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Show SOCIETY'S NEW FAD jg E Ohost Parties Are the Latest Diversion of Fhlonb 3 New York. iiiiiJiUinmiiJiiiunummiiiMmiiiiiiiuiumiuiiimiiuiUiirr w iimmmmmtmifmminini A new fad has invaded upper-ten-dom. Ping-pong must look to its laurels. lau-rels. The ghost party is the latest diversion di-version of those weary of the conventional conven-tional amusements of the drawing-room, drawing-room, weary even of bridge and of ping-pong, are seeking new sensations. sensa-tions. It is not the ghost party of the nurseries, nur-series, with lowered lights and the sheets wound, fantastic figures that thrill the children with the excitement of a sort of pleasurable fear. Oh, dear, no! Society has found a sedate and dignified substitute for the romp of the nursery. The drawing room lights are extinguished ex-tinguished and a candle is brought in and placed on the floor in front of what modernity has left us as a substitute sub-stitute for the hearth. The company gather about the flickering light, sitting on rugs and stools, and tell ghost stories, vying with each other in relating weird and uncanny tales. The sensation, so unlike un-like that produced bf any of the commonplace com-monplace diversions of the drawing room, is a new one, and the ill-repressed yawn Is banished from the drawing room, for society is entertained. enter-tained. The unsteady light of the solitary candle provides a congenial atmosphere atmos-phere for the weird tale. It wraps the company in shadows, covers the story-teller with a generous cloak of semi-darkness, gives welcome opportunities oppor-tunities for the tender touching of hands, and rests the eyes, while the novelty of it all refreshes the pleasure-sated. The young man or young woman who can tell a good ghost story becomes be-comes the hero or heroine of the evening, even-ing, and this new diversion Is quite as effective as the country literary circle cir-cle in sending the young folk and older folk, too to their books. Libraries Li-braries are ransacked for queer and fantastic tales. The Arabian Nights' tales are retold and Poe is revamped by the flickering candle light, while the German folk lore is drawn upon, and Eugene Field's clever bits of Imagination always bring delight. The young man may be a poor dancer, dan-cer, but If he can offer a new ghost story or some uncanny tale he rises in popularity as the lights are lowered, and, taking his place on the floor by the taper, old folk and young listen with eagerness to his story. The ghost-party fad threatens to establish a new criterion of desirability in the circles in which it has taken hold, says the New York Times, for in making mak-ing up invitation lists cleverness in telling a good candle-light Btory counts more than aptness at the tame old amusements of which folk are heartily tired. |
