Palestine daily herald. [volume] (Palestine, Tex.) 1902-1949, 1908-12-28
The ROOSEVELT DANCE
At the White House Tonight In the
Talk of Washington Society.
Miss Ethel's Debut.
Special to the Herald.

Special to the Herald.
Washington, d. c., Dec. 2S.-"Th
President and Mrs Roosevelt are t,
give a small dance at the Whit,
House Monday evening, December %
8 p. M"
Such is the simple announcement
made for the social debut of Mis-:
Ethel Roosevelt tonight, which prom
ises to be by far the smartest affair
ever given in the White House b!
the President and Mrs. Roosevelt, eX
cept the ceremonies attending the
wedding of Miss Alice Roosevelt and
Representative Nicholas Longworth
of Ohio.
The term small" applied to the
dances by the President and Mrs
Roosevelt must not be taken literally
1t is to be small only in that the invi.
tations have been confined to Miss
Roosevelt's friends and the younger
people in the official set, whose pa
rents figure on all formal invitation
lists of the season at the White
House. This means that several hun
bred guests will help the daughter of
the president dance her way into the
social world.
The dance is to be given in the East
Room, where a small army of dec
orators were at work today convert
ing the historic chamber into a veri-
table bower of floral beauty. There
are to be elaborate floral decorations
in all the rooms on the main floor
Of the executive mansion. In the
main corridor the inches will be fill
ed with decorative plants, stately
palms and tree ferns Behind screen
of rhododendrons will be stationed
the magnificent Marine Band Orches-
ira. A special program of music has
been prepared for the occasion. The
pieces were selected for the most part
by Miss Roosevelt herself
Miss Roosevelt's coming out gown
is still a secret, but by good author
ity it is reported to be white hand
kerchief linen embroidered in white |
forget-me-nots and made in an empire
princess style.
4 The debut dance is the one topic of |
Washington society today. 1t is not
only because the debutante is the |
daughter of the president that SO |
much interest is taken in her formal 1
entrance into society, but that she
has made so many real friends in
Washington among all classes.
the young woman herself the
pdblic knows much through the pub
&c press, which has cLronicled her
personality to the fullest during the
past few months. Miss Roosevelt has
lived in the White House longer than
any young girl in history, not even
excepting Nellie Grant. During her
girlhood in the executive mansion she
has met the most prominent men and
women of the country-but only as a
child. Now she is ready to accept
her Inheritance, to greet them on
terms of mature eqaulity. Perhaps
no young woman in official life ever
came to her responsibilities with bet
ter equipment.
A year ago last spring Miss Ethel
left the National Cathedral School
for Girls. During the greater part of
the time since then she has been put
ting the finishing touches to her edu-
cation under the direction of a COVER
ness She has paid particularly at
tention to German and French AL
though not by any means brilliant
musician she is quite talented and .
possesses, in addition to thorough
upon which her father in ,
sisted, many accomplishments es-
sential to the social success of a
young American girl.
Following closely in the footsteps
of her father and mother, Miss Roose-
welt is an enthusiastic horsewoman,
and not only drives stylish dogcart
with great vim and DASH but is a
fearless rider. She rides like young
Amazon, with free and graceful aban-
Comment She was one of the first of
very young girls to
take to the cross saddle.
Unlike her sister, Mrs. Longworth,
Miss Ethel takes great interest in po-
litical and economical questions. She
is fond of political argument and