The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-03-14
IN SACKCLoTH AND ASHES.
THAT is HOW SOME WASHINGTON
WOMEN ARE SPENDING LENT.

WOMEN ARE SPENDING LENT.
The Presidents FamIIy-Wbo win
Compose II in WashingtOn-His
UncIes and Cousins and AuDts.
Some Facts About the Cabinet
FamIlies-The Houses They VIII
Occupy Together with Some Ac-
count of the Members Thereof
Other Matters of Interest.
Washington, March 12-Although So
ciety has entered upon it's forty days of
ostensible fasting and prayer, its sack
cloth is still made up in the latest mode
and the ashes of penitence are not pain
fully apparent OF course, the great func-
tions that characterized the winter are
no longer en- regle; but the newcomers
into the tip-top circle are being intro
duced by round Of elaborate luncheons,
musicales and other small affairs, three
or four deep per diem. Just now it is
the proper thing for the fashionable world
of the capital to attend the weekly con
certs given by the Marine band at their
barracks; and every Monday afternoon,
between the hours of and g. the drive
ways around the marine barracks are
crowded with carriages containing every
body as is anybody" in society.
Among the younger members of the
haut ct bon, clubs are the present rage,
to while away the short season before
Easter Sunday. Among the dozens of
clubs-formed on all sorts of pretexts,
from cooking to the study of Ibsen, or on
no preteXt at all except for small cliques
to get together and talk things over-the
most popular are the charity clubs. To
devote an hour or two a week to gold
thimbles and gossip and the making of
impossible garments for the poor, puts
one so into the spirit of the Lenten sea-
son, you know, and imparts a conscious
glow of duty done. Perhaps the most
useful of these clubs-of the Charity be-
gins-at-home" sort, in the saving of pater
families poclSetbook-is composed of
young ladies in the smart set, who are
learning to "cut and fit" under the direc-
ton of competeno modiste, for the
avowed object of making over their own
old gowns.
BY the way, did you know that it is
nowadays fashionable fad with society
ladies-not all of them of the Romish
faith, either-to retire from the world for
a week or two. at different times during
the year, or, in the language of the
church, to make a retreat?" There is
no special time for this practice, and it
is by no means general one but ii is
said to be greatly on the increase, espec-
tally in Boston and New York. Washing
ton has no great convent, like that OF
Sacred Heart in Boston, for example
but the Sisters of the Visitation, whose
abode is on Connecticut avenue, will, at
any time, receive limited number of
ladies, who are DESTROYS to go into retreat
for such mild modification of the flesh
as their fancy may dictate. A number of
the most shining lights of capital society,"
wives and daughters of distinguished men,
whose names are household words in the
land, have more than once been secluded
with the nuns. Naturally more women
are moved to the practice during Lent
than at any other time, at the close of the
social season, to recuperate for Joys to
come at the summer resorts; but a few
call halt In the gayest part of the win
ter, towards the end of January, for the
sake of starting the new year afresh
equipped with a set of iron-clad resolu-
tons for effectually resisting the flesh
and the devil in the guise of selfshness
and vanity. The nuns make their retreat
in summer. The idea that the gentle sis
tiers can get away from the world any
more than they always are, seems pathet-
ically amusing to outsiders; but even nuns
within clustered walls have their
little distractions, and retreats"
with them means absolute 81
lence. When the wording comes
10 the convent-the matter having been
previously arranged with the mother SUI
perior-she generally arrives in an es-
cutcheoned carriage with pomp of glitter
ing trappings and liveried coachman and
footman; but the fair penitente is clad in
her plainest black gown and shorn of all
fashionable gew-gaws. "A bolt is drawn
inside the portal, the great door swins
wide--then closes with a hollow sound, like
the falling Of clod on a coffin; my lady
climbs some oaken stairs to dim CORR
dor, passes behind an iron grating-an1 is
lost to the world for as long time as
she elects TO remain. But she Is a world
ling still, though reduced to the lowest
possible terms-as different from the nuns
as her black gown rustling'with silken
Innings and emitting a faint odor OF vio-
let satchet powder sewn in the hem, diff
fers from the dress of the order. But
when my lady comes out, after fort
night of comparative silence. I'm which
she has made the acquaintance of her own
soul, after many confessions and frequent
sessions of prayer, on her knees three
hours at stretch-she really has changed
very much for the better. Physically.
she is thoroughly rested: her face wears
a new expression, born OF tranquil medl-
tation-and simply as a beautiher. IL is
worth trying by the faded ones. She
receives a parting blessing, bestows some
aims for the order (often a large sum OF
money!, the great door swings open-then
closes behind her. and she is of the world
once more.
The question as TO who will preside in
the white house. its mistress being an in
valid. has been definitely set at rest. Mrs.
Mckinley has announced that she herself
will perform all the duties that have de-
volved upon other Presidents wives, UNI
less the unforeseen should happen. Her