Evening star., 1940-08-11

Government House, where H. r.
H the Duke and Duchess of Wind
sor will reside, in Nassau, Bahamas,
is green-shuttered frome house
of Colonial design, constructed in
1901 by Gov. Halkett and used since
then as the official residence of
Bahama governors.
Standing on Mount Fitzwilliam
and facing north, so feet above sea
level, this old mansion commands
an extensive view of Nassau's palm
shaded streets, a good part of the
Island of New Providence and
wide sweep of Nassau harbor and
Hog Island.
Ten acres of beautifully land
scaped grounds with fine old shade
trees and bright flower gardens sur
round the mansion. At least half
of this estate is occupied by the
lawn and gardens. the rest is taken
up by the house, its annex, garages
and driveways.
In front of Government House
stands statue of Columbus modelled
in London with the aid of Washing
ton Irving and presented to the
colony by Sir James Carmichael
Smith.
Government House is divided into
the main building, containing the
living quarters of the governor and
his family; an eastern wing in which
is situated the ballroom and eX-
ecutive council chambers and
western annex in which are located
the servants quarters. A garage is
attached to the western annex and
another garage is located on the
grounds a short distance away.
Figuring the exact date upon
which Mardi Gras falls usually pre-
sents a tough problem to natives OF
Louisiana as we'll as tourists. To
arrive at the date, remember that
Mardi Gras always falls 40 days,
excluding Sundays, before Easter,
and Easter always falls on the first
Sunday after the first full moon
after the spring equinox.
During the next 10 years Mardi
Gras day will be as follows:
1941, February 25; 1912, February
II; 1e43, March 9; 1914, February
%: 1e45, February 13, 1946, March S;
1947, February 18; 1948. February
10; 1949, March /; 1850, February
81. and 1851, February 6.
1927 marked New Orleans first
celebration.
X X X X
If there Is one thing the French
Canadians of Quebec love better
than sitting around and telling or
listening to a story 1t is the COM
bination of music and motion trans
lated into terms of the French
Canadian dance.
While there are radios in Quebec's
rural homes, canned music has
not made much impression on these
hardy people who find even swing
a little too slow. The good fiddler
is still the genius of the village, the
true artist and the essential guest
at any entertainment.
Heifetz might cringe at the
technique-fiddle fitted to the
stomach instead of the chin and
the rhythm marked audibly by the
fiddler's foot, but to Jean Baptiste
the music's made for dancing. Sum-
mer tourists have brought a de-
mand for pop" to the Quebec
backwoods, but to the Canadian
the attraction of soft drinks Is in
the bottle tops. A couple of these
tops clamped to the sole of the
shoe gives the fiddler another
musical instrument.
Nearly every French Canadian
has fiddle-often homemade-and
on long winter nights there is story
telling, singing and the French
Canadian version of the old Ameri-
can barn dance in almost every
French home. And, of course, the
fiddle comes out for the feast after
every baptism, marriage or ami
versary, for the French Canadian
must have all his friends at his
home then. The harvest is an ex-
cellent excuse for feast and
there are many games played at
this time. New Year brings a
three-day celebration, gifts, music,
song and dancing-the very apex
of French Canadian festivity-le
jour de lan-the day-the day Of
the year.
And during the summer months
| the French Canadians need little
VET