Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-10-23
A Novel Entertainment.
THERE is young society bud al

1'hERE Is a young society bud among
the old Washington set who believes
that social entertainment for her guests
| can be made something more than a con-
tinual succession of dances or bridge or
some form Of amusement where the
guest is supposed to sit languidly back
and be politely bored by a sad Imitation
of near-vaudeville. The other week she
essayed novel experiment Her enter
tafnment on that occasion took the form
OF geography party" as she termed II.
but her guests were informed of its char
acter no further than the name, lest some
of them might get clue and obtain an
unfair advantage by preliminary
brushing up After her guests were
assembled she provided each with a table,
on which she had placed a large piece of
artists drawing paper, together with a
lead pencil and eraser.
Now" she explained, when all her
guests were seated, the game-if game 1t
may be called. for We used to consider it
You. know how We all love to talk about
our glorious country or get around the
piano and sing MY Country, Ills of
Thee and do and say other things to
show what good American citizens we are.
l want to find out tonight just how much
we really know about that same country
In front of each of you Is a piece of
blank drawing paper; you'll also find a
pencil and an eraser I'm going to give
you just half All hour in which to draw a
map of the United States; a map show
ing the boundaries of each state, the six
principal rivers and the location of the
six principal cities. The rules are simple;
anyone caught cheating will be compelled
to stand up in the corner with this fool s
cap atop of him during the remaining
time of the contest: any girl assisting
any man. by whispers, notes and other
means of information or even encouraging
his respondent spirits by SO much as a
glance of sympathy. will be ruled out Of
the contest and further penalized by being
prohibited from talking to that same
young man or holding any communica-
ton whatsoever with him the remainder
of the evening. Young men will not be
penalized for helping girls; the presump-
ton being conclusive that they will not
be able to. To your pencils!'
Forthwith. the company addressed it,
self to the task and for ten minutes MOTH
ing was heard but the confident scratch
ing of pencils.
Then from one corner Of the room came
a petulant "Pshaw' and pretty girl
dropped her pencil. seized the eraser ano
tell vigorously to work with it.
The next instant an intellectual-looking
miss slapped her doubled fist down on the
clare" and it carried a surprising amount
of emotion for such innocent words
Then splutterings of impotence and dis
gust came thick from all sides:
Did you ever!
I'm the biggest Ounce
Mr.. Jones. won't you please go out
iii the back yard and say it for me-
The hostess had, perforce. to declare
recess of five minutes in order to restore
measure of quiet. A mutiny arose during
this intermission, the contestants rebel
ling against the iron-clad rule that none
should see the drawings of the others
until all were complete: as this uprising
was put the ground that they were
there to improve their minds and that
what they learned during the heat of the
contest would forever be burned into their
brains the hostess was compelled to yield.
and each exhibited her or his half-finished
map, the while she or he looked eagerly
over the maps of the others.
Il want to find out why Massachusetts,
persists in joining Arkansas on the south
and laps over into California on the
before had written prize essay on Our
Duty in Life" at a finishing school,
And what I want to learn from the
maps of some of these wise Ones" growl-
showing on his upper lip, sis why my
Mississippi river insists on emptying it's
waters into Puget sound when 1 know
perfectly we'll it ought to run into Lake
Ontario
Where must put Boston?" walled the
fat and usually jolly girl Of the party
"BOston's a state, isn't it?''
The young lady is right put in the
young man. interrupting the laughter
Boston is a state, of course; a state of
mind"
With much knowledge-most of II incor-
rect-gathered by these inspections, the
company returned to its tasks at the tap
of the bell, each one being now confident
that however incorrect his or her map
might be- it couldn't possibly be such a
marvel of inaccuracies as those to right
or left.
When the bell rang for the finish. and
after a few belated ones were given ad-
:tional time. young school teacher,
who had been disqualified from the con-
test as too we'll qualified, was selected as
Judge
Uncle Sam WOULD hardly have recog-
nized himself in many Of the drawings
she exclaimed with sigh when she had
finished her task. But this one Of little
Miss - is really excellent. and should
be awarded first prize, and this one wins
the BOBBY prize without even a second
anywhere near. The artist certainly
must have a lively imagination or a great
inability to recognize old acquaintances
If he calls this creation the United
States.
The first prize was handsome little
library table globe. while~the BOBBY was
a box of chldren's pasteboard ''cut-outs,"
which, when correctly put together, made