The Washington times., 1917-03-09
FETES GROW ON Us;
COSTUMES OUGHT TO
Masquerade Balls Are Becom-
ing the Bane of the
Season.
MUCH is FOR WAR BENEFIT
Tendency of All Is to Repre-
sent Antithesis of Real
Self.
MUCH is FOR WAR BENEFIT

Self.
By MARGARET MASON.
On Monday she was a sanity nun,
On Tuesday Carmen bold,
On Wednesday she was the harem's
pride.
In wells and an anklet gold:
On Thursday night in a cheesecloth
scarf,
She went as a piece OF cheese,
On Friday night as The breath of
Spring"
She started to sneeze and sneeze:
Saturday found her a Red Cross
nurse.
Mos, terribly cross and red.
For after a week of costume balls
She really was almost dead:
But even then on the Sabbath morn,
She wasn't herself. they said,
For she was a pink pajafna girl
When they tucked her into bed.
NEW YORK, March 9.-Masque-
rades and costume -fetes certainly
seem to be growing on us. II only
the costumes themselves could grow
on us it wouldn't be so expensive.
Dressing. up is the universal joy
of all ages and all nationalities. In
all walks of life we find a penchant
for 1t from infancy, when we are just
beginning to toddle, till old age, when
we. are. just beginning to totter.
There's this vast difference though
between the dressing up of childhood
and the dressing up OF maturity. All
haua fn crfua The rhfIdran
excuse for dressing up is a bit of old
ribbon or a discarded hat. but as an
excuse for the dressing up of grown
ups you have to give an Arabian
Nights ball or an Old World fete.
War Best Excuse.
The war, of course. has provided
the best excuse OF all for dressing
up, with costume balls for all sorts
of relief for all sorts of nations. Con-
sequently life in the big American
cities is just one costume ball after
another, and even out in Wamego,
Kan. and Adrian, Mich. the cowboy
suits and toreadors, the Chinese XII
monos and colonial gowns at the local
costumers are almost worn to a
thread.
Have you ever noticed how invari-
to represent some character in direct
antithesis to their ordinary everyday |
personality? They sort >of cut loose |
at IL were and let themselves be
what they have always secretly |
yearned to be in their innermost |
bosoms. For instance the meek drsb |
little housewife and mother blossoms |
out into a deviIishly seductive Car
men. That's or Cleopatra
makes up her lips and powders her
nose runs to Quaker. nun or Red
Cross nurse effects, while the portIy
and Amazonisn Miss Vera Bigg comes
as baby doll or Little Bopeep.
Males Affected Too.
This works for males as well a.
the fair sex, and Mr. Hen Peck always
masquerades as swashbuckling
grenadier or a bIoodthirsty Corsair.
Prof. Eramus HighbrOw as Little Boy
Blue or Buster Brown and Deacon
Goode as Don Juan or Mephisto.
Arabian Nights balls, Russian
fetes and masques of the gods have
become bit clOying after endless
repetition, that a recent benefit
bail where all the guests came to
represent some well-known adver-
tisement was a welcome and divert
ing novelty. The costumes were
clever and unique. and the idea will
bear much repetition for private con
sumption. Possibilities for costumes
are endless and beautifully simple. If
YOU want to go as a dentifrice Just
wear a smile and carry a toothbrush.
Or If you so choose you may car
ry a spear, wear a corsage OF mint
leaves and go as a gum girl.
II the costumes are restricted to
certain periods or certain groups OF
things the ideas are, apt to be much
rleverer and more original than when
" sweeping conglomeratiOn OF every
Thing is permissible.
The Culinary Cutup.
\ ball of jewels invites wonderful
effects or a floral fete or a vegetable
Gambol. 4 culinary cutup is an idea
to be gobbIed up without delay. Just
think how cunning you would look
AS 4 mince pie or A Welsh rabbit.
An artists ball with every one to
represent some well known canvas
character or beauty lacks freshness.
since all the masters. old and mod
ern have been worn to the last coat
in many tableauX vivants for several
seasons. Then, too. painted ladies
al. no novelty. An electrical Soiree
would be nice for the men. II would
be 30 simple for the majority OF them
TO come all lit up.
What a terrible risk though Il
would be to give a theatrical fete.
for nine chances out of ten all the
men would come a. Charlie Chaplin
and all the women as Annette Keller
man.
The safest and most novel idea Of