The Washington herald., 1915-05-16
The Skeleton Dance at
a Wa shington Ball
Limit in Season of
Sensation Seeking
Entertainments.
BY WINIFRED VAN DUZER.


wilder 1t danced and glittered
and laughed toward midnight
and final realization that the blithe
and bizarre of Washington had been sur
passed and the most ambitious revelry Of
New York eQualed.
Then the lights went out. The merry
makers gathered round the kiosk in one
of the bathrooms and guessed at its mys-
terry curtain rolled back. Stepped
forth a fiery skeleton. Followed the
dance with Death that sent chills, cold
and hypnotic as ether, up and down va
rious spines. 1t was the tense final mo-
ment Of tense hours; the acme Of ecstatic
thrills. The reaction was dawn-gray
WEAKNESS and homeward yawns.
The pointer that indicates the ebb and
flow of American amusement seems to
have swung all the way round the dial
and stopped at an alarming character.
Society writer's have attempted to chroni-
Gle the doings Of the set at the top and
run out of adjectives; twere better that
the record of the search after pleasure
should slip through their fingers anyway.
lest the social columns resemble new
versions of the Arabian Nights.
Howsomever, there ares those who
question if American mental processes
are becoming neurasthenic as American
nerves. Pointing to monkey dinners,
poodle parties and young women baked
in pies, they ask if society's capacity for
enjoyment has given way entirely to
morbid hunger for novelty. Can it be,
they inquired. that the speed at which we
race through the days Of our living has
thrown us so rapidly and so often round
the whole circuit of emotions that moth
ing but the glarngly unaccustomed
catches our fancy? Where are the
pleasing little parties. anniversaries.
wholesome dinners, informal dances that
everybody remembers? Have our tor
tured nerves, strung out to frayed and
tattered limpness, or wound to aching
tension, mortified our sensibiites till
only the grewsome or the fantastic
arouses response?
The pointer that indicates the ebb and
dow Of American amusement swung
round the dial and stopped at the skele-
ton party in Washington. That was bal
masQue such as the tabled magician of
the story book conjures from the depths
Of his black art: the wierdest entertain
ment ever held at the national capital. it
was said. Mr.. and Mrs. Lincoln Valen-
tine, of New York. were the hosts. They
appeared in the velvet and jeweled cos
tunes of the rajah of Kashimer and an
Indian woman Of caste in Guatemala.
Among the guests. all in costume. were
distinguished national characters. cabi-
net members, members of the diplomatic
corps, several hundred representatives OF
Washington society. together with = for
eign guest list that made the social col
umns next morning look like an abridged
seogr&phy.
Barbaric strains from the past beat
rhythm for the dancers. The marimba
cuache. dragged out of Central America.
gave forth its sweet, fantastic melody un-'
der the fingers Of i've musicians in native
dress. Occasional music BY the famous
Marine band furnished wild contrast.
Rare Spanish coins were dispersed Is
favors for the one number danced under
the electric lights. After that dancers
fitted through cotillion 1gurss in the
1axk. Guided b beams from luminous