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Show nil TOsidiif Wbm tinkbet mm mlm ! IfflwH'WTl ';ffT'Svi IM'i ' 6-, ii mmrnh mmmmk mmmp ymmBm n ZS-rS mi-.-k -wp? rr3Pp.p hsv;;-, i:MYwm$ m&i wmm- kpmu-A The New-Mistress-of-the-White House Hand Shake 1 Bending the Upper Part of the. Body For- 2 Encircling the Visitor's Hand with Her Own 2 She Rained the Har.d Upward Rapidly About Still Holding the Viitor' Hand with a Firm g Again Bowing Slightly Mrs. Wilson Loosened! ward Slightly as a Greeting, Mrs. Wilson Ex- Thumb and Four Fingers, She Held It Firmly Five Inches and Then Quickly the Hand De- Grasp Mrs. Wilson Repeated the Upward and Her Grasp and Withdrew Her Hand to Her fended Her Right Hand at the Level of Her Wrist in a Warm Grasp. sconded. Downward handshake a Second Timo. Side. Her Vigorous Pump-Handle Hand Shake at the First r : Vhite House Reception Is ; " ) Expected to Make the '. - ' -A Present Languid Three-Finger 'v;: :.;t ";X ' r'1--'"; - -j Fashion at Shoulder Level No ' .. v 1 ' Longer Good Form jt'- ;.' '--"l:,- MRS. WILSON shook hands! That was the one outstanding feature of the urst official White House reception recently. It was not the limp and listless style of hand-shake which is at present considered good form it was the old-fashioned, hearty hand-shake of our grandfathers' days. All Washington fashionable society was interested at the news; has Mrs. Wilson set a new fashion? H has not been customary for the President's wife to shake hands on the occasion of public receptions. She merely smiles and bows. In fact, the whole subject of shaking hands is in a more or less indefinite condition con-dition in fashionable society. There are many women of good social position who do not shake hands if it can be avoided; They maintain that a bow and a smile are sufficient greeting. If a woman makes no move toward extending her hand it is not good form to force her into action by extending a hand toward her. But If a situation arises where a woman wom-an finds a hand extended she accepts the advance, and perhaps feebly extends three fingers just enough to save the situation from embarrassment Of course, President Wilson's bride Lnnwa oil fhic n n rl h a H ftintlht nhnllt 1t. When she took her place at the head of theline of the Cabinet ladies the other evening she had decided exactly what Vvshe was going to do. Whatever women Til fashionable society were doing or whatever had been the habit of other mistresses of the White House Mrs. . Wilson decided to shake every hand that wanted to be shaken. And she did so. " The job Mrs. Wilson undertook was no small one! She was obliged, on the occasion mentioned, to shake hands with '; no fewer than 4,-26 persons. She began shaking hands at exactly 9:30 p. m., when the first guest was introduced to her by the master of ceremonies, Colonel Haris.' At precisely 12:45 a. m. three- 1 quarters of an hour after midnight she stopped. Tli a task occupied Mrs. Wilson continuously con-tinuously for three and one-quarte' . hours, or 195 minutes. In that length of time there are 11,700 seconds-. Thus it seems that the average time consumed per hand shake was about two and four-fifths four-fifths seconds. Mrs. Wilson is a strong woman, physically, physi-cally, elre she could hardly have withstood' with-stood' such an ordeal. As a matter of fact, she was so little fatigued that next morning she was up and out by- 10 o'clock,, paying an informal visit to an old friend. Mrs. Wilson is not. and never has been, , a woman of fashion. Accordingly, sTjq i '"I has no fashionable frills' and affectations. When she Bhakes hands she does not hold her own at shoulder level and waggle the other person's paw horizontally. horizon-tally. Nor does she languidly extend two or three fingers. On the contrary, she shakes hands- in the old-fashioned sort of way not merely offering her own limply, to be grasped, but with a warm and hearty clisp. It is a cordial, old-fashioned hand-shake that she gives, meeting the party of the second sec-ond part half-way, as it were. Mrs. Wilson's hand-shake is given at the level of her waist a simple two up and two down movement. It occupies not more than one second of time the remaining one and four-fifth seconds (according to the time schedule of the other night's reception) being consumed by the guest in advancing and bowing. bow-ing. Mrs. Wilson's- right hand rose about five inches and descended five inches; it rose again five inches and fell five inches. Then the grasping fingers relaxed re-laxed and the hand withdrew to her side. The hand-shake was over. Mrs. Wilson's hand travelled a distance dis-tance of twenty inches, up and down, st each hand-shake. She shook 4,226 bunds. inches, or nearly a mile and a quarter during the evening. It might seem that Mrs. Wilson's manner man-ner of shaking hands was of no imaginable imag-inable Importance. But such a view of the case would be a mistake. For the President's wife is always the leader of fashion at the national capital, and whatever she does (whether she wishes it or not) is widely copied and imitated. imi-tated. That Mrs. Wilson will continue to shake hands at White House, receptions is by no means to be taken for granted. Indeed, the chances- are that she will fall back upon the traditional custom, and be content with a bow and smile. In the recent instance tbfcte was a special reason rea-son for making an exception. This reason lay in the fact that the re- ' ceptlon was to all intents and purposes a wedding reception. The President's marriage had been so private an affair that even his most intimate personal friend, Colonel Hous'e, was not invited. There was no reception after it, and the couple "jumped town" with the utmost possible expedition. Naturally, this was the subject of a great deal of gossip, some of it unfriendly. unfriend-ly. "No way for a President of the United Slates to take a wife," said some. For some time back, too, It had been a common saying that the Wilsons- had - "killed things socially in U ... -'"; Washington." Few en- i - - ' tertainments of any kind V.: ' ' have been given at the K : White House since the Vt; - present administration y p . came In. Trades-people y, p have been complaining of W.-' dull times and the florists and caterers have blamed v. - ' the White House for not gingering things up sod- ally. The Wilsons are home-loving home-loving folk, caring little for society. The President Presi-dent is a man of books. The first Mrs. Wilson was not in good health, and her death a year ago cast a gloom over the While House. But, nevertheless, when the President chose to be married privately a climax of social disapproval was reached. The President of the United States is officially offici-ally "insulated" in such a way that he does not ordinarily hear anything that he does not wish to hear. No letter or telegram reaches his eye (save from a few close personal friends) that his secretaries sec-retaries do not think he would care to leau. X3UL evtu iiir. vv u&iii tuuiu not ue kept altogether ignorant of the talk and grumbling; and it is likely that his new wife heard more or less of it. Hence their decision to give a reception recep-tion soon after their return to Washington. Washing-ton. It was to be in effect a wedding reception, though they would not call It by that name. They would invite 600 people; they would invite 1,000; they would invite 1,500. Plans for the "nter-tainment "nter-tainment grew, as It was perceived that everybody who was anybody would have to be asked. In its way, it was an exclusive affair. A' all events, invitations- were hard to get. From a fashionable standpoint, however, it was exceedingly "mixed," the guests being largely Congressmen and other political persons with their wives and daughters-. There were also diplomats, and quite a bunch of the new-rich new-rich folks who chiefly compose the really truly "elite" of present-day Washington society. Two out of three of the guests were women. Thus, in every three handshakes hand-shakes bestowed by Mrs. Wilson on this auspicious occasion, one' was given to a man. An inauspicious Incident was- the miscalculation mis-calculation as to the supper. By the time half the gnests had been fed it became be-came manifest that there was not enough of salad or sandwich or anything else to go round. Resort was had to the ex- Cojtt-riEiU, 1D1QV by the SLa Com . I ,:.v; . i ! :! y , , " i I ... Photo (O hy Harris Ewlnj. I Mrs. Norman Gait Wilson. :" 1 , ; V" Q by Clinedlnrt. Mrs. Robt. Lansing Who Had to Retire. pedient of chopping sandwiches in two, to make them go further, but thi effort was fruitless-, and hundreds of people went away hungry. This was not the new Mrs. Wilson's fault. She had intrusted the matter to other and supposedly more experienced hands. But it has not been customary since the time of President Hayes to offer any refreshments at White House receptions, and no data were available on which to reckon the quantity of refreshments re-freshments that 4.000-and-odd guests might be expected to consume. The reception was a considerabla ordpal for President Wilson and the Cabinet Cab-inet ladies who assisted Mrs. Wilson. In fact, Mrs. Lansing, wife of the Secretary of State, collapsed early in the evening and had to retire, cy. Great Britain Rights Rebcrvod. |