IN THE OLD STYLE

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 102, 4 May 1925, Page 2

IN THE OLD STYLE

A HAPPY EVENING

SIDE WHISKERS AND BODICES.

We had grown so weary of the usua] ■ 1924 party, of playing auction and foxtrotting to jazz records on Hie gramophone, of talking of Paul Morand and ] Buster Keaton, of discussing the future ot the Liberal Party, and the latest tiling in night clubs, that we decided to give an entirely new kind of party writes Josephine Vincent, in the "Uiva.Chester Guardian:" , ■ 'We staged the- thing with great care ' We ransacked the attics and gathered up the contents of the old forgotten glorvlioles, and we instructed our chosen guests beforehand in the correct attire to be worn for the occasion, the kind of performances that would be expected of them, tlie musical instruments on which they were to operate, and the games they were to know how to play. The result was a delicious revival of seme of our childish memories. Most of the men turned up in side whiskers, one or two with beautiful square-cut bushy beards, one with n well-waxed moustache, and all with winged collars. The women wore lee-of-mut-ton sleeves, and the once well-known bodice, that garment which denned thp bust and left no doubt as to the correct position of the waist. "We had collected in advance several excellent specimens of the family photograph album, and an album containing brown and withered pressed flowers. We had dug out a glass-covered mass of waxed fruit, a couple of old yellow-backed novels, old halma and ludo sets and a cribbage beard. Wo had bouglit''speein]-< ly a brand new glass bowl, in which swam six gilded monsters of the deep and a friend had found and sent to us two woollen-worked samplers and three genuine antimacassars. With the properties all complete, the evening started off, and wont with a swing. There was not a dull moment. I\o one -was bored. Not'ojie suppressed yawn did I observe during its progress Our family, fortunately for the complete success of the party, had been brought tip in the musical tradition of a past age. George played the violin, Bernard the 'cello, and Kate.as a child had been a noted performer upon the piano. Scv era] of our guests v? c could rely upon lor vocal contributions. We began with an instrumental display, Rubinstein's. Melody and Raff's . "Gavatina" being given in a perfectly correct if slightly amateurish mannc'r by piano, violin, and 'cello. Then a slightly throaty tenor rejoiced our saxo-phone-dulled cars with "0 Star of live" and "IScauty's .Ryes." This was followed by a duet version for soprano and baritone of "On the Hoad to AlandaIny." A guest then recited with much \ doling and effect ".Uska" and "The Wivek off Mumbles Head.'' Our bassbarilone excelled himself by his' performance of "In Cellar Cool," and the musical purl, of Urn entertainment concluded with (he singing of Gounod's "Avo Maria," with violin obblisrato. We then divided up into groups, and played whist with slow and solemn ceremony. When whist palled, ludo proved the most popular diversion, and cribbage, except for two of our elder guests who had boasted a great-aunt with "whom they had become experts at the game in thedays of long ago, was voted too intricate. We followed up the games with a elmnide in three acts, and "the word we lised was dandelion. This was an enormous success, because everybody guessed it at ence. The first 'act 'was all aliout a dandy, tb e second brought in a lion, and the third, of course, mentioned Hie flower by name. Then vp. danccJ the polka and the mj^V.nrka, colling Minnie upnn those who had forgotten the love of their ynnth. that one-two-three hop, on the one hand, and one-two-three kick, on tln> other. The dancing grew wilder and wilder, and concluded with a spirited execution of that never-to-be-forgotten pas soul '■'To-ra-ia-booin-de-tiy." \W kopl it up uvpn 'to the refreshments, including among the eatables custards in rod jrlassos with a ralafia bisiiil mi ioji of em-li elii^s and n sprinkling f'f iinmlrrls and ihnii.-.jiiid.s. an iiv-pud-dim;. oiHiisrs, and mils. The Indies drank port and liip g.'iillonien ilrank ilii'ivy. an.! »t parted in a g1,.,«- of recovered ii'omunes. 1. for one. ."lent deeply and profoundly.'Only to be wakened up in the moruii'i!; by the strains of i;!ii unemployed band—thai nightmare lujnvr of iii..' twentieth century.