The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1917-03-03

III L~ hhbhSuAh van W IL new
~ president TO his job by refusing to
W,0% y sanction the affair. And owing to
Hh pressure of official business" there
nv will be No inaugural ball this year Of
INN u 1917. In other words, American Of
fcialdom is in no mood for gayety.
The inaugural ball, says the Kansas
CITY Star in a historical article, is not a state
function, financed by the Nation, as most of the
Nation believes. Undertaken at first as n well
come to the new president by Washington society
it has become of late years the business venture
by which Washington merchants recover the
money they spend to hang the capital with bunting
and hire bands and fireworks TO make the occa-
sion lively. While the ball costs Il large sum Of
money, the profit from the sale of tickets, priced
nowadays at 50, is estimated at $4,000, and this
profit is distributed among the men who sub
scrtbed the funds to make the celebration a sue
cess.
But the inaugural ball does cost the Nation
something, because 1t ~omm whatever de-
partment of state lends it's building for the fes-
tivities. Recent balls have been held in the pen
sion building, and a vast deal Of trouble and ex-
pease has gone into the organization of their
gayety.
There has been balls in the past, like that state
lY first ball that welcomed President Monroe,
notable for the brilliance of the asser1blages, the
beauty and wit and fashion displayed, truly great
social occasions, worthy of the dignity of the occa-
sion they celebrate. And there have been balls
Of which old timers in Washington still talk,
notable for the widespread inconvenience they
have caused. For instance, there is the second
Lincoln Inauguration bali, when Horace Greeley
lost his hat and standing on the steps of the
treasury building put a curse on the city of Wash
ington lurid enough to set fire to the ~snowdrifts
that blanketed it; then there is the ball that well
coined President Grant, held in Il vast pavilion
of muslin, u%nheated, whose walls swayed to and
fro in an icy blast that froze dainty ears and finger
tlps-yes. and noses-and put a damper on the
merrymakingn not to be forgotten.
March 4, 1909, was the sort of chill. damp, I'M
comfortable day Washington expects for the pres
idential inauguration, but in this year the inOon-
veniences of bad weather in the new little capital
were far worse than they could possibly be today.
The sprawling, ragged, unfinished city had no
pavements. Roads were so deep in mud that many
n coach was mired as it carried its load of dis
tingushed persons to witness the inaugural. There
were few hotels and boarding houses, and these
were crowded to suffocation on the great day.
But the society of the capital and notables from
far and near were determined to overcome all
handicaps of weather, for this drear evening was
to mark the first presidential inaugural ball. An
organization of young men, the washington
Dancing assembly" formed seven years before,
had the affair in charge and had secured the as
sembly room Of Longs hotel on Capitol hill.
The -four hundred in America originated with
this first presidential ball. Washington society
represented the best of the Nation. The influence
Of the Southern families of aristOcratic tradition
was strong. There were few people of wealth,
but many of culture; and society was gay without
ostentation. The men of the dancing assembly
who drew up the list of those who would be asked
to buy tickets to the inaugural ball found that
four hundred would include all persons of breed
ing and worth.
When George Washington and Thomas jefferson
were inaugurated they were glad to go early to
bed after the day Of ceremonies, but on this night
ex-President Jefferson, personally opposed to os-
tpntntiOn 0nnnara1 In thn hnl1rOOm nrOmntlV 0t
seven O'Clock, the time of its opening. He came
smiling and happy, glad to see his friend succeed
him in the direction of the Nation, happy at hav-
ing the burden off his own shoulders, as he con-
fded to a friend during the evening.
The orchestra played "Jeffersons March" as
the eX-preSident entered.
Am l too early?' asked the great Democrat.
you must tell me how to behave, for it is more
than forty years since l have been to a ball"
Soon after the musicians played "Madison's
March" and the guests focked about the door to
greet the new president, a slight, short figure
of a man, whose gray hair was brushed smoothly
back from his high forehead and tied with a black
ribbon. His small hazel eyes were remarkable for
a humorous twinkle, for Madison, in private life,
enjoyed a good joke and sprightly banter. His
long, pendulOus nose came low over a long upper
lip. His teeth were noticeably white and even.
The new president wore plain black, with rufies
at the throat and wrists, with black smalls and
silk stockings. There were big silver buckles on
his shoes.
But it was to Dolly Madison. formerly the fas-
cinating Widow Todd of Philadelphia, that all
eyes turned. The new mistress of the White
House was a center Of attraction wherever she
went. Without great beauty of face or figure, she
had a manner which won friends instantly. Her
ready tact, her good humor, her vivacity, made her
easily a social leader and the best-remembered
and beloved of the many first ladies'"
Mrs. Madison wore pale bun velvet made very
nlain, with q long train and no trimmings. Her
head was surmounted by a turban from Paris OF
pale buff velvet and white satin
When Americas first 'four hundred" danced at
the Madison ball the air of the assembly room be-
came very close and the guests finding they could
not lower the window sashes broke the glass for
ventilation. That is the only recorded inconven-
fence, aside from the universal inconvenience