Evening star., 1915-01-31

among the Romans. being popularity sup
posed to be derived from and sacred to
June. Marry in May, rue for aye" is
an old-time proverb.
The days in January considered ex-
tremely propitious for marriage include
January ., 4, II, 19 and ii. In England
the word bridal is derived from BRIDE
ale, which denoted the bridal feast. An
cient Britons drank marriage mead for
thirty days together. The wedding cake
is survival Of the Roman nuptials. The
veil in marriage. which today is ar
ranged in different modish fashions,
originally meant to conceal the bride
from spirits which might do her harm.
leather, thus the idea Of throwing shoes
or slippers after the bride. The cos
tuning of the bridesmaids in similar
attire comes from the primitive mar
by her girl friends, all sowned alike. SO
the evil spirits, intent upon HARM might
not distinguish one from the other.
Providence, r. l., has had ball Of
great degree. 1t was a farewell for
Miss Lyra Brown Nick
A Rose Rail erson, given on the eve
of her departure for
Farewell. three-m n t h tour of
South America, and attended by be-
tween 400 and 500 men and women OF
society of her home city and state. with
many guests from distant cities. The
lower floor of the building was turned
into Spanish garden, and a most
ella borate one.
In the southwest corner Miss Nicker
son received with Mrs. Conway Evans
in bower of green. with an over
hea5 canopy of green. Hundreds of pink
roses surrounded the bower. creating
d wonderful effect of pink and green.
Miss Nickerson wore a gown of hlmy
cream lace and crystal over founda-
tion of yellow satin with girdle and
sash of pale blue.
A seated supper was feature, and
during its six courses troubador
sang. Other novel features were the
entrance of a Scotch bag piper and two
dancers. who marched around the room
in a fancy dance to the music of the
bagpipes, and just before supper was
served a shower of rose leaves fell
over the entire assembly. marking the
collapse of four huge roses hanging
from the ceiling of the ballroom.
Ex-Gov. Warfield of Maryland has re-
ceived another interesting letter from
his daughter, the
An American Countess Louise
LIE o C h o wska,
Countess Letter. who has been
writing about war conditions in Rus
sian Poland. This latest Is dated Os-
tropol December 81, and is as follows:
My last letter was sent just before I
left for kief, and as l was there nearly
a week 1 will have much to tell.
"The journey from here was most dis
h1e-tbe roads are so bad now
and the passenger trains, of course. are
controlled by the military. Thousands
of troops were being sent to Warsaw,
with all their equipment. and We were
hours late in reaching Kief. / was SO
interested in seeing everything that
didn't mind the delay.
We are going to have the Christmas
tree and the usual celebrations for the
Russian Christmas. 1 bought a few
little toys for Therese in Kief, the re-
mains of last years stock, as nothing,
of course, was imported this year. In
fact, We had hard time getting good
many things. Our stock of wine had
kief trying to buy some. but with no
success. as you know the new law pro-
hibits the sale of alcohol. Also pro-
visions are high and rare. 1t is i'm
possible to get olive oil or lemons or
rice and many other things. though the
famous Russian caviar can be had Tor
a few kopeks the pound, an there Is no
export for it.
4 spent much of my tihe in little
bookshop, and have laid in a good sup
ply of reading. though the books I
| really wanted. concerning Germany. the
war. etc, were impossible to ind or
order. How l envy you all the Ameri-
can newspapers.
have the most lovely towering cycla-
men in all the windows. I think they
will last all winter. My ferns and
palms arc doing splendidly.
our winter vegetables are good,
though the celery isn't very good. We
have fresh mushrooms often They
grow in the greenhouse. Our Christ
mas turkey was a lean one, like the
Christmas cheer We have been get.
ting a number. of partridges. and, of
course, rabbits galore. I think the last
named are awful. Do you eat oysters
often?"
The widows and widowers are to
come to life again February 20 at d
dinner. Dear me.
Chicago Widows How time do do n.y.;
and Widowers. ored girl said when
told that the first Christmas was near
ly 1000 years ago. 1t is nearly six
years since the sprightly widows and
widowers had their first meeting at a
luscheon at the University Club.
Then much domestic trouble was
sown III some of our very best fam
lilies. Acrimony became the sequel to
matrimony. The mephistophelian mind
that designed the enterprise let 1t be
known that the best bridge player and
most desirable card companion would
be selected from each family, ire
spective of age, sex or other considera-
tion. There was much trepidation be-