ECHOES OF YESTERYEAR AT MISS SLAY'S RECEPTION

Few social affairs in recent years have combined distinction and pleasure
with a graceful gesture of deference to an older generation in as delightful a
manner as characterized the dance given by Miss Irene Blay on Friday, April
27th at the New Elks Hall, at the corner of Madison Avenue and McMechen
Street.

The affair was more than a mere social function; it was a big family re-
union, a re-union of the preceding generation of Baltimore's "first families." It
was reminiscent of the golden days of yesterday when the Monday and Tuesday
Assemblies were the outstanding features of the social world, and when Eubbie
Blake and his inimitable orchestra were in great demand.

For this occasion, however, Irvin Hughes and his "Southern Players" pro-
duced the strains which set the feet of two generations gliding over the floor in
tune to the graceful waltz measures which are once again in vogue. To have
watched Ellsworth Toomey, Solomon DeCoursey, Robert W. Coleman and other
masters of the terpsichorean art on the floor that night was to turn back the
pages of "Father Time's" big book and see Baltimore society in its earlier days.
Then there were others who added the distinction of yesterday. Miss Bell Price
Miss Bertha Winsey, and of course, Irene's mother and father, Mr. and Mrs.
Charles B. Blay.

The reception room was charmingly decorated; uniformed waiters from the
well known caterer, Waters & Co., served the 130 guests deftly from beautifully
arranged tables set with cut flowers and silver candelabra to heart shaped in-
dividual ices, select fruits, fancy cakes, mints and punch. Every item bespoke
the exquisite taste for which Miss Blay is noted.

This same taste was reflected in her dress which was of sheer georgette,
colored a rich pink, made in a draped effect and beautifully designed in rhine-
stones. Her mother, Mrs. Charles Blay, was distinguished in gray satin trimmed
with old lace which has been in the family for years,

Miss Blay is a representative of the fourth generation of one of the oldest
families in Maryland. In 1810 her great grandparents, Frederick and Henrietta
Jakes, who were married 1807, bought the first piece of property owned by
colored people on Park Avenue. It was just below 852 Park Avenue, where Miss
Blay was born and is now residing with her parents.

Miss Blay is a graduate of the Colored High and Training School, has taken
courses at Morgan College and Columbia University, anrl is now Demonstration
Teacher at School 103. She is rather quiet and reserved in manner but has a
personality which has won for her many friends.

Those who attended this unique affair despite the downpour of rain were:

Out of town guests—Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Mayers, Mr. and Mrs. W. I. Chat-
man. Mr. and Mrs. Basil Hall, all of Phoenix, Maryland; Mrs. Alice Gittens,
Miss Anna Mead, York, Pa.; Jessie Lewis, Prof. J. Williams, of Howard Univer-
sity, Washington, D. C.

Misses—Elizabeth Johnson, Mary D. Lansey, Hermione Wharton, Ethel
Waters, Ethel Thompson, Antoinette Clark, E. Fessenton, Jennie Smith, Louise
Brown, Daisy Coleman, Dorothy Coleman, Estelle Brown, Ruby Young, Isabel
Price, Sarah Fernandis, Mary Hughes, Mattie White.

Messrs.—Charles DeCaseres, Harry Cummings, Charles Keys, Henry Hale,
Heber Wharton, M. Davidson, M. Williams, M. Thomas, Robert W. Coleman, Wen-
dell Wilson, Josiah Henry, Robert Johnson, Jos. Millender, Solomon DeCoursey,
Alex. Brown, M. Lewis, M. McKenny.

Mr. and Mrs.—Charles B. Blay, R. W. Reckling, Wm. C. McCard, Milton
Walker, C. L. Davis, J. Edw. Lansey, Evans Fernandis, L. E. Toomey, J. C.
Chambers, J. A. B. Callis, P. D. Pennington, B. A. Hall, Harry T. Pratt, J. Edw.
Weaver, Mason A. Hawkins, H. S. McCard, A. O. Reid, Elmer Burgess, Francis
M. Wood, Wm. McAbee, Robert Clark, Howard Wright, Howard Murphy.

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