The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.) 1894-1904, 1895-04-06

Among the various customs which
were in vogue twenty years ago, that
of making evening calls has entirely
disappeared. The young man who is
in business, and whose only leisure
hour is after six o'clock, is now, I'M
der this new social law, obliged to
spend his evenings at his club or at
the theater. If his acquaintance is
limited and his means small, he must
have a dull time indeed. The pleasant
home life to which he was formerly
admitted it is no longer his privilege
to share. This new faEhiOn has been
adopted for various reasons, chiefly
because, as I have often said, we copy
our styles from our foreign neighbors.
The Englishman never pays an even
ing visit; his hour for calling on his
friends is five o'clock, when he drops
in for a cup Of tea. This rule of
course applies to the Englishman Of lei
sure, the great middle class having its
w customs, which we do not choose
to copy. We who are mostly working
people prefer to have as our models
the idlers and leaders in the social
world, and SO it follows that the great
majority Of young men who are toll
ing at their counting houses or In their
offices, rarely see young women ex-
cept at some formal gathering. The
young women themselves do not have
nearly SO good a time as they used to
have; they "come OUT at teas which
no n enjoys, they go to receptions
and dinners and dances and the opera
and they never have a quiet evening
at home with his friends. In fact,
they have little opportunity to make
friends, everything is so formal and
stiff. 1t is too bad, it must be the in
evitable result Of life in a big city.
When we are in trouble our friends
find us out, but when evrything is
prosperous with us we are left alone
to enjoy ourselves in Our wv way.
Sociability as it was formerly known
exists no longer, and we must content
ourselves that it is so.
The fallacy holds among a certain
class of persons that women in so
ciety have nothing to do, and that
their time is spent idly amusing them
selves. This is by nc means a fact. So
called amusement is hard work, and
there are no buster women than those
whose occupation consists in attending
to the numerous details Of social life.
First there is a house to manage. If
the household is small and the means
moderate, the housekeeper must de-
vote at least an hour or two each day
to the proper running of the establish
ment. She goes to her kitchen every
morning after breakfast, interviews
her cook, looks over the stores, glances
carefully into the refrigerator, and, in
fact, inspects that entire floor. This
done, and the orders given explicitly
for the day, it is not necessary for her
to go to the kitchen again. If she does
her own marketing it is better to do it
in the morning.
Then there are the notes which
must be written. 1t Is marvellous how
many there are on one. tesk which re-
quire an immediate answer Bills to
look over and to file away, and &C
count-books to write up. Then there
Is shopping to be done, and possibly
sewing, and SO the morning hours slip
by. Almost every woman has her days
filled out, every day bringing it's APP
pointed duty or engagements. There
are the various classes which gather
in the mornings, the meetings of COM
mittees of hospitals or what not, the
sewing classes, the Industrial schools.
One woman of my acquaintance had
seven classes a week in her own house
A sudd, ! mania has seized upon wom-
en- to improve their minds, and this
sort of study appeals to those who
really have not the time to devote to
serious work. Lunch parties, followed
by teas and calls, fill up the afternoon,
and one reaches home just in time to
dress for dinner, or If one has child
rem one makes it a point to get hc.ne
early enough to have an hour with
them before they have their tea. Moth
ing is done on the spur Of the moment;
invitations are sent out several weeks
in advance of the entertainment, how
ever small 1t may be, and ones time
is not ones own from the hour one re-
turns to town until the hour one closes
ones house for the summer.-uarper's
Bazaar.