Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-02-15
Clubs Of Washington That Make the
Season Pass Pleasantly.
LITERARY AND OTHER FADS.
How a Dancing Class Got Rid of Members
Who We're Obnoxious.
ALADY WHO PLAYED POKER TOO WE'LL
CORRESPONDENCE OF H D1spArcH.l

were laid for a series of mild entertainments
and the prospect is that the Lenten season
will be even fuller of social gatherings than
usual. There will be quiet little breakfasts
and luncheons, mixed with the church-go-
ings and prayers, and the scanty meals of
the day will be made up by big dinners at
night. There will be 5 o'clock teas and
there will be ii big ball in the center of the
season. The theaters are always we'll pat
ronized during Lent and the thousand and
one societies which have been organized in
Washington will hold their little enter
tainments and the clubs will flourish in all
their glory.
Washington is peculiarly a city of classes.
There is nothing in the heavens above or in
the earth beneath or in the waters under the
earth that is not represented by a club at
Washington. These clubs are literary,
social, gastronomic, terpsichorean, athletic,
sewing and of every other imaginable char
acter. They are really clubs but they are
called classes, and they are a feature of
Washington society which you do not find
elsewhere.
Fair Ladies' Who Dance.
The dancing class organized a year since
am w uullHS bhS PlSoNAO oSdoOh nos
been holding iortnightly dances, is perhaps
the best entitled to prominence, although it
is in reality the one of the whole list which
resolves itself into nothingness during Lent.
The articles of incorporation having been
duly drawn MP, it was found at the first
dance given last season by the class that
several undesirable elements had somehow
crept in despite all efforts to make the
organization most tremendously exclusive
in its character. To eliminate these detrI-
mentals without being aggressiEely rude
was the problem which the swell members
propounded among themselves, finally
hitting upon a happy solution of the diff
Guilty.
The rule being that the class should meet
each week in turn at the house of a different
member, the proposition of several of the
detrimentals to be among the early enter
tainers was quickly accepted. When the
evenings arrived the unsuspecting hostesses
at the very last moment were over
whelmed with an avalanche of dainty notes,
in which the writers deplored their inability
to attend the meeting of the class on that
especial evening. By a preconcerted ar
rangement, the male members down on the
list of swells failed to put in appearance,
and the notifying consciousness that they
were being treated to
A Genuine Freeze-OuG
was gradually borne in upon the conscious
ness of the unfortunate female who had as
pired to identify herself with those who con-
sldered themselves the elite of society. On
one. occasion where an elaborate supper had
been prepared for 300 guests, there was
hardly a score present to partake Of the
lavish hospitality.
The chaperones selected were in the ma
jcrity of cases those who had ball rooms at
tached to their residences IN which they
could entertain the dancing class. Among
the number were Mrs. Senator Hearst, Mrs.
William A. Hammond. Mrs. John Nc
Lean, Mrs. Howard Ganson White, Mrs.
Dahlgren and Lady Pauncefote, while the
members included Miss Sheriff., the Misses
Pauncetote, the Misses Ernst, Miss Everett,
Miss Dahlgren, Miss Edia, Miss Bancroft,
Miss Wanamaker, the Misses Myer. Miss
May Williams, Miss Mitchell, Miss Cox,
Mrs. Richardson Glover, Mrs. Mckee and
Mrs. Russell Harrison. At the beginning
Of the present season it was decided after
much discussion to abandon the plan of
having the class entertained by the various
chaperones, and accordingly the National
Rifles Hail was engaged tor the alternate
Tuesdays throughout the season.
Bowling and Reading Glasses.
The Bowling Glass is another fashionable
organization of which the membership is
almost identical with the Dancing Glass.
The meetings are held once a week, Satur-
day afternoons having the preference at the
fine bowling alley attached to Heurich's
brewery. Tea is served on these occasions
and such OF the members as do not care to
take part in the game converse with friends
and deport themselves generally as they
would at an invited reception, the chaper-
ones present constituting an informal re-
ceiving party.
The Reading class first organized some
half-dozen years since. is in reality the
most exclusive of all the Lenten classes, in
asmuch as the membership has never been
allowed to extend beyond the dozen we'll
known society women VINO composed it at
the start. Among these were Mrs. n. S.
Lincoln, Mrs. Washington Mclean, Mrs.
Hazen, Mrs. John Rodgers, Mrs. Edward
McCauley, Mrs. Seth Ackley, Mrs. John
Crouper and Mrs. Lothrop Bradley. Meet
ing every Thursday during Lent, the morn
ing hours are spent in the reading aloud by
a member of one or more chapters of tine
latest book attracting public attention here
or abroad, after which Its relative literary
merits are discussed at length over a
luncheon fit Tor the most e~xacting gour-
mand. Why not-because it is Lent one
| need not go hungry, neither is it wise to
spoil digestion with ill-cooked food. There
is a sage old maxim as worthy OF acceptance
now as when first. uttered, that "In Lent it
is more wholesome 10 the soul to starve
ones sin and not her bin"
More Pretentious Class.
Another class of more ambitious literary
character was that organized last season bv
Mrs. Madeline Vinton Dahlgren, which
held fortnightly meetings Wednesday even
ings during Lent. On these occasions the
programme generally included a reading by
the hostess of her own work or extracts from
those of well-known authors, after which the
lion OF the evening was Introduced in the
person OF one of the popular writers o the
day, who favored the company with the re-
cital of an article especially prepared for
the occasion. The late historian, Bancroft,
was among the number selected or that pur-
pose, the stipulation. in each case being that
the person chosen for this honor should have
published at least one book.
The French Glass was another popular as
semblage of last season, and one of the few
which held its meetings in the evening. Az
may be imagined, it was largely composed
of the foreign element of Washington
society represented by the diplomatic
corps, and bership outside of that
august body was limited to such of
the Younger members of Washington society
as conversed f~iuently in the French language
as spoken in Paris. Miss Batcheller,
daughter of the present Minister to Portugal,
was a prominent member. Among the
most memorable entertainment given the
French class was that of Countess Sponneck,
wife OF the DANISH Minister.
The Spanish class held its meetings in the
morning and unlike the French class was
wholly lacking in the male element, though
Oacad nf no less n charming cot of