The Topeka state journal., 1899-05-20
.LUCULLUS
is OUTDONE.
Costly Farewell to New York of
Bradley Martin.
Guests Representing SOciety's
\ Wealth Were Present.
PLATES COST $116.2S.
Table a Wilderness of Flowers
of Pink and White.
The Hostess Led the Way With
Senator Depew.


fair that cost so, 900. or. to be mathe-
matical, $116.2s a plate. 1t went off in
a blaze of glory-viands, wines, tiowers,
music, service, all were perfect. The
cream of the smart set alone were
present. 1t was no promiscuous func-
tion, like the famous dancy dress ball
of several seasons ago.
Dawn began the $4,000 dinner, or
rather, the preparation for it. Half the
greenhouses in the vicinity were being
ransacked for their choicest blooms.
Mrs. Bradley Martin had decided on the
color herself 1t was to be all pink and
white; after that Mr.. Boldt, proprietor
of the hotel, was to have carte blanche.
The table had to be made especially.
1t was 20 feet broad and 76 feet long
a huge oval that nearly filled the ex-
quisite AstOr Gallery on the drawing
room floor, where the dinner was laid.
Table linen of enormous size was pro-
cured and laid on the great table. Then
came the decorating, which took an
army of florists all day long.
What the chosen few beheld when
they entered the dining hall at p. m.
was like fairy land. Chiefest of all was
the wOnderous table, set with the Wal
dorf-Astoria's finest service of silver
and glass-nOt just plain cut glass and
silver plate, but glass all gold and
prisms and solid silver of the choicest
design.
Mrs. Bradley Martin had supervised
it all herself. She was on hand early in
the mroning, running down from her
rooms in the hotel. Again at 5:3O p.
m she appeared, clad in afternoon gown
of royal purple cloth.
1t was a late dinner. The guests were
hidden for D. rn but it was half after
the hour before the last of them
rived. First to appear were Mr.. and
Mrs. L Townsend Burden. last was
Miss Gerry. much fiustered, for fear
she was late.
Mrs. Bradley Martin and Mr.. Bradley
Martin were ready to receive the first
of the arrivals. All the carriages were
on Thirty-fourth street, where two
fiunkies guarded the private door
which led to the AstOr gallery and the
reception room, which had been cut off
from the rest of the hotel.
Dinner was served in the Astor gal
lery at a table 75 feet long. Pink and
white was the color scheme of it's dec
grafton. At regular intervals down
both sides of the table, 80 great fiat
baskets of pink sweet peas and 20 of
white lilacs were arranged. These
formed an aisle in the center for the
candelabra of silver, set off with pink
and white silk shades. Scattered among
the flowers were silver cOmpOsts of
grapes, hothouse fruits and bonbons.
In that medium sized room, just as
the clock tinkled the half hour, stood
a company of sc persons, whose total
wealth was more than most men can
grasp. There We're a dozen men who
have $1oo00,000 or more, and twice as
many with $4,000, 900. OF the 40 odd
men, not half a dozen were not mil
lionaires.
There were gowns that spoke of Par
is ransacked. There were diamonds
enough for an emperOr's ransom and to
spare. There were enough diamond
crowns to fit out all the crowned heads
of Europe and have some over for Asia
and Africa. There were necklaces
worth S1OO,OOO apiece on several white
throats 1t was a delirium of wealth
and an idyl of luxury and magnificence.
Among the last to hurry in was Sen
ator Chauncey M.Depew. When her eye
caught sight of him, Mrs. Bradley
Martin let a little sigh of relief escape
her. Then she was all smiles. Oscar,
the Waldorf-Astoria's majordomo and
master of ceremonies, stood in the hall
way without. He whispered something
to a waiter, the lights were turned on,
the great ivOry-white doors thrown
open and the banquet hall displayed.
Behind a bank of palms a hidden or
chestra of strings and flutes struck up
softly THE Coronation March,"
Mrs. Bradley-Martin turned to Sen
ator Depew.
Senator said she, shall we go in
to dinner?"
Senator Depew held out his arm in
gallant style, and, with Mrs. Bradley
Martin leaning lightly on it, led the
way into the great room, shimmering
softly in the glow of a thousand tiny
candles. The rest of the guests-to
each woman an escort naa Deen assign
ed-sauntered in as they pleased, and
Mr. Bradley-Martin, with Mrs. James
P. Kernochan on his arm, brought up
the rear.
There was a card at each place; it was
not hard for the guests to find their duly
appointed seats Mrs. Bradiey-Martin
and Senator Depew sat, directly in the
middle of one side of the oval and Mr..
Bradley-Martin and Mrs. Kernochan on
the other side, facing them. Host and
hostess thus upset an old convention that
they should sit at the head and foot of
It was like fairyland then. In twink
ling half a hundred silent-footed walters
were busy-the CLAIMS appeared as if by
Never did diners see tables decorated
with more splendor. There have been
when roses cost 81 apiece, but none more
elaborate than this. The great broad
oval, stretching from one end of the room
to the other, was simply bank of flow
Sweet peas and white lilacs; that was
the scheme of decoration Great round
in front of each plate, making pink oval
within the white one. Flanking them
We're great bunches OF white iilacs, set in
glass YaseS-truly a combination Of color
and odor that spoke of springtime- There
was more, too. that told of budding green
and woods thick with blosSomS-the dog
wood boughs-
All the corners of the room and all the
the spaces between the windows and doors
masked them in turn. The room looked
like a fairy arbor.
But the flowers were not all. There We're
the candles, hundreds of them. rising tier
upon tier. to the center of the green ta-
covered with fluffy silk. The Outside row
of candles was small, the middle row was
larger, but the inside bank of them rose
four feet tall. 1t was the softest light in
the world and ut for the soft tinkle of