The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-02-18
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 OF sMOBiL AND ALABAMA
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The current number of Town Topics. speaking of the Mardi Gras Carnival in Mobile. says:
 "The social interest of this years Carnival in Mobile, centers about the Imperial Court. the coronation and the masquerade balls of the Mystics. The veil of secrecy which once was folded tightly across the personality or any masker, has grown quite diaphanous of late. When rare old Dan Huger. John Rapier. Hannis Taylor. Ritten- house Moore, James Maury and their set. wore the purple of mimic Imperiai- ism. their own wives could not have guessed their identity. It has not been difficult this year to learn that the Emperor Felix will be personated by Thomas w. Sims, youngest son and namesake of the late we'll known mer- chant The Empress will be Miss Vfr- ginia Lyons, debutante daughter of Colonel A. s. Lyons, prominent In the business and political matters of Mo- bile. Among the Maids of Honor at tending the Empress will be Miss Eva Conner. daughter Of Alabama's new Governor Miss Lettice Lee Clark, Hen. rietta McPhiiiIps, Lucille Bidgood and Ruth Sheppard. The Legislature of; Alabama, now in session. will visit Mobile In a body during Carnival week
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 Mobile is making new effort to show appreciation of Miss Lettice Lee Clark, whose debut here last winter made much pleasant echo. Miss Clark has returned South to spend the anti Lenten season once more in her native town, and Is the guest of her aunt, Miss Ellen Smith, with whom she toured Eu- rope last year A round of entertain ments are announced in her honor, and she win be aid-of-Honor at the Car nival on Tuesday Miss Clark Is the granddaughter of the late Colonel Rob- ert White Smith, gallant Confederate soldier, and for years thereafter prominent and well-loved merchant and upbuilder of Mobile. His daughter, Miss Lettics Lee Smith. married Gay lord B. Clark, few years after the war. and survives him, with his daugh- ter and one son, who Is about to enter his fathers profession from the law school of the University of virginia The Smith family are direct descend ants from the Lee and Hunter stock of the one-time Mother of Presidents.'
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 The CIarks have been a notable fa- mily in Alabama for nearly a century. going there from New York, and, as their names imply, are relatives of the famous Willis Gaylord and Francis B Clark, who edited The Knickerboclker
 
 Francis B. Clark of Beaver Meadow. was chosen first president of the Board of Directors of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad. because of his engineering skill. when young man in his carly twenties. He Is now nearly ninety and resides with his youngest son, General Louis Verdier Clark, who commands the Alabama brigade of the National Guards, and is one of the most enter- prising business men of Birmingham. The other brother of the elder pair. Hon Willis Gaylord Clark, was the founder of The Advertiser. later merg- ed with The Mobile Register, and took a prominent part in public affairs. He died childless. decade ago, closely fol- lowed by his wife, who was the young est of the six brilliant Erwin sisters, of Tennessee, of whom only Mrs. George A. Hayward, of St. Louis--mother of Miss Florence Hayward, or literary and exposition fame-survives. Gaylord B !. Clark was the eldest son of Hon. Fran