68 WITH MR. CHAMBERLAIN IN THE 



Mr. and Mrs. Putnam, Secretary Bayard, Mrs. 

 Macalester Laughton, Admiral and Mrs. Franklin, 

 Sir Lionel West, Sir Charles Tupper, Miss Hunt, 

 and Mrs. Hitt. The table was the very latest ex- 

 ample of extreme New York elegance. All the 

 decorations were in gold and white. The centre- 

 piece, a large bowl of Bohemian glass, in white and 

 gilt, was filled with white roses and their foliage, 

 with sprays of maidenhair fern. This rested on a 

 scarf, about a yard long, of milk-white Persian silk, 

 embroidered at the ends in gold thread. At the ends 

 of the table were two candelabra, the candles tipped 

 with gold and with lace shades. Gold dishes of 

 bon-bons were the only other ornaments or food 

 put on before the dinner was served. The napkins, 

 of hem-stitched linen, bore a richly embroidered 

 ' W ' on the upper fold, and near each cover was 

 the name card, very small and gilt-edged. Speaker 

 Carlisle escorted Mrs. Whitney to table and Secre- 

 tary Whitney took Mrs. Carlisle. After dinner the 

 company adjourned to the ballroom, where, about 

 ten, the guests invited in to meet Mr. Chamberlain 

 began to arrive. A brilliant reception followed in 

 the next hour, the room being comfortably crowded 

 with about one hundred or so of friends of the hos- 

 tess. This elegant entertainment to Mr. Chamber- 

 lain was a fitting prelude to the commencement of 

 his return hospitalities, which begins to-night in a 

 large dinner party.'* 



William Collins Whitney was a remarkably able 

 and very popular personage, dignified in appearance 



