Evening Star Newspaper, March 27, 1921, Page 61

THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTO ., TWELVE VARIETIES OF JAPANESE CHERRY - v «BY ELIZA RUHAMAH SCIDMORE. N | fA 2o Potomas Park over all cues | | M : : : ‘ First Exghty Trees in 1909—The Show of Japanese cherry blossoms. I - . other city or park nas anstnins «om- | Gift of Three Thousand From the City , masses, the clouds and billows of e ;nk flowers that surround the | i er 3 e Tive ont, | | . . - - when the 5.0% site reen ana e oty | | Lakamine—Different Varieties All | ::f;le‘:;':‘::lhp their bare branches with | loom Within a Month. s ! RS. TAFT Bought and Planted the and parks in this country is the parable to or approaching the great]| | ‘ e | of Tokio Through Interest of Dr. J. trees of Mrs. Taft's original purchase month | (On April 4, 1900 cxactly - - R after coming to the White House to live, Bt ¢ ch things of spring b and pensines o for 7 :hs. Taft had the first eighty trees | jov as cherry trecs than nop ahilmrre thas e bought : tween Folo Field twiliows. Ome ch =r ¢ cor | 41 have B elm trees along Pt nd every seas: 1 on me with | that rive aid the 8. P. B. G. since they rewarded her by the And when the ®herries are | of that da hen he heard of the most profu Hearing of her | ripe, we would have to keop | plans for the Leginning of a cherry interest in his country’s cherished bloom, | park full of 1 Ay and | enue ) al:r,.“.vgl’. h 'r.u.\;vu;u = J;n‘pamxo Tesi- The boys would climb the trees to| 1" And the strip- v ork, offered 'S get the cherries nd break a he ay fo spi i 2,000 cherry trees to plant in the p! 5 e e e rtm'l‘{‘:: k1 g&round, and the offer was accepted. ¥ trees do not uousleaves,” | trees arrived from Japan in Janua only the bl call the loved Eisoren i 1910, were condemned as infected and| “What! No cherries? What good | utsukushiki sakura, “charming cher- destroyed by the plint Inspectors of the | Is that sort of a ch ec” of Japa Department_of Agriculture. Dr. Taka-| The wife of one T mine cabled for more, and 3.030 trees|couraged my making any p ! arrived in 1911 and passed all the tests | the Japanese cherry tree by saying:| [ & €'8NLY Dfoncer trees were in and inspections. Both consignments | “He gets great deal of advice about ‘ their places on the next Saturday what he ought to do down there in that park. I guess he has his own ideas and does not need any help.” “But this js not advice—only heart- felt prayers, accompanied by colored illustrations.” It was to were offered in the name of the city of Tokio in order that Washington, like the Japanese capital, might enjoy such ; a riverside avenue as the Mukojima and | J such scenes as the holiday crowds enjoy in Uyeno Park on the first Sunday in afternoon by4a miracle of rapid ac- on following Mrs. Taft's quick de- cision, executive ability and her tal- it for getting things donme. As if ful for this signal racognition, i April. wait for a new adm 50 many yei ! any years of denial, those T e Istration and a new S. P. B G. ;n|vl| treclets made good and bicomed ake the plea ew and anew | the be o JO other flower in all the world 18| and’ have another and. ‘:‘.n‘:,’ufrra"' . ’l::lhr ‘ll-mr "n.-," ‘).hal\ "‘u?rsg.l;i-':i"z:nl.: so beloved and worshiped as|&ineer officer turn w cold shoulder |admivers with the greatest profusion Sie-no-han; 'the’ eNéery Hossoma | 2ntLan glance at the scheme. |of double blossoms closely packed on 2 3 It i Cih: h ! Expense w twice offered as a pre the bare branches. o of Japan. It is Nihon-ga-hana, ventive, £0 in the winter 190509 | The day after Mrs. Taft's letter was Bowier ot JavenT and ic) one made of known | received Dr. Takamine happened to be pskinl il i S i b cherry ngton, in company with Mr. Tl adeeds s Sl et i) n e Xy be i Japanese consul general in the national flower, the svmbol of!year for Potomac 1 until the | that SRR purity, the emblem “of chivalry and|river bank sho o Hiied with such | a Mukelia thamke T Ry Knighily honor. the creat of a cult | (recs "o " heasty, and aWosnsion |4 Mukolima, thanks to Mrs. Taft's in- whose vernal celebrations have been | should have a Mukojima, too. The | ~Will Meo Tatt soaertaking ; observed with unflagging zeal for at|names of Secrctary and M:s {ene Nrbcs | for " her. Mukafimars | least two thousand years. It is Ja-|and Admiral Dhvwey wers |asked lamine. Elas o | pams own flower. more ‘omnipresent | the list {out. I hdtustin e ! than the chrysanthemum and indige- n the last week o re t it e ! rem nd indige In the last week of March tree She will need nous to the soil of the wild Yamato hillsides and to the heart of H\el “home_provinces” that surround Nara | and Kioto. In the early centuries Yamato rulers brought branches of sakura back from their hunting par Taft told her friends th: drive in Potomac Park day and during an ch a gift to sama (title by of Japan is des- might call it a in_the name of Americ | which the ogo onmie one them ties in the mountains and planted |amazing response and the g ki them in the patace Erounds fle of amare carsiages and a T3 well a3id the unaeifish e In the fifth century the emperor and | £ s and the grand turnout o ce these Cherry trees are es- * his court used to go to the “Palace|er 5 on wheels, in fact, on that in the Washington park { during their ride . of the Young Cherry Trees,™ { Nara. to view the blossoms and make | boating excurs on the cherry- bordered lake. The court had garden parties in their honor and the custom continues to th presend d and all the empire is given over to holi-{ day pleasures while the sakuras are| on. Millions of poems have been written to the cherry biossoms and tied to the branches of blossoming wre of steam umd cult continues. Tatko, Hide- man of blood and » “Napoleon of blossom and | nd guests, at his golde 3 Momoyama spring, and again had as many assembled to do Lonor the tre at Yoshino, in Yamato, the very home of the sakwra, the classic spot where all the hills and ravines are ma of pink and wi e bloom and t are vhc ten thousand trees at a glance” as one arrives, and as many more in other famous views. All the 130 varicties have been evolved from the little five-petaled | flower of the Yama or wild cherry of the mountains, cven to hlossoms as large as a Cherokee rose gnd to great roscttes of “many-fold,” “hundred- potal” and “thousand-pital” flowers. By grafting, and with p ar, other qualities hav : but there aiwavs remair er the in- age as if nipped by Artists and art tors de 4 iploved the of the cherry mo . one motive, an without such represent in heraldry. ornament of every mestic ut ne 3 Every spring-time tourist in Ja ‘used to wonder why our Amer parks and gardens were not a 1 converted Into fairyland in spring i by the planting of Japanese cherry ners n any other | tion in sight, ¢|D~I an i trees, but when any such wondering gook the form of appeal to park ‘commissiopers and kindred aut { crats, the returned tourist soon found Why. There had been vain pleading CHERRY BLOSSOM & with successive superintendents public buildings and Xrennds here of in Washington for twenty-four years | s | Dafore direct appe: “ma : [perhaps 1 t them planted in Mra. Taft, who, w lix- | New York. I have offered to glve the | them to park commiasioney after rk prehension. literally pr. T but th commissioner. would ne y ton and gave orders t = . anese cherry trees si be pro- aecept cured and planted at All the | 1y, Mrs. Taft did aceept NUrSerymen are d New York offer of two thou nd only produce e ty trees, but out her plan of an » were planted within the weck. river bank. * % ¥ ¥ 4 on to the “l once codbed instruc- tions to Tokio On April S long ago as the winter of 1553- 1386 it was urged uron the su- iperintendent of public buildings and grounds that, since they had to plant (e Consul Generm) Midzuno could not reflect in weirld be very Lovely me know what r kind I hope you will nnders © 1 beg to say that d that the conversa- “ something on the dreary siretches B tion Dr. Takamine 1 had with you at o= b b B L GO TP Washington on this subject is Just a prelim ai sien. We are very glad to learn that " Zithwstreet, they might better plant! How diffcreat a spirit from Lhe L cheiis trees 1o be Dresented by the repe SON IN JAPAN. . TREES ARE BLOOMING IN POTOMAC PARK resentative of the capital city of Japan to the great friendly republic would be favorubly re- ceived. On my return from Washington I took the necessary steps to approach the masor of To- kio, through the proper channel, and I hav no doubt that the formal notitieation will come from our embassy iu due course of time. The elwerry trees will not live if they are shipped during the warm season. so 1 hope You and your friends will understand that the trees cannot and will not arrive fn Seatile until some time next winter, to be planted in Wai ington early next year. The Japan Mail (Tokio) on Decem- ber, 1909 .“The Tokio munici- pality has decided to present Mrs. Taft with two thousand youns cherry trees grown grounds of the ultural of the Tokio Im- I University. Preparations are being made to forward them to shington by the N, Y. K. liner Awa . which leaves Yokohama on the mber, 1909) instant.” pan Mail gave this news to its Tokio reade: Learning that new President ladies in Ame: b Mrs. Taft, the wife of the € the TUnited States. and other ca who are in sympathy with heme to im. Japan. have in contemplation & port ese cherry trees and to plant them on a section of the bank of the Potoma r in Washington city, where a publi now being laid out. the Tokio municipal au- rities have decided to present u number of cherry trees to the American ladies as a token of the friendly feelings existing between Japan and America, The Tokio municipal council at its meeting on the 15th agreed to ship cherry trees, each about ten feet high. In January Mrs. Taft wrote to a friend: “I am delighted to think that there ia a chance of the cherry trees arriving soon. 1 am anxious to hav them set out as soon as possible, €o as 1o secure their successful growth by next spring.” But, alas! When the two thousand little trees had been delivered to the American authorities at the Seattle docks and loaded into refrigerator CArs, to Secure an even temperature cross the north- west, and had been safely landed in Washington, the experts of the De- partment of Agriculture, decided that they were infected and infested with all sorts of scale inscets and larvae | and ordered them destroyed. It was a sad blow to Dr. Takamine, who at once cabled to have three thousand trees gathered and kept under obser- ion for shipment the next spring, and also to delay the shipment of iwo thousand cherry trees, which, he- ing offcred to the park commissioners of New York by Prince Kuni during the ceremonies of the Hudson-Fulton celebration, had been accepted, Dr. Takamine paying the bill In 1911 the sccond shipment of cherry trees arrived an 1 all the inspections and tests in and in this country. Dr. Takam offered the servi Ja rieties in the combinations and | c n the places best suited to them and in a cordance with age-long garden tra- ditions in n. but such aid was declined. Of these 3,020 trees of twelve varicties, 1,200 were devoted to original plan of having them entirely encircle the Tidal Busin ir order ‘that these earliest gloominy varictics might reflect their beauty in still water. A few were planted in the White House grounds and some were given to Rock Creek Park. Some 1,500 trees were set in rows in a sort of nmursery garden on the land now occupied by the first of the Navy Department buildings, at the corner of 17th and B streets. The o D. C., MARCH Evening Star of March 29, 1912, re- corded: “Mrs. Taft yesterday super- intended the planting of a collection of rare Japanese cherry trees on the speedway. which had been sent to her by the mayor of Tokio. One. she planted herself. The planting was unofficial. and was attended only by the Japanese ambassador and V countess Chinda, Col. Spencer Cosby and Miss Scidmore. The idea is to have a grove on the speedway.” These memorial trees were planted by Mrs. Taft and Viscountess Chinda in_the open space directly west of the John Paul Jones monument. * kX % THE park planters set the little trees around the basin as closely as currant bushes, although some of the varieties will attain the size of elms if given room for their roots and a ghance to spread their branches. A Japanese gardener would have spared that error. In March, 1913, Col. Harts, the new superintendent of public buildings and grounds, was ap- pealed to, and during that and the following spring the cherry trees around the basin were thinned out almost half, and these, with the re- serve 1,500 trees in the nursery garden, were set out in the new land beyond the railroad bridge. They reach now entirely around both water fronts of the point, and include some of the latest blooming varieties, so that even in May one may find cherry blossoms on the trees across from the city wharves. All those trees below the railroad bridge are planted in close groups of fours, and cry aloud to b spaced and each tree given a chance to develop unhindered. Out of the one hundred and thirty well recognized varieties of the “utsuku-shiki sakur: (beautiful cherry flower) of Japa twelve va- rieties best suited to this climate and the moist so0il of Potomac Park were chosen, the second shipment or gift differing slightly from the first one. including _more of the single and more hardy varicties. For this rea- son there a 1,500 of the Somei- Yoshino, the common vama sakura (mountain, or wild cherry), the first to bloom in the spring, the tallest and most long-lived tree. In the last week of March or the first week of April the Yoshino's pale pink single blossoms suddenly clothe the bare branches and exhale their faint per- me in the warm sunshine as they g the basin 'round with clouds of color. A few days, and then, if the winds blow, come the marvelous torms that are not from the nd the ground is white with ns of cherry petals. One and admire these charm- ing trees by sunlight alone. The true flower-lover will never miss the chance to see them by moonlight and more enchanting stiil, by dawn. In Japanese cities the cher trees in the bublic par e an especial illumi- nation by electric lights strung for such effects, that those who must toil by day may have the greater pleas- ure under “the night trees” and the is not to s grand old “Maruyama cherry tree,” the Gion tree in Kioto, a veteran, drooping Yoshino-zakura, 140 years old, ‘has an illumination by flaming pine knots in iron cressets that is most unique. This wonderful old tree, once the Joveliest in all the Kioto neighborhood, has begun to fail. It has lost many branches and much of its great spread of canopying flower- clouds and soon will have to be re- placed by a successor. Meanwhile, the guardians of such things are con- centrating on worthy successors, and the next ideal and popular tree un- doubtedly wjll be a drooping Yoshino cherry, already enthroned on a raised circular terrace in the zoological gar- dens. Such trees when they once show the disposition or the constitu- tion to be something remarkable are watched and trained, trimmed and fed, pampered in a dozen ways to se- cure their perfection and make them worthy of popularity. Have any of the trees in Potomac Park been sin- gled out in this way for futurebelle- ship among the 2100 béauties, in good Japanese style? After the first burst of Yoshino blos- 1921—PART 4 (snow-white) and the 100 trees of Ariake (dawn), whose rosy white flowers have tiny brown leaves as ac- companiments. * x k¥ Y mid-April there bloom the pre- cious twenty-three of Mikuruma- gayeshi (“looking backward from the carriage”), whose solid balls of double pink flowers and deep pink buds have coquettish leaf tips posed above them in contrast. There is a beautiful tree of this variety in the park around the Kioto palace, descendant of the very tree for which, to have another last look at its beauty, an emperor turned and looked backward as he rode away. Near one city on the west coast of Japan there is a road across a rice plain that makes a deliberate loop in that level, all in order that one going away from the city. might have an- other look at the long row of cherry trees crowning the castle walls above the moat. i Also, in mid-April, bloom the eighty trees of Joko, a variety of pale pink and very fragrant flowers, and the fifty trees of Fukorokujin (“god of luck end longevity”), with crimson outer petals to the large pink flowers, all compacted in solid balls of blos- soms. Each separate flower is a little rose by itself, with fifteen and twenty ethereal petals, one on top of another, and a spread of two inches, in favor- able conditions in Japan. Close upon it bloom the 160 Hito-ha variety of russet brown leaf tips offsetting the pink buds that spread out into double white rosettes of blossoms of twenty and thirty petals each. Then, also, bloom the 350 Kwanzan trees, with deep pink flowers, unfolding from darker and deeper pink buds, to the largest flower of all the cherry flow- ers and the 140 Taki-ko (“little water- fall”) trees produce small white sing- gle flowers of exquisite fragrance. In the third week of April comes the Pearl, the treasure of all collec- tions of sakura (sometimes called the Gyoi-ko), the really pale, lemon-yel- low cherry blossom, once the petted rarity of the palace gardens only, but now to be bought from skillful florists. It bears a double blossom of fiftéen to twenty petals of fruity fragrance, and there are three varieties grown in Japan—the pale greenish yellow flowers, the green-striped and fhe pink-striped flowers. There were twenty Ukkon sakuras sent, but their planting was not mapped or marked and they should be singled out at this season’s blooming and placarded. In the last week of April blooms the Fugen-zo (Fugen, the special pa- tron of meditation, who sits on the right of Shaka in the usual Buddhist trinity), and the 120 Fugen-zo trees in Potomac Park bear very large and very doube pale pink and pure white flowers, accompanied by a few tender brown leaves. Varying with thé seasons these thousands of gift trees may be earlier or later in their blooming than these approximate dates, but they were chosen and so apportioned that we may enjoy a continuous show of cherry blossoms for a month. If one searches at all. he may find’persist- ent and diliatory cherry blossoms somewhere along the river drives even far in May. In Japanese hands, the sakuras are closely watched and fed and pruned and trained to grow in graceful lines. All these in Potomac Park are grafted on good strong, long-lived, wild cherry stocks, and certain varieties are good for a hun- dred years. The drooping, the thread and willow-branched trees are the most graceful, and the “thousand- fold” and “hundred-leaf” blossoms the most beautiful, but unfortunately these double and double-double flow- ers are borne by short-lived trees and, in thirty years or so, the branches begin to decay and must be removed, and soon the whole tree has to go. However, thanks to the energy and interest of Mrs. Taft and the gen- erosity of Dr. Takamine, we have the trees at last, and they are just now in youthful perfection and will re- soms in the first days of April there follow the 130 trees of Shira-Yuki main a feature of wonderful beauty for one generation at least. ; Celebratiohs of Eésfér ' ASTER, the most extensively ob- served of all Christian celebra- tions; may be said to have had its true origin previous to any authentic history of mankind. True enough, it is kept in commemoration of the resurrection of Christ, and is the most elaborately celebrated at Jerusalem, around Which centers much of the history of the life, teach- ings, death and resurrection of the Savior. Year by year many nations of the earth go up to this ancient city. All turn to the sacred shrines as a common home, there to celebrate the ceremonies of holy week. 1n the Church of the Holy Sepulcher there is a spot Invariably pointed out by the guides as the center of the world. This the devout people who make their yearly pllgrimages be- lieve implicitly 10 be the exact spot, for Jerusalem is the center of the religious world, and for Christians of 'y description the Church of the cpulcher i8 the center of in- Holy terest. The rites of holy week are presided over by a patriarch, who is the rec- ognized master of ceremonics. He ap- pears in gorgeous robe with diamond- set cross and icon upon his breast and jeweled crown of gold upon his The whole scene of the gospel head. story is portrayed with ceremonies during the week. One remarkable cremony s t of the holy fire, which takes place on Saturday. It is claimed by the patriarchs that fire comes down from heaven on that day to light their lamps, and if extin- guished they will be immediately re- lighted. Services of the week close with Jaster mass, in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, beginning at mid- night Baster eve and extending well wird the dawn. At the sound of bells announcing the close of the service the pilgrims go out into the fresh morning air to watch the com- closing day, they have the love feast and break bread together as one hap- py family. The juvenile pleasures are not overlooked. Late in the after- noon of Saturday the children are to be scen busily engaged about the hedges and fences constructing rab- bit nests in which they expect rab- bits to lay eggs during the night, and they are never disappointed; they al- ways find the nests bountifully sup- plied with various colored eggs on Easter morning. The church congregation is up be- fore the dawn of Easter day. They as- semble at the church and proceed to the burying ground to welcome the dead should they rise. They are led by a brass band and church choir. The concourse passes up the broad graveled walk, which runs between rows of ancient cedars, to the center of the cemetery which is odd, quaint and beautiful. There they pause and sing hymns, in which all the people join. The singing stops as the sun- light comes over the rugged eastern hills. All is silent and solemn while the clergyman reads out the names of those who have been placed to rest in the burying ground since the pre- vious Easter. Your Maple Sirup. [APLE sirup suggests sweet and “*% tender thoughts, and this is the season when sirup is born—that is, the maple sirup which comes from the maple sirup tree. But, while one thinks so much of maple sirup, it would not be fair to overlook all the joys and bless- ings brought upon the world by cane sirup and real and true sugar molasses. The world Is brighter and happler, sweeter and stickier for these good things. It is a source of regret that much of jrect high silk hat. 5" ThePresident of France Sets New Styleifor Men in Paris Revival of th; Frock Coat—Fashions for The French Theater—The “Melon™ Hat and the Snapping “Claque™ or “Opera.”™ STERLING HEILIG PARIS, March 22, 1921 RESIDENT Millerand has glori- P fied the frock coat, or Prince Albert. President Millerand has struck another blow at evening clothes in the davtime. He has broken through the protocol to do it, that mysterious code which regulates the dress and social cer. mony of Frenchmen in public office. This month he had to receive of- ficially, in the Palace of the which the republic gives its presi- dents for residence, the prime minis- ter of one of the mew countrics of BY Jysce, (o (like an accordion) pancake, to carry it as flat as a clegantly under delighted, « An effort interest of ¥ being made (In industry) to bring the clague nto fashion, ith the prime i ndescend- ingly pointing th. * And, really, at opera pageant which t the night of Febr ball of the opera since old ime headpicce would have be ful to civilian n Yot it nspicuous Ly its absence - central Europe. The protocol said | ‘;»“)\“5 by l‘ k‘ e e that he should wear (as all other) (6 WERG OF BACK Ve i presidents have dutifully worn on | Which, in spite sensational news- Such occasions) {full dress evening {Paper correspondince, is permissible clothes, or, as some sa his evening dress suit, at 10 o'clock in the morn- ing. Across his expamse of shirt bosom should be worn. from north- east to southwest, the broad tricolor sash and great star of the Legion of Honor, of which he is official head. President Millerand chose, instead, to wear the correct day dress of a French gentleman in a strict social function—the long, full-skirted black coat, which the French call “redin- gote,” the English a frock coat, or, as seme say, the Prince Albert, as worn by William Jennings Bryan. Of course, the insignia of the Legion of } Honor shone properly on his breast, to indicate ome of his chief prerog tives. So old-time kings received. aglitter with the national decorations —as the fount of honor. EE The protocol had a bad quarter of an hour, and its full dress suit in daytime had another setback in France. A first blow was given to it years ago by ex-President Des- chanel. He was then a youngish man, but already president (or speak- er) of the chamber of deputies, and he was getting married to the daugh- ter of another member of parliament. Until then, from top to low in the social scale of France, a man was married, ususlly about noon, in full evening dress suit. Now, young Deschanel was not only a correct man, like President Millerand, but was’ also_an elegant man of the world. Whatever change he might make in the usual get-up was sure to be noticed So, the reporters gasp- ed and stared, literally, because Paul Deschanel went to fl;a t-l::y!n a long-skirted frock coat of 1 H]‘I ample, it must be admitted, has not been followed in the middle classes or the masses, whose men— bridegrooms and best men—still go o the altar in their full dress evening Owned, rented or borrowed, the male guests at the wedding reg larly struggle into the same, just as punctiliously as the bride wears a white veil and orange flowers and all the women come out in gaudy colors. The wedding breakfast is regularly jobbed at a restaurant, and they ride to it in cabs or barouches. All over Paris, at noon of any day, you can see these full dress evening clothes pro- cessions. So, it is still only the true fashion- ables, like Boni de Castellane the Youngeér, who has just been married, Wwho go through the marriage cere- mony in the man of the world's day- time garb, as in New York and Lon- dén. I distinguish between the cor- rect dress lm‘lh the "“t‘-tlp‘pr?-r t‘r'f Frenchmen who have to public. A man is correctly dressed when he wears the mecessary conven- tional clothes of the n. H his money, his elegance depends on tailor, his personal taste and his wil- lingness to pick up ideas from the dress of men in New York, London and the fashionable cosmopolitan sets of Paris. The distinction helps any number of otherwise distinguished French- men to appear in the great world on small incomes. A judge or university professor can _figure honorably in every social function befitting his character with only two suits of clothes to his name—and, rigorously, with but one single pair of bl trousers for the two. ‘He must have a black frock coat and a top hat, which serve equally well for risdignified everyday dress, and (when ldignified everyday dress, and (when well brushed) for almost every day- time function and many of the night. Then, for really great occasions— toth of night and day—he must have a full dress swallow-tail coat and the waistcoat that goes with it. A white shirt, natprally. He wears only white shirts; so. if he owns three—one off, one on, one in the drawer—he is ab- solutely and always secure from B0~ cial surprise, The full dress of the French Academy buttons high, and and it has been said of some Of the forty immortals, who had more litera- ture and fame than money, that they did not always wear the white shirt behind it—or, in any case, not the white shirt from the drawer. But their dress was visibly correct. . * %X * % It takes nerve to break such stand- ards of correctness. The last time Premier Lloyd George arrived in Paris Prime Minister Briand and his official suite went to meet him at the railroad station for the early morning train. A young representative of the French foreign office, who had to be in attendance, arrived a bit late and caught sight of his chief (M. Bri is also minister of foreign affairs) wearing the cor- The young dip- lomat had only & “melon” or derby bat on his head, and he felt humiliat- ed and even frightened at his negli- gence by comparison. He looked at his watch. Five minutes remained: the maple sirup which one eats is not what it should be and not what it pur- ing of Easter day and dream of the|ports to be. This is not the fault of beauties and mysteries of religion as it has come to them through crude teachings and ancient superstitions of | over maple sirup and puts a the eastern churches. * k ok * Mexico has her holy .week, too, celebrated with pomp and splendor, a devotions and old customs that ill linger in the land of Monta- zuma. The people go from all points of the compass, far and near, on their annual pilgrimage to Guadalupe, the holiest shrine of all Mexico, where they congregate in immense crowds. ‘re the descendants of a nation sunk _in paganism for centuries after the Crucifixion meet to celebrate the Divine Tragedy that was enacted in Syria nineteen hundred years ago. The most solemn week of all the weeks of the year is Passion week in Moxico City. Images, crucifixes_are to be found every- where. The most remarkable of the cercmonies is Judas. ‘The betrayer is represcnted as a misshapen monster. Hundreds of his images are sold on Good Fri- day. They are filleq with explosives which blow the doomed figures to atoms when let off on Saturday morn- ing and the homely arch-traitor goes up in smoke. The Moravian churches of this country have their Passion week, with somewHat peculiar rights. They set- tled in Pennsylvania and North Caro- lina. At Bethlehem and other places in Pennsylvania they are the pre- dominating religious sect. At Salem, N. C., they established a very inter- esting _and _unique colony in 1753. There they have a strong church and one of the finest colleges in the coun- try. Religious service is a daily oc- currence in the church during Pa sion week. The sacrament is admin- istered and many of the younger set are confirmed. = On Saturday, the icons and |sap is boiled down to sirup. The maplc the blowing up of | many of the northern and eastern maple maple sirup. It is tho avarice and du- plicity of men which raises label on “maple siruj from a maple tree. Maple sirup and its patrons have been [top hats! the victims of numerous impostures, Many sweet things have been substituted for maple sirup and many adulterants have been added to maple sirup to swell its bulk, impair its flavor and cheapen its price. The market and the purchaser have known maple sirup whose only claim to the name was that it was some other kind of sirup flavored with a de- coction obtained by boiling the twigs of maple trees. The sweetness came from cane or corn sirup and. the maple flavor came from maple wood. ‘While the population of the nation | has been growing the supply of maple sirup has been decreasing because of the destruction of the trees, whose sweet tree has considerable value for the making_of boot nad shoe “lasts,” and oichards have been converted into timber fer that purpose. X With the increasing demand, the di- minishing supply and the increasing | rigor and comprehensiveness of laws | against misbranding and adulteration the price of maple sirup has gone up to the point where there is a good profit | in its production, and farmers in the maple sugar sections of the country are now caring for their old trecs and are setting out new orchards. The indica- | mean lavish expenditure, and soclety tions are that maple sirup and maple sugar may not be lost to posterity. The flow of sap is variable. Some would he dare to rush out and buy a high hat? Would the train be merci- fully late? He lost two minutes, worrying, in the background. Then he braced up, as the traln steamed In a false flag|_and he saw the Belgian minister, | theaters, k. maple sirup | also with a “melon” on hi p” that never flowed | vancing to meet the British head, ad- remier. with Briand and the others their Lloyd George, becarhe a man fresh from the channel boat (and also a law to himself—he has been seen at Claridge’s in a black satin dinner Jjacket!), was wearing his usual gray felt hat, about as dis- reputable as any hat can be, but Lord Curzon, who accompanied him, had on his head the correct stov pipe. He had brought it fn a hat- ox. Briand. as_all know, is not a dresser like Deschanel was, nor does he always keep plainly correct, like Millerand, whose habits are those of | knees, a Paris lawyer in lucrative practice. Briand is also “a long-haired law- yer” coat, which London h: (as_Lloyd George called him |duce, is repudiated by Paris as not masked all masked always have been masked balls of regular 5w in Paris only at ball. A masked ball, and, as there and surcly will the opera, to aveu! a natural misun- derstanding, forn tice was pub- LSHEd toaL DO BASRS Uk Aly were Lo be wor AL Was a natwial event, with re- ceipts amounting 1o talt a million IFAUCE 100 @ War coarily, and wita aud e Laris itself, perhaps, a4 all o Eloriy )ns ot k a ior what it wa decorative di 4 succession parades suco s nad never sced the trials ana triun should be tooked a resplendent, hun play, like the old Koman trjumphs. President Millerand, in the presi- dential box, represented France cor- rectly, as he aiways does; this time, as was necessary, in the broad tri- color sash and shining star of the Legion of Honor, Liazing on the white shirt front expanse of nis full even- ing dress suit. The ambassadors and lofty of all lands, France first, radi- ated their countries’ glory from the boxes, in a blaze of decorations, many colored, jeweled insignia and medals, barred across their breasts, and in the shining jew and shoulders of their wives and daughters. Well, in-the interiudes, it Was re- marked (all talk about the “clack. although they have not Bought one) that it would have been a real relief to the civilian men to do the thing they always did, in old times, at the opera—to rise. 'k their opera hats wide open, clap them on their heads, and turn round to survey the house from top to bottom. In the old times (thirty years ago) the first sixteen rows of the orchestra chairs at the opera. and the entire orchestra at the then elegant rietles, were reserved to men; and they were, by strict rule of the house, in swallow-tails, white ties and all. it was impressive. the same moment when the curtain fell, to see the pha- lanx rise, turn and let loose the bar- rage of their clacking opera hats. Strangers thought it funny, but they soon learned to appreciate that it gave a Paris man of society a chance to take off his hat in salutation to some 1ady who deigned to bow recog- nition from box or balcony. It Is a world of the past, a little world, it seems now. when all Paris soclety and quantities who were not in so- ciety knew one another's names and faces, although such knowledge might not have invariably been mutual. One young fellow, I remember, made a good figure, and advanced himself steadily by sedulously “saluting the empty seats.” Nowadays no one would notice. The lady from Chicago. blazing with mag- nificent jewels. looks across the house at what she thinks must be some Fyro- : pean princess or marquise, but is, in fact, a lady from Buenos Aires with yet ot Jewela: and another of them looks at the men below—there are too many other women down there to look at. * x % % The men no longer have the strict prerogative of sixteen rows. They brush their silk high hats with melancholy (and their left sleeve), when they fetch it up, all mussed and dusty, from be- neath the seat—or knocked and dented by the passing fair when recklessly hung on éne of those little hooks on the backs of seats of the preceding row. For here Is another morality. During many years past women have been ad- mitted to the orchestra chairs of French theaters, thus depriving boulevardiers, bald heads, critics and other celebrates of a social fleld that once was their own. Women's dress has not suffered ‘much by this, but men's wear has. Al- ready, in the summer season, when no- body who §s anybody is supposed to be in town, traveling Englishmen were per- mitted to come to these best seats (for men) in loud tourist tweeds. Littie by little, in ordinary theaters, and even in the great national Theatre Francais, men—French and foreign—have been coming the year round, not in evening clothes. - Soms attain a lax correctness with a ~dark suit.”’ The more careful compro- mise on what the French call a “smok- ing,” the English a_“dinner jacket” and Americans & tuxedo, With the reign of the cinema following on that of the music hall, where costume Always was lawless, high-class French theaters have been losing their old select look—which, no doubt, gained very largely from the evening dress and high hats of the men. Tt 4s not the same in social events. Many an American who deemed him- self practiced has found. to his dis- may, that at a dinner of men only, Lis was the only tuxedo and black tie, while all around the table the others were immaculate in swallow- tails and white ties The importance of one or more of the guests, the ceremonial occasion, or—it must be admitted—the guesses of the guests coinciding by mere chance has determined it so. It is a common thing (in the American colony), to_find men telephoning to each other like so many girls—"What are you going to wear?” The tendency of French men, in at least, has been toward freedom from the swallowtail, and even from the “smoking.” Yet during the present season there has been a revival of the greatest formalism in the smarter first nights of the boule- vard houses. The tuxedo, as if one had just looked in, after a good din- ner among men, has been little seen The swallowtall, in its most aggre- vated latest cut, with tight-fitting round shoulders. the tightest possible” eleeves, the white vest points sho ing away below, and even fancy fac- ings to the lapels, and the swallow tails prolonging the sharp outlines, has made French men distinguished again. ‘Even the trousers are tight at the like & construction of preci- The velvet collar on a dress tried to intro- ot situr w sion. at their first meetings), but he has | distinguished in itself and an inheri- more of the Bohemian alr of politi ics | tance from the kaiser’s imperial and than Millerand, who is a father of | royal receptions, before the war! four children, or than Deschanel, who is father of three, and both of whom have been much in society. Yet, just as correctness in ¥rance does not in the high sense 8oes not mean sen- ational display, Prime Minister Briand, somehow, always manages to rise to the occaslon and show him- self correct. When he arrived in Lon- don, at the heglnnlng of the week, he wore, from the channel passage, The Scrap. CONGRESSMAN interrupted the reading of a report to say: “Official language is always rather ludicrous. Once two scrubwomen in government employ had an argument, s & result of which the weaker ves- a_ black felt hat that could rival|sel was laWl up for some days. Lloyd George's gray ome. Its top Crease was “fixed” by a cunningly concealed pin. “An official inquiry was duly held, But_for his proper [and the victorious scrubwoman re- scasons are good sap seasons and others | yirst appearance in London, Minister |ceived a letter, which said, among are not. Individual trees may be good | Briand came out in his high silk | other things: producers or poor producers. There is hat. Indeed, he is one of the few “‘Is it true, as reported, that said 2 good deal that has not been determined | men in Paris who at this moment|Mrs. Hagan received certain ocular in the business of sap production. In a Sa&p season a of good produc- tivity will fill a two-gallow bucket tw‘llee 2 day during the period in which the sap is rising. = port a “claque.” It takes a man well on toward: fifty, in Paris, to remember what a claque, “clack,” or_opera hat, fs—or, yesi avas, You collapsod and nasal contusions at your hands? sarubwoman in official lam- wrote back: “The “°] regret to say that the answer