Art: Ceremony

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In the comfortable Manhattan studio of Levon West last week assembled Mr. & Mrs. Sherman Reese Hoyt, Dr. & Mrs. Byron Stookey, Mr. Howard E. Coffin, Mrs. Jacob Gould Schurman, Mrs. Richard C. Bondy, Dr. & Mrs. Philip Childs Potter, Mrs. Eli Whitney Debevoise, and a French poodle named Nunsoe Duc de la Terrace of Blakeen.

Mrs. Hoyt has a world-wide reputation as the leading poodle breeder of the U. S. Her Nunsoe Duc de la Terrace of Blakeen is one of the greatest in the world, champion of Switzerland, France, England, the U. S. While the socialites stood around, Mrs. Hoyt told how her prize poodle last winter had dragged his mistress on snowshoes all the way from her Katonah home to the New York Central railroad station in order to get to Boston in time to win another championship.

Patient on his haunches sat Nunsoe Duc de la Terrace of Blakeen until Etcher West tossed him a rubber mouse. To the mouse was attached a string which was attached to a curtain which was attached to an easel. Passionately the poodle pounced on the mouse, pulled the string, drew the curtain and unveiled a first proof of Etcher West's latest work: a portrait of Nunsoe Duc de la Terrace of Blakeen.