The times., 1898-05-22
ECHOES FROM ABROAD.


The long-expected and much-anticipated
historical costume ball has been held at
Florence. The king and queen went UP
from Rome to attend it. For many long
year Florence has not sheltered such an
aggregation of celebrities within its walls
OF course, the king and queen headed the
list. but they were followed by the two
queens of Holland. the Prince and Prin-
cess of Roumania the Duke of Saxe-Wei-
mar and military and civic persons of
fame without number.
1t is a rigid custom of the queens new
er to attend a ball to which tickets of en-
trance can be procured for money and as
infiexible is her rule never to don a fancy
costume, for which reason she has often
furnished the only unharmonious note a
these balls, in which the Italians delight,
and which they know how to carry out
with such perfect effect But the queen
Is evidently in happy mood these days
ana not only did she promise TO attend the
bali, but, as she swept into the grand old
hall of cinquecento in the Palazzo Vec-
chic, glorious old fourteenth century
robe of brocade and silver embroidery
hung from her shoulders.
Margherita is always a mystery to those
who see her again after a lapse of few
and this Spring when she went to Flor
ence twenty years seemed to have Slip
ped from her golden head. Her celebrated
smile Is just sweet and just as sincere.
Just as ever she captivates all who see
her for the first time. Were it not for
her consummate good sense and her new
er-failing amiability long ago the italian
kingdom might have been a thing of the
past But Margherita. knows her subjects
and she has never yet failed to inspire
them with loyalty and trust. Although
there has been vast amount of uprising
and dissatisfaction lately in Florence yet
when the king and queen appeared il was
Viva la reginar' from every side
For long time all the old documents
In the family archives have been ran
sacked in search of costumes and pic
lures, and every descendant of the ancient
houses appeared at the historical ball rep
resenting some famous member of his
house or dressed in the garb OF a time
when his family was powerful The
young Marchesina Peruzzi de Medici came
to the ball in the guise of the hapless
Blanca Gapeila, to whose history her own
story bears fatal likeness. The Prin-
cess deglf AIbizzi was robed as the Ia
nous Geneyra. and her costume was
among the most beautiful. although in
It's suggestion il could not but be grew
SpiHG. 1t EOISiStGu OF fourteen tunes or
accordion-p -plaited white chiffon, one worn
over the other and falling straight from
the square-cut neck. The only ornamen-
tation was a spiral bracelet of seed pearls
worn above one elbow and in the filmy
gauze drapery of the head and neck one
seemed to see the beautiful bride as she
must have appeared in her grave clothes
in Boccaccio's well-known description.
Foreigners in Florence are still carried 10
the lItt tla eVar pOu, 90 Had Vgo 5aIlo
Morta, where Genevra passed from her
grave TO her lovers house. and still the
story is told in the pretty Tuscan patois
of her fidelity and her unhappy love.
The most striking couple in the salon
We're the Dante Aligheri of today, who is
known all over Europe for his likeness 10
his ancestor, and his cousin. the beauti-
ful Beatrice. The costume of Dante's love
was carried with infinite grace by the
Princess Pandolfini, and as she and Dante
stoed conversing before one Of the ancient
mullioned windows Of the hall il was diff
cult 20 realize that it was 1898 instead Of
400 years ago and that it was not another
night AMI another age when a grand duke
led his bride through the same room at
tended by the men and women of a court
which has never in the worlds history
been excelled for It's brilliance and its
splendor.
The Marches Montagliari wore a suit
OF armor which was worn by a member of
his house during the siege when Michael
Angelo defended his beloved Florence
from the heights of San Miniato. The
MarChesa0 Montagiiari. who was Miss
Fnl!er of New York and who for many
years has been a leader of society in
Florence, was robed in real cloth-of-
gold court dress embroidered with real
emeralds and real pearls.
When all the guests were assembled
one of the massive iron-studded doors was
thrown open and there filed in a process
sion unrivaled in its brllliancy and rich
ness since the days when Lorenzo il Mag
nificO patronzed all that was knightly
and brave in his subjects. The retinue
was formed of the players in the ancient
game of calico. which is the progenitor
of the American football and which stands
in the same relation 20 the game of today
that the Italian palone does to modern
lawn tennis This Calico which signi-
fies kick" was revived to celebrate the
fetes in honor of the two Florentines
whose anniversary Italy is observing. Gu
riously enough 1t is queer freak of for
tune that at the moment when Europe is
honoring the explorers of the New World
America is waging war with the country
which furnished the wherewithal that
made il possible for the Italians to carry
out their projected plans
Calico resembles football in very many
respects. but instead of eleven players
twenty-seven are required. OF these.
however. twelve are standard bearers.
pikemen and ,trumpeters. The costumes
Were historically correct and as the pro-
cession passed in front of the sovereigns /
the standards We're lowered. the two sides
filed into order and each prayed the royal |
patronage.
But the present war between the United /
States and Spain has made evident to
Americans as nothing else could the unre- I
liability of the news in the continental /
papers The American who reads the for /
eign newspapers there finds the strangest !
accounts OF imaginary happenings right
here In our own part of the world
To read the continental newspapers one |
would imagine that with the possible ex-
ception of the battle of Manila we had [
sustained a succession of defeats. On two +
separate occasions the foreign press has /
contained lengthy accounts of attempts !
made by the United States 10 reduce the I
Notifications OF Havana. The Euro /
peans have learned that we have bonn
barded the Cuban metropolis and been re-
pulsed by Bfancos gallant soldiers. The
story of the attack on Matanzas was ac-
cepted as gospel truth and Europeans
have been told that the guns mounted in
the forts of the town were sufficient to
kill a few score OF our sailors and prevent
an attempted seizure of the city. Then we
have lost other battles at Cardenas and
Cibanas; two of our ships have been de-
stroyed by Spanish guns and another
ran aground, being wrecked on the Cuban
-