Evening star., 1952-12-21
By LiIlion Arthur

Maryland's Secretary of State
and Mrs. John r. Reeves enter
tanned at dinner last evening fol
their daughter. Miss Peggy Reeves
and. her guests, Miss Caroline
Cottam, Miss Jean Ellen Patter-
son and Miss Debbie Heers.
The young women brought their
dates with them and after the
dinner they all went on to the
mistletoe ball in the gymnasium
of the Bethesda Chevy Chase
High School.
The dinner was not just an
ordinary dinner party. It was a
very special dinner that Secre-
tary and Mrs. Reeves give each
year for their daughter on De-
cember 20, which is the date of
her birthday.
In previous years the Secretary
planned a quite different birth
day party for his daughter. Start
ing out early in the morning, ne
put her in the family car and
as many of her friends as the
car would hold and drove out into
the country so that the girls could
find their own Christmas trees
They ate their lunch somewhere
in the country and returned in
the late afternoon, tired but
happy.
This year the tree cutting was
omitted-Miss Peggy is a teen
ager now and will be ready for
college next fall-and the BIRTH
day dinner took the place of the
tree hunt.
Secretary and Mrs. Reeves will
entertain again on Christmas Day
with a dinner for the members OF
their family, and with relatives
from Washington as additional
guests.
Another annual gathering OF
friends was held yesterday. It was
Alice Hostetler'S tree-cutting party
at her farm out in the Glen.
The invitations read. Come
cut a tree-dawn to dusk"
The guests did not arrive at
dawn. but it was early in the
morning that the trek up the road
to the Hostetler home began and
the guests kept coming. singly
and in groups-throughout the
day. It was a typical Montgomery
County group when all the guests
got together. There were guests
from Darnestown and Rockville,
from Laytonsville and Sandy
Spring, from Bethesda and Chevy
Chase and, as in other years, there
were a few guests who were new
comers to the county.
Some of the guests spent the
day picking out a tree and getting
it loaded on the car to take home;
others admitted frankly that they
enjoyed the opportunity afforded
by this party to see their friends
but were not so much interested
in tree cutting.
One or two guests asked about
the origin of the name of Mrs
Hostetler's place, Cations Ad-
venture; some one else wanted
to know why the same COW is
pictured on the invitation year
after year, and a number of the
guests walked down the hill to
see the new apartment that Mrs
Hostetler has just completed.
Whatever. his reason for enjoy
ing the party-whether it was to
cut tree or to meet his friends
each guest left with the hope that
the tree-cutting party would be
held again next year and that his
name would again be on the guest
list.
Capt. Earle H. Kincaid. U. S. N,
retired. and Mrs. Kincaid will
oPCAAA SAA4 4SC444oo WILL 4N1 De 1A111.
caid's father and mother, Mr.. and
Mrs. Arthur j. Morris.
Both Capt. Kincaid and Mrs.
Kincaid are Virginians but they
have spent a good bit of time in
New York State since Mr.. and
Mrs. Morris moved there.
In recent years since his retire.
ment, Capt. Kincaid has taken up
painting as hobby and he has
made many paintings of the
countryside near Sleepy Hollow,
where legend still exists of Icha-
bod Crane and his ride along the
country lanes pursued by the
headless horseman, and Heinrich
Hudson and his men, who some
assert, still play nine pins in the
Catskill Mountains.
Capt. Kincaid's paintings are