The Newport plain talk. (Newport, Tenn.) 1909-1939, 1914-04-23
BELLIES OF DIXIE
VIE AT REUNION
Brilliant Fetes Planned For
Jacksonville Meeting
May s, 7 and To Be Memorable
Dates in FIorida's Metropolis
Large Crowd Assured the Reunion
City.

Large Crowd Assured the Reunion
, City.
Jacksonville, Fla.-Southern social
circles are again taking an interest
in the great social, military and sen
timental annual meeting that brings
together a crowd of from $4,000 tt
10000 people to do honor to the ex
Confederate soldier-the reunion oil
the survivors of the Confederate arm
les.
The reunion is to be held this year
at Jacksonville, Fla, May s, Z, IN.
elusive. 1t is the first time that the
ex-Confederates have selected Florida
as the reunion state, and uncommon
interest attaches to the meeting here
and throughout the South. Owing b
the comparatively early date OF the
reunion, the divisions, brigades and
camps made their appointments OF
sponsors and maids early, and these
ladies compose the social side of the
reunion. They are known as the otti'
cial ladies of the meeting, entertained
as such, and courted by the entire So
cial fabric of the South
The Sons of Confederate Veterans,
following in the footsteps Of their IA
Tiers, maintain organizations in ev
cry Southern state, and hold their re-
unions on the same dates. They ap'
point sponsors and maids of honor.
The two organizations, closely alliel,
J therefore, send to each Confederate
reunion several hundred official ladies,
selected from the best families of the
South, that stand high In the socia
scale in their communities.
Mapping out social program,
therefore, for a Confederate reunion
/ is a task that demands the best of
talent in the entertainment line.
There must be dinners, receptions,
balls, trips to points of interest around
the reunion cities and anything else
in the line of social entertainment the
committee may devise. The crown
ing event OF the week In society,
however, is the annual pail for maids
and sponsors. If the reunion is held
in q city where a hall large enough
10 accommodate several hundred dane
ing couples at once can not be Sc
cured, a dancing pavilion is construct
ed for the occasion. This pavilion
consists of large canvas tent, well
noored and lighted; it is also supplied
with comfortable seats on the grand
stand order, where several thousand
spectators may witness the ball. II
nual balls at a Confederate reunion
he has but limited idea of it's size and
brilliancy. Nothing to equal it in
splendor can be seen in the United
States, unless it be the Inauguration
ball at the nationa. capital, now fallen
into social desuetude II the inaugu
ration ball is put out of the contest.
the annual ball of the Confederate re
union, at which the maids and spon
sors hold sway, is the greatest social
function of the United States.
The social side of the Jacksonville
reunion will be participated in by rep.
resentatives of all Southern States,
the border states and few western
commemorative. There are sixteen
state divisions of the United Confed
crate Veterans Association, as fol.
lows: South Carolina, North Carolina,
Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland
Louisiana, Tennessee, Florida, Ala
bama, Mississippi, Georgia, Kentucky,
Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Ar
kansas. Each state sends large dele
cations of young women to the re-
union, selected with regard to their
social standing at home. In addition
to the state delegations, the COM
manderin-chief has his own official
ladies', chosen from the South at large.
There are three departments, known
as the Army of Northern Virginia de-
partment, Army of Tennessee depart
ment and Trans Mississippi depart
ment. Each department appoints
maids and sponsors and sends them to
all reunions. The scope of country
covered by these many organizations
has about half the population of the
United States; hence, the interest in
Confederate reunion is always wide
spread. Society circles in all of this
territory are interested in the Jack
sonville reunion, and the event will
bring here one of the largest crowds
of young people ever assembled in
the South. Florida appeals to the
young, because of its flowers and it's
wonders-its poetry, it's songs and its
attractive history. Rivers and ocean,
gulf and bays have interest all their
own. The palm and the pine, liveoak
and holly, and hundred other forest
trees that abound throughout the
state as nowhere else on the CONT
nent, invest Florida with an interest
as wide as the nation. Greater inter
est attaches to the Jacksonville re-
union than to any recent meeting OF
the Confederates, and preparations are
being made to entertain a large