The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1895-01-16
Some Frank Criticisms.
From IIarper's BazsT.


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
time is after six O'Clock, is now, under
this new social law, Obliged TO spend
his evenings at his club or at the thea
ire. 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 fashion has been adopted for
various reasons, chiefly because, ~ l
have often said, we copy our styles from
our foreign neighbOrs. The English
man never pays an evening visit; his
hour for calling on his friends is five
o'clock, when he drops in for cup of
tea. This rule of course applies to the
Englishman of leisure, the great mid
die class having its own customs, which
we 90 not choose to copy. We who
are mostly worSing-peOple prefer to
have as our models the idIers and
leaders in the social world, and 50 il
follows that the great majority Of our
young men, who are tOiling at their
counting-hoIises or in their offices, rare
ly see young women except at some
formal gathering. The young woman
themselves do not have nearly 50 good
a time a. they used 10 have they
'cOme out" at teas which no one en-
joys, they 90 to receptions and dinners
and dances and the opera, and they
never have quiet evening at home
with their friends. In fact, they have
little opportunity to make friends,
everything is 50 formal and stiff. Ii Is
too bad, but it must be the inevitable
result of life in a big city. When We
are in trouble or friends find u out,
but when everything is prosperous with
Us we are left alone 70 enjoy ourselves
in our own way. Sociability a. it was
formerly known exists no longer, and
we must content ourselves that this
is 50
The fallacy holds among a certain
class of persons that women in society
have nothing to do, and that their time
is spent idly i'm amusing themselves.
This is by no means fact. 80 called |
j. hard work, and there are /
no buster women than those whose 1
occupation consists in attending to the I
numerous details OF social life. First /.
there is the house 10 manage. III the /
household is small and the means I
moderate, the hOusekeeper must devote /
al least an hour or two each day 70 the /
proper running OF the establishment !
She goes 70 her kitchen every morn /
ing after breakfast, interviews her cook, /
looks over the stores, gianccs carefully I
into The refrigerator, and, III fact, in
spects that entire floor. This done, and /
the orders given explicitly for the day, /
It Is not necessary for her to 50 to the /
kitchen again. If She does her own
marketing 1t Is better to do it in the
morning.
Then there are notes which must be 4
written. Il is marvellous how many I
there are on ones dcSk which require
an immediate answer. Bills To look
over and to file away, and account
books to write up. Then there is shop
ping to be done, and possibly sewing,
and 80 the morning hours slip hy.
Almost every woman has her days /
filed out, every day bringing its APP /
pointed dEty oT engagements. There /
are the various CLASSES which gather /
in the mornings, the meetings Of COM /
mittces of hospitals or what nos, the /
sewing classes, the Industrial schools. |
One woman Of my Acquaintance had /
seven classes a week in her own house. !
\ sudden mania has seized upon wo- /
men to improve their minds, and this /
sort of study appeals to those who |
really have not the time to devote 10 /
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 children |
one makes it 4 point to get home early |
enough to have an hour with them be- /
fore they have .heir tea. Nothing l. !
done on the spIr OF the moment; in !
vitatiOns are sent out several weeks in /
advance o; the entertainment. however |
small it may be, and ones time is not /
ones own from the hour one returns TO !
town until the hour one closes ones |
house for the summer.