Democratic Sentinel, Volume 6, Number 52, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 January 1883 — A State Reception at the White House. [ARTICLE]

A State Reception at the White House.

A state reception is one to which Only officials and prominent private citizens are invited. The supper, however, is served by a caterer. Under the Hayes administration it was provided by Madame Demopet, a curious old Frenchwoman, whose modest shop on Pennsylvania avenue is patronized by the legations and all the leaders of the gay world. The Superintendent of Public Buildings and Grounds, who is now ex-officio master* of ceremonies, {>repares for the event. He takes the atest edition of the court guide, the “Congressional Directory," and from it prepares the list of official guests. From other sources he obtains the names of those prominent people, transient and resilient in the city, •who ought to be invited. Sometimes these additional names are very kindly suggested by rural Senators and hayseed Representatives. Sometimes these suggestions are accepted and acted upon; oftener they are not. The list of guests, which seldom contains more than 1,000 names, having been prepared. 10,000 men and women would-be guests haying been mortally offended, the supper is ordered and the wines will have to be

ordered at the same time. Then the invitations are prepared and sent out. Those for the Diplomatic Corps are sent through the Secretary of State. The Secretory of the Navy orders the Marine Band to be at the Executive Mansion on the evening of the' reception. Crash is laid in the outer halL One-fourth of the police force of the District is ordered to be at the front door of the house on that particular night, to care for the guests and their carriages. All is ready. On the night of the reception the mansion and its conservatories are brilliantly lighted. Supper is served in the state diningroom. The Marine Band is stationed in the tiled vestibule. Dotted shrubs and plants and bouquets and baskets of flowers are everywhere. In the Blue parlor on the south side of the house stands the receiving party—the lady of the mansion and her pretty young assistants. The President, too, is there, and the master of ceremonies. Leaving vonr carriage under the great white portico on the north front of the mansion, you pass in through the north door, showing your invitation card as you enter, and are at once surrounded with an all-pervading atmosphere of sweet harmony, scented and brilliantly lighted. As you walk with the throng through the great vestibule to the cloak-room on the right, you pass directly in front of the Marine Band, whose sweet strains fell upon your ear while you were still outside. In the cloak-room the “wfaps” of the party-are placed in the usual boxes, and the! usual satisfactory cheeks are given in receipt for them. Walking across the broad corridor, which divides the house into a northern and a southern half, and through a small parlor, you enter the Blue room in from fifteen minutes to an hour from the, moment when you entered the house. An introduction to the President (if you are comparatively unknown) by the master of ceremonies, and an introduction to the President’s wife by the President, complete the formal part of the visit. From that moment you gd as you please, and you can turn aside in the Blue room and chat with the friends you find, or yon can find others in the Bed room or the Green room, or, even on such an occasion as ‘this, in the East room. There is no limit to the magnificence in dress, or to the brilliancy of some of the conversations. They are delightful fields for the exhibition of whatever you have of brains or of bullion. You can remain five minutes or an hour, and you need not make your adieux to the host and hostess, or to either of them. —Letter to Boston Herald.