The record-union., 1897-04-14
IN OLDEN DAYS.
The State Ceremony at the White
House.
Elaborate Dress of the Men-GOld
Lace, Silk Stockings, Ruffles
and Wigs.

Lace, Silk Stockings, Ruffles
and Wigs.
Those who find cause for censure in
the elaborateness of the recent cere-
monies of Washington should go back
to the days when thirteen stars We're
on our flag and the Puritan element
was conten ding with the tendency to
aristocracy and Martha Washington
was first lady in the land
We are told by careful biographers
that when Mrs. Washington was
hostess of America she received from
S to 10 every Friday evening. After
noon receptions were not in vogue then.
Her levees-we are further told-were
numerously attended by all Fashionable
| and elegant society. But a curious
clause is added to this sentence:
There was no place for the intrusion
of the rabble in crowds. or for the
more coarse and boisterous partisan,
the vulgar electioneer, or the impudent
place-hunter, with boots, frock coats
| or roundabouts, or with patched knees
and holes at both elbows" To this is
more select and courtly than any re-
ceptions given by any of the first
Presidents successors"
Mrs. Washington founded our first re-
publican drawing-room after the only
model then known, the court of France.
None We're permitted to attend except
those who had high social and diplo-
matte rank. And, writes the historian,
full dress was required of all who
passed the ordeal of social Inspection
AT one Of Mrs. Washington's Friday
evening drawing an amusing ac-
cident happened on account of a very
low ceiling and a very high feather
headdress, of which Miss Mary Nc
Evers, a distinguished New York belle,
was the victim. In passing a chandelier
the high feather garniture of Miss Nc
EverS took fire from the light and
caused a scene of alarm and confusion.
| Major Jackson, aide-de-camp to the
! President, extinguished the flames by
| clapping the burning plumes between
| his hands.
At Mrs. Washington's drawing rooms
| Mrs Morris always sat at the right
hand, and at all dinners, whether pub
| lie or private, the venerable Robert
| Morris was placed nearest to the
| hostess.
| Mrs. John Quincy Adams had retired
from society on account of i'll health
when called upon to fill the position of
! first lady Of the land She could only
preside at public functions, saving her
strength for those occasions. Her man
ners were elegant and she had received
oil he NOV off Ill
as the best education that could be Civ
en- at that day. When her husband S
term of Office expired Mrs Adams left
social life forever and devoted the rest
of her days to domestic pursuits.
| Of the first ladies" here mentioned
three were of Southern birth and ante
cedents. 1t is worth noting that while
each presided with dignity and filled
the high office satisfactorily, each was
| glad to return to private life. Mrs.
Washington always refeyTed to her life
at that period as her lost days
| There was no lack of social splendor,
and six horses We're not considered too
| many in those days to convey a Presi-
| dent and his family from one scene of
festivity to another. There was a much
| closer line drawn in regard to rank
than there is a present, in spite of the
| clever remark of a brilliant society
woman of that day, that the only rank
in America was rank mutton" The eff
| feet of a social gathering was made more
brilliant than it is by the dress of the
men, who followed the style of the court
of France. Imagine a light blue
| French coat, with high collar. broad
nor 10 xyiIt
breasted Marseilles vest, nankeen-c col
ored cashmere breeches, with white silk
stockings, shining pumps and full lace
rufffes on the shirt bosom and wrists,
with white cravat inflated with a
pudding as it was called" A pow
dered wig and a gold-laced coat of ruby
velvet was worn by another one of the
cavaliers of the first ladies of the land.
The hospitality of the table was con-
sidered paramount, and what the cui-
sine lacked in quality it made up in
quantity Airy nothings formed no part
OF southern Woman'S diet then, and
| the wife of foreign Minister stigma
tlZed Dolly Madison's table as some
thing like harvest-home supper" But
the liberal hospitality of Virginia de-
lighted in profusely spread table.
When the wife of a President Aunt
Rachel" as Mrs. Jackson was called,
had her niece, Mrs. Donelson to help her
entertain. Mrs. Jackson was not a So
cial leader, and did not care to be. She
was, unfortunately, between two fac
tons, and when she went to Washing
ton she had been so maligned as to her
appearance by the anti-Jackson faction
that she was looked upon as a farmers
wife who could not dress herself intelli-
gently. The ladies who suggested a re-
arrangement of her wardrobe We're re-
ceived with SO much dignity that they
forgot their errand, and it is probable
saw their mistake, as her portrait shows
her handsome woman in white satin
topaz jewelry, low corsage and short
sleeves. She wrote clever letters and
was devoted to her military husband
who in turn was very fond of Ibis bonny
brown wife" Mrs jackson was a bru-
nette.-M. L. Rayne in Chicago Times
Herald.
Infancy and Childhood.