, in a Louis VI. court cos
tune; j. Townsend Martin, as a cava-
lier of the court Of Louis XIII, and
Mrs. Henry Lohr, in Louis XIV. court
costume.
From another section of the room
came Mrs. Orme Wilson, looking pic
tureSque in a Louis XVI court dress
of white and silver brocade, which
followed the elaborate designs of the
period, and Mrs. Whitney Warren,
wearing costume Of pale blue bro
cade and silk, after the style of The
time Of Louis XIV. Lispenard Stewart
closely followed his partner, Mrs.
Whitney Warren, dressed as a cava-
lier Of the court of Louis XIII. The
others Of the sixteen, who took their
places in this quadrille were: Mrs Lee
Tailor, Mr.. Craig Wadsworth, Miss
Gerry, Confer Hitchcock, Miss Lena
Morton, B. B. Van Allen, Miss Madeline
Cutting, Mrs. Stuyvesant Fish.
AS these partners waited for the
opening bars of the music the scene
was the most beautiful of the night.
Beyond these characters of action,
about them on either side were the
rich laces, the glittering gems, and all
that went to make up the historically
represented personages of the ball, the
whole bacl1grounded by the natural
flowers, the lights and the ferns.
In this way the salute" was danced.
Mrs. Fish and Mr.. Van Cou1tland took
their positions behind Mrs Bradley
Martin and Mr.. Astor, Miss Gerry and
Mrs. Warren walked UP to a position
in front of Mrs. Bradley Martin and
Mr.. Astor. They were followed by Mr..
Martin and Mr., Stewart. Then the side
couples approached in O. similar way,
four at a time, leaving an aisle in the