The Washington times., 1915-12-26
Jean ELIOTcH
r~ LETTER.


this much let us be duly grateful for
It means that the streets will be gay
with officers in gold lace and fun re-
gala, and thus at least a lnodicum Of
tho pomp ana circumstance which gave |
New Year Day in Washington its dis
'tlnetive flavor may be preserved
Time was-this was in my mothers
Eirlhood--when every hostess with any |
pretentions no social consequence re-
celved on that day, when every pretty |
girl In town helped 10 dispense hospi-
taIftH at one or another of the big |
houses, and when every man between
the ages OF seventeen. and seventy-five
who boasted a frock coat or eoulz beg.
borrow or steal one went a-visiting. In |
those days It was considered. well, not .
quite delicate. for lady to be seen in
the street, unless she peeped out from
the depths Of a brougham or barouche.
- d
During the past decade the pretty I
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 J
abolished that most picturesque and
American of institutions. the7public re-
teption at the White House, Moreover.
for one reason or another-this year 1t
is the war and the CONSEQUENT disrup- /
ton in the Diplomatic Corps-the Sec !,
retary of States h"~akfast for the corps !
has been abandoned.
Among the official folk who also win
receive this year on New Year afternoon
are the Secretary Of the Interior ana
Mrs Lane. the Postmaster General and
nss1l nd
Mrs. Gregory. and the Secretary Of Com |
merce and Mrs. Redield. They will all
have Young people assisting them. Mrs.
Daniels will have as her guests over the !
holiday her cousin, Evelyn Jackson. of |
Richmond, and tho Secretary's niece,
Mary Cleaves Daniels. of Goldsborough.
N. C.. who will be members OF the re-
ceiving party. The reception which Gem
eral and Mrs. Aleshire will give also will
be brilliant feature Of the afternoon
The Vice President and Mrs. Marshall
will not be at home, owing to Mrs Mar
shalTs continued indisposition. She is'
however, slowly regaining her strength,
and is planning to inaugurate the sea-
sons hospitalities with the dinner which
she and the Vice President will give Tor
the President and Mrs. Wilson on jan
uary u.
The Secretary OF State and Mrs, Lam
sing will not receive on New Year Day,
nor will Mrs. Lansing's parents. General
and Mrs Foster. keep open house. as Is
their won't Moreover. Mrs. Lansing VIII
not observe her usual Wednesday after
noon at home on December %. as on that
day she is giving a reception to the
wives and daughters Of the official dele
gates to the second Pan-American Sclen-
tjac Congress. The reception will begin
at o'clock. Secretary and Mrs. Ian
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 OF
Labor and Mrs. Wilson will be at home.
Nor. I understand, will the Secretary OF
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 q Christmas tree as
the White House has not known since
the DAYS of the Cleveland Administra-
zion, Wnen inc IITGb Sinai NduBliNNAS ~
President Cleveland invited their con-
temporaries of tho White House kim
dergarten to their party on Christmas
afternoon. This is really the first bona
flde holiday celebration any of the Will
son family have had i'm the White House
last year can hardly be said to count.
There were no children in the Mckinley
family; Charlie Taft, the youngest child
rOnnta6 himself foo
grown up for a 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 n street.
Nevertheless there were all sorts Of
festivities at. the White House during
the Roosevelt regime and the grown
ups enjoyed the childrens 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. 80,
you are Dick Oulahan's 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 Blodgett 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 $50 in ST.
Marks Church and was followed by a
large and brilliant reception at Rock
ledge, the yacht club at Cocoa, Fla. Mr.
POecher Is commodore of the yacht club
and Mrs. Porcher is president of the
YomaIl's 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
decorations OF the wedding, as white
flowers are not easy to get at this sea-