The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-01-18

fact that they are old does not assure
them social honors We have not a
strictly moneyed aristocracy either, be-
cause conditions make the poor as we'll
as tina rich social quantity. And even
official society is uncertain, because
people may be i'll official life in Wash
ingtcn and still be beyond the social
pale. There is just curious and acct
dental mixture here of rich and poor,
vulgar and refined, fnew" people and
''old, officeholders and professional or
business men. And all this makes up
Washington society" as you read
about it in the Washington papers.
I have said that some people in Off
cial life are not of society. That is a
bitter lesson which women who are new
to Washington learn when they spend
their first winter here. They go to the
public receptions at the White House.
You or 1 or any one can do that. They
go to the reception given by the pesi-
dent 20 congress, function which very
few of the fashionable people of Wash
ington attend. They call on the wives
of the cabinet mem bers, and Hveried
footman returns the call by leaving
cards at their doors. That is the limit
of the congressman s wife in Washing
ton, unless she has some social qualif-
cations beyond the mere fact of being
in official life.
What really count chiefly in the So
cial world here are cleverness and adapt
ability. Of course there are coarse
grained, laundering millionaires in
Washington as there are in New York
society-nen and women who possess
not single social qualification except
the ability to entertain finely.
But there are others, people without
wealth or family, and even without Off
cial position of any kind, who make
their way in society by dint of clever
ness and perseverance. I heard of case
in illustration only a few days ago.
Up Like a Rocket.
A woman of veal we'll known So
cially, had in her employment a nurse
whom she knew as Nellie. Perhaps, in
the verbs of the old song, ''Nellie was
lady," but she was not recognized as
one in Washington society. Nellie's
employer decided to break up house
keeping and go abroad. Her house fur
nishings were to be sold at auction.
Nellie asked permission to use these
furnishings to equip boarding house.
Her mistress consented, and soon after
Nellie-or Mrs. Portfolio as she was
known thereafter-opened a boarding
house, and having such fine furnishings
she was able to command fashionable
trade. Hor service, too, was good and
her business presently increased SO that
she had to enlarge her establishment.
1t increased still more as years went by.
and Mrs. Portfolio, who now represent
Cd tc r0f of
Ger, grew we'll to do The fact that no
Captain Portfolio could have been found
in the old navy registers was something
no one took the trouble 20 trace.
A few days ago-less than ten years
after the departure of Nellie's employer
"a lady who had been intimate with
her was attending an afternoon recep-
ton at fashionable house. A woman
of fine appearance and elegant dress
was presented to her as ems. Portfolio.
the widow of Captain Portfolio of the
navy" The widow gave her the con-
ventional, automatic handshake and
passed on, smiling.
The other woman glanced after her
and then racked her brains to identify
the face. She had good memory, and
it was not long before she knew Mrs.
Portfolio as Nellie, the ex-nursemaid.
On inquiry she learned that Mrs. Port
hole was very popular and was received
at all the most fashionable houses in
Washington. Few people could have
told anything Of her past. This woman
did not tell of it, because she thought
Nellie had earned her success.
1t took only ten years for Nellie to
pass through the social incubator. That
is an unusually brief period Usual
" it is the second or third generation