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Show B. 1 THEY DANOED THE GRIZZLY BEAR. m -9 ; I .' ,r What is in store for us as a people, if we continue the fast pace wjf ) the last few years? We read in the special correspondence from H 1 the East of a dance given at Newport, Rhode Island, by the elite of H that fashionable resort. One of the onlookers, in describing the M scene following the giddy whirl, gives this account of what took H 1 place Hjfli ,Tlle strains of "Alexander's Ragtime Band," played Vfc: vociferously by a band of twenty pieces and sung by a hun- B T 1 drcd or more fair voices, aroused sleepy Newport from its Il 3 bed at 6 o'clock this morning and the spectacle beheld by those who crept to the windows and peered out below slightly raised shades is talked of everywhere here today as an event of epochal importance in Newport's brilliant society history. For the band and the procession it headed head-ed was nothing less than the grand and unprecedented finale of the fancy dress ball given at the Newport Golf club last night by Mr, and Irs. Leonard Itf. Thomas. 1 llcury Conrad of the Metropolitan grand opera com- ( pany headed the procession with waving baton, and first behind the musicians tripped Mr. and Mrs. Thomas on B either side of the drummer, taking turns at beating the B r drum. Behind the host and hostess pranced a generous share Hr of America's societj' leaders, all fantastically and gorgeous- H " ly garbed 'and all gyrating to the ragtime strains in the B most approved musical corned- fashion. B( Close to the leaders was Mrs. Reginald C. Vanderbilt, H' sumptuously gowned as a "daughter of the east." Near !H'l Mrs. Vanderbilt was a beautiful Carmen in the person of v Mrs. John R. Drcxel. Nearby was Mrs. Olive Perrin, as Salome, and in the same group was Mrs. Elisha Dyer, as mmmmmr striking a Sapho as was ever seen on auy stage. Among B - the other revelers were Mrs. .James B. Duke, as a sheperd- ''i . ess ;Mrs. Joseph Uarriman, a beautiful queen of hearts; H ': r rs. George McFadden of Philadelphia, as Mary, Queen H ; ' of Scots; Mrs. Earl Dodge, a living replica of the fencing H - girl ; Mrs. Robert Goelet, in a wonderful creation of mauve B and green; Miss Rives, an Irish lassie, and Miss Sadie H) " Jones as a bandit queen; Mrs. Joseph Dilworth, garbed as a H- peasant; Miss Roberta Willard as a Yassar girl; Mrs. Wil- H liam E. Bull, a perfect Queen of Night; Mrs. Richard Hj Stevens, a prototype of "The Pink Lady' of musical-com- H.j edv fame; Miss Julian Carthy Little, a splendid Mignon, Bj and Mrs. Lorilliard Spencer, jr., as a strikingly handsome H' . peasant of the Louis XVI period. H . Prominent among the men were Vincent Astor and Hp v Francis Roche as Pierrots, Craig Blcldlc as a troubadour, Hl Elisha Dyer as a Chines'c mandarin, and Robert Goelet ll impersonating the "Squaw Man." H Mrs. Sufferin Tailer scored a pronounced hit when she M entered the ballroom dressed as a nurse with a baby carriage K and a clever doll baby. At her side was Mr. Teller in the K attire of a coachman. H An incident of the ball that caused considerable com- M? ment here today occurred at the entrance to the ballroom. ' Hl' Miss Constance Warren, represented' in the costumfe of a Hi sultan's daughter, was about to enter when she overheard 1 1 a coachman ask a chauffeur for a cigarette. , Miss Warren 4 pulled from her pocket a handsome solid silver case and B ' presented a liberal portion of the contents fo the man and H his friends. H'7 1 &? nour elapsed before the dancers unmasked and in H; that time dances were executed which set a new terpsi- j chorcau high mark for Newport. Several times the floor H(j was cleared while a tall and beautiful woman, wearing a K costume taken from the "Follies of 1911," of rod and Hj black silk, performed a Spanish movement. She was Mrs. H De Loosey Oelrichs and easily the belle of the ball. Time 1 find again the "grizzly bear" was 'danced, much 'to the -i ' especial delight of Congressman and Mrs. Longworth, who had never seen it before. Were they all intoxicated or did they simply lose their self-reserve self-reserve and, throwing off their every-day disguises, give way to their perverted impulses? Our guess is that the serenade, who had danced the "grizzly boar," had dressed as Saphos and had' handed out cigarettes, Wero tho victims of a Bacchanalian revelry. We are told that the ancients, about 200 years after Christ, had festivals at which the people indulged in drink and orgiastic parades at night, somewhat similar in description to the frenzied outburst at Newport. But the lawmakers of old, observing that the debauches were leading to a demoralization, destructive of orderly society and ruinous to the home, prohibited the carousals. We cannot prohibit the acstacies at Newport, for the very rich in those secluded spots, are a law unto themselves, but we can protect and wc can record our detestation for the vulgar and the lewd, aud at the same time offor thanks that wc are not afflicted with a speaking acquaintance with the men and women who, in their dissipations, find that the common palls upon thorn and that they must be entertained by pandering to the basest passions. Newport's dance is the dance of Death, so let them dance. |