The National tribune., 1909-01-28

you know that IL q nice way Of telling
you that right soon the lights win 70
out, for these
"Revels now are ended. These our
actors,
As 1 foretold you. were all spirits, and
Are melted into air. into thin ai:;
I'VE are such stuff as dreams
are made on
Indeed. it is DO fiction, for those nit
ting forms, gowned in soft blue ana
shadowy pink delicate green and
snow-white satin, silk and lace. flash
ing with Jewels, decked in pearls and
surrounded by roses red and violets
blue" were so quaint OF attire and so
tree OF formality that they seemed as
fnsubstantial as dream.
Mrs. Roosevelt stands alone, except
attended by two Military Aids, in the
center of the Blue Parlor, where she
receives the guests as they enter. Re-
freshments are served in the State
dining room. The whole of the great
house is aslow with light, but it is in
the East Room, wheie tragedy and
triumphs, woes and glory have CEN
tered since Abigail Adams hung her
washing there to dry, or shivered there
in its cavernous and chilling gloom
while statesmen and warriors discussed
the tangles of National Government Of
the people, by the people, for the peo-
pie. under flaring taIlow dips.
Shades of the mighty How much
history that great room has seen!
But no shadows lurk there; they
couldn't under the dancing crystals of
the chandeliers, ablaze with the hid
den electric bulbs. You see pretty
faces. fairy figures and stalwart men
in uniforms. in bravery of foreign re-
galias. in medals, sashes and aguilettes,
and you see as In a vision the brides
that have plighted troth there, but
you shut mind and heart to the crueler
pictures of Presidents sent untimely to
their rest by assessing hands. Three
of them have laid in state under that
great center glow of light.
Miss Ethel, in white satin with some
crystal trimming down the front and
back of the clinging directoire gown.
danced-like a girl in her first season.
A young girl who has just turned her
| 18th year, and who sees all the world
| at her feet. A blithe. wholesome, hap
py girl. who has grown up like flow
| Not a single minute did the Marine
Band pause-polka, schottische, waltz,
just as fast as the players could turn
| theiS music the dancing went on. There
we E many bellies and beaux OF other
Dr. there, and they danced, too, just
as madly as the younger ones-a turn
with this gallant, a swing with that
one, ndiI uOWn tQe long room WllD
one partner, and finished it with an
other; that was the way the daughter
Of the White House danced
And the President danced a meas
| ure with his daughter
If any President before Roosevelt
has danced in the White House it is
not remembered, but Roosevelt danced
with several of the pretty girls, and
| danced with the same energy he does
| everything else, and his smiling face
as he kept time to the tunes showed
| his delight.
| Mrs. Roosevelt did not dance. She
| shook hands most graciously with all
| who came, and again as they went:
she had a pleasant word for each and
smile, but she contented herself
with watching the joy of her daughter
in the danceI
And this is but one of the delight
fully informal evenings at the White
House when some 900 are asked to
| gather for dancing. 1t ended with
the barn dance. Can you imagine It?
| 1t is rollicking, miTth-provoking
dance, and you have almost got to be
young and graceful to do 1t right, and
trains are out of place. 50 the girls
who wore them picked them up in
| their hands. and from beneath lace
| trimmed. silken petticoats small white
4 shod feet twinkled in and ont in the
delicious abandon of the barn dance
| Twice, thrice, IL was played over before
l the final crash OF closing its seductive
rythm.
And this in the wonderful East Room
Indeed. these are nights to remem-
| ber Of the White House.