The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-01-01
MODERN OBSERVANCE
 OF AN ANCIENT FESTIVAL
sUGGEsTloNs HOW THE coPLEY SOCIETY. ITS ANNUAL ARTISTS rETE-AS EVENING

Boston, Dec. 31.--<Tweifth Night, old
 and new-for centuries 1t has been the
 jolly ending of the iccose holiday sea- son. drowned upon by the primitive church but finally accepted as inevita-
 ble and houored in every European
 country down to this time with enter
 tainfng observances. Its customs to
 an extent have been preserved and re- vived in this country. Many a Twelfth Night party this year will attest the growing popularity of cake-cutting, king nd-queen-crowning festivities. Coming twelve days after Christmas and very shortly after the January dividends have begun to come in it has perennial claims upon public interest. There are, indeed. organizations which pay a great deal of attention to 1t. In New York city there is the famous Twelfth Night Club, organized about 1890 by a group of aotresses--"Profes- ! sionals," of course. they call them selves--and accustomed to give each year a fete which is one of the social | events Of the season in Gotham
 It is probable, however, that Boston. | the ancient capital of American Puri- tanism. witnesses annually the greatest Twelfth Night celebration held in any | American City. The Copley Society, | famous for its international loan ex- hibitions. such as the Whistler memo
 rial exhibition of last year and the great collection of works by Monet which will be opened in March of this year, has for more than twenty years maintained revels and antics that have grown in splendor and reputation until
 they are now recognized as the best of
 their kind presented anywhere.
 These Twelfth Night celebrations of
 the CopIey Society are, in fact, locally
 almost as important as the large art
 exhibitions which annually bring hun
 dreds of visitors to Boston. The
 artists take the work of preparing for
 the festivities very seriously and spend
 sacrcely less time and energy upon the costumes and other accessories than goes into securing from art collectors all over the world the best examples of the work of Whistler and Monet and giving these the most artistic possible setting. Socitlly and artistically these pageants have always been of such marked success that it seems strange
 more of the art societies of other American cities have not fallen into
 the habit of celebrations of a similar sort.
 For the essential features of the
 Twelfth Night revel are few and simple and have been about the same in all
 times and places. There Is room for
 great variety in the details. Nothing certainly is easier to get up than a
 Twelfth Night party-given energy and
 enthusiasm Rn the part of few peo-
 pie and a willingness of many to parti- cipate. A few of the particulars may
 be given.
 Of course there is a cake, which must
 be a generous one, and concealed fin It. a particularly appropriate ingredient in
 the pastry of a Boston society--there must be two beans. OnA of these should be black, the other Srhite, so that the choice of king and S$deen may be simple. The pieces for the men participants may be cut from one side where the black bean is known to be concealed; whatever lady finds the white bean in her slice of cake becomes