Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1904-01-21
MINERAL POINT WISCONSIN THURSDAY, JANUARY 81. 1904
Taffered and Torn BenediCfS.

|
eral Points various and numerou:
clubs and organizations; but the
tally for originality and novelty was
scored by the Bene rs in their party
of Monday evening, January 18th.
The invitations read, Hard Times
Party" and the edict had gone forth
None but the poorly dressed may
enter here" o, were the pen as good
as the flash light to depict the scene
of the Grand March! Imagine cor
tege of one hundred and twenty five
people dressed in one hundred and
twenty-fiv strikingly peculiar cos
tumes, repre- senting every age and
cline and condition in life,
Ut is said that Rip Van Wrinkle, al
ter his twenty-year nap, shook his
old grey head ard muttered in his
bewilderment: I'm not myself
I'm somebody else; that's me yon-
der-no-that's somebody else got in
to my shoes. / was myself last night,
but | fell asleep on the mountains
and they've changed my gun, and
everything changed, and 1 m
changed and / can It tell what S my
name or who am.
Yet has had been but nap of
t,Oenty years. A more confusing di-
lemna was that of the bystander at
the Benedict party-how to deter
mine the length Of the nap. Surely
I've been dreaming ten years, for
those long needle.toed shoes were III
vogue during the Chicago Worlds
Fair All! I've been doing twenty
years, for as | live, there's black
silk Dolman. Nay tits fifty I've been
sleeping, for see that quaint old silk
with the slender bodice and sloping
shoulders, brought from Merrie Eng
land half century ago.
And where am i? Into what
country have / wandered? Surely
that's friendly fat Falstatf OF u
Dutchman. / know him by his tas-
seled cap and wooden shoes; his
beard is grizzled, but see how be
clogs in his heavy shoes. Even
Weary Willie, with his red flannel
patches, fringed trousers and rimless
hat, is here. Look at that dear old
grandma in her quaint cap and APP
ron, as she gives her peppermints so
generously to romping bevy of
little girls in fresh pinafores and
pretty bonnets, who scamper to and
fro and quarrel over their dolls and
stick candy.
Have you met Mrs. Wigs? Gen
erous, kind soul that she is, she has
brought all her friends from the
Cabbage Patch. Watch them dis
play their cast-otf finery-blt happy.
What matters it to them that their
flower bedecked bonnets are awry;
that they wear Foxy Grandpa hand
kerchiefs; that their bonnet stream
ers and gloves are not twins; their
cordially is not second hand If their
clothes are.
Silks and satins, calicoes and rags.
Yonder sits group Of Aunt Mary
AIMS. One in a red house-dress.
Even her generous white apron be-
speaks hospitality and a larder stored
with plum preserves and jelly. How
they clatter as they discourse their
stuff" gowns, silky poplins, shiny
alpacas and figured delaines. There
are wedding polonaise and bridal
bonnets tied under chins that are
less in years than the gay ribbons
themselves.
Shake hands with the ''gint" in the
low-crowned cady and green tie, and
he will give you "rale ould Irish
Welcome"
Is that strike? No; only gang
of men in blue overalls. They mop
their brows with voluminous red
bandannas, but it is not from work.
Reuben, in low-cut vest, white trous-
ers, and brindle stockings, talks Of
crops and the price of hogs in re-
alistic manner to rough ready
cowboy of the western plains.
"Rich man, poor man, beggar man,
thief ~ My mind is in a muddle.
Things are not what they seem. But
we are recalled when Mrs. Wigs and
her friends serve us with some very
real boughnuts and coffee. Even
the napkins are not omitted. They
are of coarse brown paper with the
! inscription, "Clothes make not the
man.
The orchestra favored the "hard-
time" company with some "hard-
time' tunes, lin which they KEEP,
their usual good time), and at the
hour of twelve, like with the drowsy
Rip, the mystery was forgotten. and
we were ourselves once more.
| Married at Willow Springs Ian