Evening star., 1935-01-27
BY SALLIE V. II. PICKETT.

This week all over the land there
will be the sound Of dance music anc
the patter of dancing feet, when ball.
enough to last a lifetime will be giver
In honor OF President RooSeyelt'i
birthday. OF them all, the Washington
ball will be most notable, for here the
President holds his temporary domicile
here Is his cabinet and all the higher
officials and here, too, are the
diplomats who are taking almost as
much interest in the event as are the
natives Besides the birthnight ball
as it was called in the days of George
Washington, there will be one of the
largest and most brilliant receptions
Of the State series, when the President
and Mrs. Roosevelt will receive at the
annual congressional reception That
day, Thursday, Mrs. Roosevelt will take
luncheon with Mrs. IckeS, wife of the
Secretary of Interior, than whom there
IS not more delightful hostess in the
Capital.
Two big balls in the Capital will
celebrate the Presidents birthday, the
unofficial but not non political one on
Tuesday night, when the Young Demo-
Gratis will take the Mayfiower by storm
and the boxes in the stately ball room
will be filled with notable guests, while
on the dance floor youth will run mad
IN veritable riot of dance. Several
charming features have been arranged
for the Young Democrats ball and
following the hundreds of guests from
Constitution Hall, where grand opera
will be the lure, will be most of the
artists of the cast. including the prima
donna, who will sing at the ball as one
OF its most brilliant features. Mrs.
Roosevelt will attend.
While the enthusiastic Young Demo-
Gratis and their guests revel at the
Mayhower ball Tuesday night, the
more sedate members of society will
be saving themselves for the PreSi-
dents ball at the Shoreham. This is
q non-political affair and has a
decidedly national phase, with Mrs.
Roosevelt heading the grand march
into the ball room, fanked by 20 White
House aides and followed by the
cabinet. They will pass through a
long aisle Of military men and once
within the ball room, where Mrs. John
r. Williams will receive the First Lady.
the scene will be one of remarkable
color and beauty.
Birthnight balls for Presidents did
not spring up over night with the
present Warm Springs movement, but
really had their inception in the ad-
miniStration of George Washington
and carried on right steadily through
the years Of all the early Presidents
and then, as now, older officials and
society folk grouched because they
felt that duty called them to the cele-
bration- 1t was John Adams who
positively refused to attend the birth
night ball in honor of Gen. Washing
ton, and Mr.. Albert Gallatin, Secretary
of the Treasury for President Thomas
Jefferson, turned gossip and wrote
about it to his wife. Said he, THE
President of the United States has
written, in answer to the managers of
the ball in honor of George Wash
ingtons birthday. and he took the
earliest opportunity in informing that
he declined going. The court is in a
prodigious uproar about that important
event The ministers and their wives
do not know how to act upon this
occasion" No amount of persuasion
would lead Adams to the ball.
The democratic Jefferson Is said
10 have kept the date of his birth
from the people that he might escape
60 great and brilliant an affair. Not
90 today, for a part of every campaign
Do the blazoning forth Of the when and