The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-04-19
A BALL OF THE OLDEN TINE.
OLD FASHIONED ASSEMBLY AT
THE ASTOR HOUSE.

women Bothered ~ inc HoOpskIfuo OF
Their Grandmamas, While Men Gaze
Inconfortably Over Parapets OF Col.
larS-The First ward Sits n MarVels,
There came trooping into the Vesey street
door OF the Astor House last night a COM
nanv OF folk that might have been deemed
a bit ethereal II the women among them
had been able to ma mage their ancient
hoopskirts In the skilful way OF their an
cestois.
With the women; who were In the fur
bellows and Jewels Of the period before the
war and who wore old fashioned ourls
and had their hair pasted down alongside
the foreheadin the manner Of Cleo deMerode,
were men, young and middle aged, in the
silk stocks popular in the days OF Henry
CLAY and Daniel Webster.
They looked somewhat uncomfortably
over arapets of collars that threatened
to deoapitate them. One gentleman APP
reared in the dress Of an officer Of the Ameri-
can army In the time of the Mexican war,
and another had a lofty, furry, cream colored
beaver that is now affected only on the
vaudeville stage.
Sitting on the stone base Of the railing
Of old st. Paul's was a throng Of First ward
residents, mostly women, and loungers
from the City Hall park, who gazed In
wonder, mingled with a spirit Of demo-
cratic levity, at the procession Of fashion.
Wevmer Jay Mills, the author Of the
dea Of having a duplication Of an old timo
Assembly at the Aston House, was q oon-
~spic,ous figure. He wore a green coat,
A fancy waistcoat, mustard colored trousers
mia tha r,tiyuinn ulaaa ~ Nafhnnia1
p. Willis.
The procession vent to tho dining room
on the first floor on the south side Of the
hotel. which was used as tho ballroom. In
the olden time they burned kerosene and
the room then was less brilliantly lighted.
Barring the modern glamor Of electric
lights. the room, it was said by the most
ancient citizen present, looked much like
it did in the past.
From the flower decorated walls the faces
Of some Of the prettiest and most aristo-
cratic Knickerbockers looked down on the
merrymakers.
some of the young women appeared
in the dresses of their grandmothers. Miss
Angelica Schuyler Church wore the costume
and Jewels which belonged to Mrs. Alex
ander Hamilton and Miss Nell Grant had on
one of the dresses that her grandmother
had worn in the civil war period. No
woman was without a crinoline, and 1t
caused trouble for most Of them when they
tired to climb the stairs.
Lander's orchestra, now in charge OF
Miss Lander, was equipped in the unoom-
Portable style that distinguished the elder
Lander's musicians In the days Of stocks,
triled shirts and bell skirts.
Mrs. Charles Melville Dewey carried q
fan that Washington Irving brought back
from Europe before the civil war. Mrs.
Robert Endioott wore the dress that had
been used on festival occasions by the wife
of William H. Seward, Secretary Of State
under Lincoln; Matthews Aston Wilks was
in the costume of the period Of his great
grandfather.
The former great ballroom Of the hotel,
now known as the rotunda and used as a
cafe and dining room, was shut up early
In the evening for the first time in many
years. The rotunda was fitted up as a
dining hall n after the ball all hands
dined there In the style Of long ago and on
the same sort of dishes. As was usual and
proper then, most Of the guests did not get
home until the hour after The Sun went
to press.
Among the patronesses were Mrs. John
Hone, Mrs Robert Endicott, Mrs. .Casimir
Mrs. Benjamin Nicoll, Mrs. Childe Hassam,
MH. Charles NJ. De wey. Mrs. Carol Beck
with, Mrs. j. Alden Weir and Mrs. William
NJ. Chase.
The dancing began at 1890 with a quad
rifle OF the stately sort, requiring the exer-
else Of much old time courtesy. Among
Grace Moore, Hester G. Hone Julia Dodge,
Beatrice Pratt, Constance Pratt, Gladys
Endicott and Anne Hyde Clarke. and
Messrs. Alexander H. MADDEN, Schuyler
Schiefrelin, Francis Kinnicutt, Louis Mon
tant, W. Halsted Vanderpoel, Moses Taylor
Pyne. I'd, and Harold Stetson.
Others present were Justine Bayard
Erving, Suzanne Livingston Green, Doro-
thy Quincy Roosevelt, Edith Van Cort-
landt Jay, Fife Van Cortlandt Waddington
Lawrence l.. Winslow, j. Peyton Van
Rensselaer,, Charles King, o. De LAncey