The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-03-30
THIEVES IN SOCIETY.
sToRlsS TOLD BY NoN6ELlEvERs M
KLEPTOMsNlA.

changes which May he Called Robbery.
old Things For New.
"Oh, give it any name you like-bor-
rowing other peoples belongings and
/ failing ever 20 return them, mistaken
/ identity as 70 special possessions or KEEP
tomania, but / call it thieying, and
something ought to be done about it, "
This is what the blond woman in the
very smart bonnet said 10 her nearest
neighbCr In blue, whCrcupCn every ether
woman mean the tea table cut short ber
conversation and held Ter cupin midair
% hear what the discussion wCuld bring
forth
THAT dc, went on the blend en-
rhatiC1llv, "aud I've been stolen fIcm
repeatedly No. my dear, / won't take
a word of it back, and / ann not speak
ING hastily in every instance il was n
plain case Of theft, and I've not up to
date recovered q single belonging Why,
Of course If it bad been grimy fingered
sneak thief or a tOO CntCIprislng house
maid. / most naturally would have gone
10 the police and detectives fer plotec-
tion and assistance. hat it is not quite
so easy 90 have an individual who wears
The best French gloves, whose bonuets
come from au expensive importer and
who sometimes asks you TO share her
opera hex, receive at her teas or take a
hit home in hCr lICugham, arrested and
searched on suspicion -
'Well IUoyeT" remarked the wom-
an In blue.
Oh, that's just because you are a
dear, uusophisticated little creature,
and out In your western town they don't
do such things. The temptations are not
so great, bat / can assure you that here
in our big cities, at regular intervals
polite klcptCmania Is simply rampant
and hardly a big function breaks up
that half the women don't come away
quite savage over the loss Of some pretty
and especially priced belonging. Evil
IDENTIFY the blond was right, for all the
other women nodded assent, and the
hostess was apparently Lreathless to tell
Of some personal grievance on this score,
when the first speaker broke in again:
You see, she elaborated, I'VE used
10 think il might have becn the servants
fault, or an honest error, when we found
cur possessions exchanged for others
less valuable or simply Disappearing, un-
I'll two or three times the offenders were
caught right in the act, aud then came
the awfully dismal consciousness that
really no one could be trusted
Ny first experience was with o very
costly lace fan I carried to dinner. l
held on to II most atIcctionately through
out the evening, until some half dozen
Of Us went UP 70 the hostess bedroom
for cur wraps. There l laid it, with my
vinaigrctte and fan, on the dressing Ia
bic, and WHOM / TUNED 10 get them
again the IAN was gone protested, the
maid searched, bat nothing came Of it,
and broken LeaItodly / went down, he
wailing my loss to sympathizing fem
iniuc companion We went ont TO cur
respective carriages together, but as the
lutIlr cIorod the hail door q puff Of
wind blew Ecr long cloak aside and
there / saw, snug in its pocket, my pre-.
clous fan. Wei, the next day / wrote
hcr very frankly, asking for its return,
suggesting, Ci course, she had taken il
hy mistake, and home it came But we
have never spoken since.
That taught me to look for higher
oIcudcrs than maids in dressing rooms,
who ere usually accused Of making way
with al wraps, umbrellas, oyershoes
and what not tEat may be missing.
All, that is not my trouble, " chimed
IN debutante across the tea table 1.-THE
iayorite plan is now TO exchange bad
for good things. l am growing almost
philosophical over the deplorable shah
bincss Of my wardrobe from this con-
slant swapping. Last week, on coming
up late TO the dressing room from a
dance, | found in place Of my brand
new green suede carriage overshoes two
oveIlarge, badly worn ones of rusty
black velvet and my lace head scarf ex-
changed for frayed one of soiled white
chiffon. Naturally cross and sleepy, l
fell on the tired maid, who wept and
denied, but looked as if she could tell
tale.
"Only to make a test case of it rolled
my new French galoches in my mackin-
tosh, laid my card OH top and put them
i'll a safe corner Of the dressing room of
a house where l went to luncheon the
other day. But it was of no avail. The
galoches had been metamorphosed into
a pair of muddy rubbers with holes in
them when l went back, and didn't
grulnble, since my pretty umbrella was
left. The work Of the spoiler goes on in
the cloakrooms when big wedding re-
ceptions, teas, musicales and private
balls are in progress
AT one of the big dances Of the sea
son the hostess simply ordered her maid
to issue checks for every woman's wrap,
and, charming to relate, not so much as
a hairpin was lost, for at her daughters
wedding reception, only week before,
three muffs got away somehow without
their rightful owners, and the possessor
Of $500 sable hand warmer found a
scrubby old astrakhan one in its place.
THAT is where the fashionable KEEP
tomaniacs salve their consciences by an
exchange, you see, for rarely is anything
taken that some inferior article il not