The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-12-01

New York Nov. 3D. am going TO be
a. etiquetter, so TO say. 1 don't think
that word appears in the dictionary, but
I'm these days when we are all free and
equal. either in the United States Senate
or on a Broadway cable car. the coin
ing Of a word is a small privilege. My
reason for adopting this profession, for
the time being, is, as an editor would say,
in answer to many inquiries. l do think
most emphatically that it is wise for
those who are poor, but not vulgar, those
who have high minds and thin purses,
10 have a day at home" For then the
hostess is certain to have all things in
order. to assume a pretty frOck and with
Il her best manners and be prepared to
greet the lady who calls. Some of the
ladies who call are beautifully system
attic I may seem TO jeer at them, but
do not-I envy them. 1t is a beautiful
thing to be able to keep a book that has
on one side the calls you have paid. and on
the other the calls that are due you from
other lady callers, for it proves that
YOU have a pure heart and are without
malice, for you couldn't possibly like
all these people. However, when you are
on etiquette you have no dislikes.
1 do not approve of giving a coming
out party, in what is known, commonly,
as a long fiat; that is one of those which
has a straight, long passageway, and
many doors on one side of it. Among the
five hundred people invited to the COM
ing-out party, some will be certain to
90 into the wrong rooms, which viii
aggravate their hostess, mortify them,
and. if many diamonds are laying around
loose. prove a great temptation to pro-
fessiOnal lady caller. My parent says
that people living in long flats do not
have many diamonds but she is not we'll
ND in the ways of this world. I have
seen a girl, who couldn't pay her land
lady IS a week, wear three marquise
rings large headlights in her ears, a
diamond brooch, a diamond locket, one
of that debased kind known as the Trilby,
and two diamond bracelets. She said
something about her gentleman friend,
but that is another story. gentleman
friend and an etiquetter do not harmon
ize.
Really, though. it is a good thing if you
happen to have many friends, and do not
keep an extensive establishment to select
special afternoon to see all your women
friends, and give them little of the cup
that cheers. Speaking about the cup that
cheers, L would like to say that very often
it nearly poisons. But that is when the
hostess has invited young girl to pre-
side over the urn. She is usually stuck on
her frock, and determined to have as lit
tie as possible, so she dumps about a
pound of tea in the teapot, starts the ket-
tie and pours on water until those poor
tea leaves lose all flavor, and the last call
er gets cup of tepid water. Now every
body knows the effect of tepid water. Hot
water or cold water is possible, but tepid
water reduces the last caller to such a sit
uation that, after the call, she stands on
the edge of the sidewalk while kindly
policeman holds her, and she throws up
her belief in third term. During this cpl
sode small boys stand around and Jeer,
and an elderly woman with white ribbon
en- har. hfrff 11,r.1n tn loud I7rfn
voice, What can we expect of the poor
men when the women drink?
This stale, stewed tea is a disgrace. No
body offers stale beer, or cold vegetables,
to her friends, but these long-standing
drugs are counted as proper, and the lady
who is receiving thanks the girls who
stew the tea for being so sweet and in
dustrious. Another way of making tea,
favored by young ladies who like to fiirt,
and who think nothing of the stomachs
of the lady callers is to put the tea in the
copper kettle, keep adding fresh leaves,
and letting it boil all the afternoon.
Strong? 1t would net only make your
hair curl, but it would raise the top of
your head. Still, the dear girls are capa-
bic of doing anything when it comes to
choosing between work or play. 1t was
ladies' luncheon that the other letter
was about In giving a luncheon to wO-
men alone, the dishes are usually fancy
and UNBEATABLE. What else can be expect
ed? When a woman has to put all her
money in favors and decorations, there
is so little left for food that what in Eng
land are called hashes and in France en-
trees are the only things possible. The
charm of the ladies luncheon is. that as
one only plays with the dishes offered,
there is much time for talk, and lovely
woman can accept the compliments about
that word for it isn't nice-l mean lovely
woman can accept teh compliments about
her frock, and shrug her shoulders, and
say it is a little thing that was made for
her in Paris, and only cost two hundred
dollars. This gives the woman next to
her a chance to pinch the leg of the wo-
man next her and whisper, 1T was made
right here in New York, and she was
cheated if it cost over fifty"
Then the unmarried women are sweet
and humble and tell of the men who pro-
posed to them in the years gone by, and
whose wives are now present. They look
at Mrs. Jones and say, Il know, Sweet
heart, you won't mind but, of course,
Charlie hadn't met you then and was
his first love" But Mrs. Jones does
minds and later on Mrs. Jones has an
unpleasant quarter of an hour. Then,
with the coffee there usually appears two
or three of the cheap compounds sold at
the large shops, where you can get a dia-
mond brooch or a scrubbing brush, a
t North froek or a rat trap and called by
the saleswoman liquors, French lik-
kers, she explains. The hostess has told
her husband how much cheaper she can
get them here than at the wine shop, and
after he has tasted them he wonders that
they are not given away with the guess
ing contests in the Sunday papers. How
ever, the women drink them, and the first
woman to depart is the one who suffers.
Her hostess says, Il don't want to seem
lnhospitable-I like all my friends to have
the best that 1 have and as much as they
care for, but did you notice how many
glasses of liqueur dear Ethel took?'' And
everybody signs and groans, and one wo-
man closes her eyes in a lackadaisical
sort of manner and says, Il will not dis
cuss 1t, but, dear child, 1 will say a
prayer for her" And then everybody signs
softly again and, after the lady who is
so generous with her prayers departs, the
girl who sat next to her makes a face and
says, "Old hypocrite! She'd a good sight
better be praying for that son of hers
and let Ethel alone.''
BY this time everybody had verged
around to Ethels side and had their
glasses filled. and the hostess plaintively
asks; Does anybody suppose 1 would say
a word about one of my guests2'' And
her most intimate friend answers: No,
Clar1ce; you are honorable" Then for a
lew minutes everybody talks about Cla-
noes honor, and she is rosy red with de-
Hght and indigestion, and inquiries; Are
you asked to the Browns dinner dancer"
Everybody is except one girl. and she re-
marks, never mentioning the fact that
she hasn't gotten a card: well, of course.
you can all go if you like to, but mamma
OBJECTS TO seeing my name among the
people present, for we know how Mr.
brown made his money! Then she saws