The Washington times., 1915-12-26
JEAN ELIOTcF
LETTER

be at home on New Year ~1pay. tut
this much let us be duly grateful, for
1t means that the streets Will be gay
with officers in gold lace and fun re-
gala, and thus at least lnodicum oil
the pomp and circumstance which gave
New Year Day in Washington its dis
tinctive flavor may he preserved.
Time was-this was in my mothers
sirlhood--when every hostess with any
pretentions TO social consequence re-
ceiyed on that day, when every pretty
girl in town helped 10 dispense hospi-
tality at one or another of the Dig
houses, and when every man between
the ages of seventeen and seVenty-hVe
who boasted frock coat or coula beg'
borrow or steal one went a-visiting. In
those days 1t was considered. well. not
quite delicate. for lady to be seen In
the street unless she peeped out from
the depths OF brougham or barouche.
81
During the past decade the pretty
New Year customs have fallen upon
evil days, and President Wilson gave
them the coup de grace at the begin
ming of his Administration, when he
abolished that most picturesque and
American OF institutions. the public re-
ception at the White House. Moreover
for one reason or anothcr-this year 1t
is the war and the consequent disrup-
ton in the Diplomatic Corps-the Sec
retary Of States h""akflst for the corps
has been abandoned.
Among the official folk who also VIII
receive this year on New Year afternoon
are the Secretary Of the Interior and
ha ~ General
Mrs. Burleson. the Attorney General ana
Mrs. Gregory. and the Secretary of Com
merce and Mrs. Redfield. They will all
have Young neople assisting them. Mrs.
Daniels will have as her guests over the
holiday her cousin, Evelyn jackson. of
Richmond. and the Sccretarys niece,
Mary Cleaves Daniels. OF Goldsborough.
n, c.. who will be members OF the re-
cciving party. The reception which Cen
eral and Mrs. Aleshire will give also Will
be a brilliant feature of the afternoon.
The Vice President and Mrs. Marshall
will not be at home. owing to Mrs. Mar
shalrs continued indisposition She is'
however slowly regaining her strength
and Is planning to inaugurate the sea-
sons hospitalities with the dinner when
she and the Vice President will give Tor
the President and Mrs. Wilson on Jan
uary u.
The Secretary OF State and Mrs. Lan-
sing will not receive on New Year Day
nor will Mrs Lansinss parents. General
and Mrs. Foster. keep open house, as -
tbeir wont. Moreover Mrs. Lansing Will
not observe her usual Wednesday after
noon at home on December ~. as on tha'
dav she is giving reception to the
N,yes and daughters of the official dele
Gates to the second Pan n-American Sclcn-
ti0c Congress- The reception will begin
at : o'clock, Secretary and Mrs. Lam
sing have selected January is as the
date of their official dinner for the Pres
ident and his bride.
Neither the Secretary of Agriculture
and Mrs. Houston. who are out or TOWN
for the holidays, nor the secretary Oh
Labor and Mrs. Wilson will be at nome
Nor I understand. will the Secretary or
the Treasury and Mrs. McAdoo receive.
Their household Is still saddened by the
recent death of Mr.. McAdoo's son-in-
law. Mr.. Martin, and Mrs. Martin is
with them.
There was such Christmas tree as
the White House has not known since
the DAYS of the Cleveland Adm'nistra-
tiOn, when the three small daughters or
President Cleveland invited their con-
temporaries of the White House kim
dergarten to their party on Christmas
afternoon. This is really the first bona
hdc holiday celebration any of the Will
son family have had in the White House
last year can hardly be said to count
There were no children in the Mckinley
family: Charlie Taft the youngest child
Of President Taft, counted himself too
grown up for n Christmas tree and his
family humored him, and the Roosevelt
children always had their tree at the
home of their little cousin, Sheffield
Cowles, in y street.
Nevertheless there were all sorts Of
festivities at. the White House during
the Roosevelt regime and the grown
ups enjoyed the children's parties as
much as the children did. T. r. him
self was always on hand to greet each
of his young friends in person, and he
seemed to know all about each of them.
Equally they seemed to know about
him. One Of the stories they tell of
that Is of the extremely handsome. but
rather bashful young son of one of the
leading newspaper correspondents here,
The President greeted him warmly. so.
you are Dick Oulahans son, are YOU?
Well. I'm glad to have you here. Your
father has told me a lot about YOU"
At which the stammering boy, quite
overwhelmed, responded: "Y-y-yes. sir,
he's told me a lot about you, too.'
Mrs. Delos Blodgctt and her debu-
tante daughter, Helen. returned on
Thursday from Florida. where they
made a flying trip last week for the
wedding of Mrs. Blodgett's niece
Adrienne PorCher to Harry Spencer Rob
erts, of Atlanta. last Monday. The
ceremony was performed at 5:3O in St
Marks Church and was followed by a
large and brilliant reception at Rock,
ledge, the yacht club at Cocoa, Fla. Mr.
Porcher is commodore of the yacht club
and Mrs. Porcher is president of tho
womans section of the yacht club. Mrs
Blodgett took with her when she Went
down last week all the white Chrysan,
themums and white roses used for the
dSOora tions OF the wedding, as white
flowers are not easy to get at this sea
son in that locality. The bride was at
Oig nd 81 -