The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-12-31

| New York, December 0.-Santa Claus and Christmas have, as Is right and proper held sway in society this week
 don't know whether 1t is because of the
 constant strengthening of the bonds be-
 tween New York and English society, but
 the fact is that there is a constant ten
 dency to celebrate Christmas here in the good old English style.
 Those families which have great coun- try mansions nearby give Christmas par ties. The yule log is brought in and there is feasting above and below stars. There are great Christmas trees with presents for all servants included. There are dances, the. singing of all songs and all those other things which made ol Christmas the great festival of the year without ancestors
 It would be yer yeasy for a possible visitor from the seventeenth century dropped down on Long Island, at Tuxe- do, Worchester, nearby Connecticut or almost anywhere in ultra fashonapie suburbia to imagine himself at home, though the electric lights, the mechanl- cal toys and other wonderful thlnSs which money buys in modern times might puzzle him.
 MT. and Mrs. J. Pierpont Morgan, Jr., who have Just returned from London in order to spend Christmas at their home, always give a big tree, and famlly gathering to do it honor. The little w. Pierson Hamiltons, cousins of the young lIorgans, have their tree also, on which a generous Santa Claus hangs gifts for all the various members of the Morgan family, and MT and Mrs Clarence II. Mackay make much of the day for their children. MT. and Mrs. George B. Heye | children, Mildred Agnes Heye, and Lau- renee William Heye, always have an im- mense tree. This is lighted on Christ mas afternoon after an old-fashlohed I midday dinner at which they are per | mitted to be present, and later in the week their small friends are invited to | come in and see it and have a nursery tea with them.
 1 MT, and Mrs. Harry Payne Whitney spend Christmas down at Roslyn, where 1 the day is kept more as it is in England, | than would be possible in town 1he | Whitneys have big house party wltn l them which included MT. and Mrs. Regl- nald c. vanderbilt and their small daush- 1 ter Cathleen, who is devoted to her Whitney cousins, Sonny" Flora and | Barbara The Payne Whitneys also make a lot of Christmas which as usual | was spent down at their Long Island | home, and on many of the big estates along the North Shore there were family | negie always have old English carols l sung by the choir of one of the big | churches in their home on upper Fifth | avenue The choir master accompanies | the boys on the great organ, where ire | auently he comes and plays for the Laird 1 of Skibo and the latters wife.
 Society dearly loves a novelty. The man or woman who can provide some I thing absolutely new and amusing in the | way of entertainment attains unaues- 1 toned social celebrity. Moncure Robin | son. that long established favorite as a | cotllon leader, best man at numerous 1 weddings and generally acceptable socie- ty factotum, covered himself with glory
 last week by giving most unique dinner and entertainment, called The Durbar, at the St. Regis in honor of the Princess di San Faustino and Countesse de Con | tallt- Biron The horeshoe table, set in | the beautiful ballroom, of course, was at l tractive with American Beauty roses and orchid eorsage bouquets for the women, but a greater hit was made just before dinner was over by the distribution of amusing programmes of the entertain- ment which followed. At one end of the room a stage was erected and there a clever vaudeville show was given, the ar lists of which included both professon- als and amateurs. Among them were Mrs. Benjamin Guinness and Prince Trou- l betszkoy in a tableau version of Three ! Weeks:" Miss Beresford, who imperson- ated her father, Lord Beresford; J. Bor- den Hartman, who represented Annette | Kill Man; Mrs. Arthur 1selin as a | Turkish woman, who led Robert Cham | dler. made up as an orang-outang, from his cage with pearl necklace; Moncure | Robinson as Indian Jo, and Mrs. Arthur 1selin as Mime. Pallid' Reno, spiritualist.