The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-01-11
WHO worked HER WAY IN SPITE
OF ALL PREJU-
DdCE.S
FIRST REQUISITES FOR A CAREER
Less Formally In 0fnciaI Circles
Today Than In Washington's
Time.

ure to calling on each other, dancing,
drinking tea, eating waters and doing
all the little things which the society
people" of Washington have done sea-
son after season for many years. Pleas
ure-seekers 1 would better call them
perhaps, because l think most of them
never find the joy they expect in the
round of social formalities 1t is such
a mockery, this social season in Wash
ington.
In the first place, our fashionable So
ciety is founded in a theory which
comes to us from the people of other
nations, and we never live up to it.
Our society-using the word in it's re-
stricted sense-is not guarded by .lered-
itary lines. We have few "old fami-
lies" and the fact that they are old
does not assure them social honors.
We have not strictly moneyed aris-
tocracy either, because conditions
make the poor as well as the rich
social quantity. And even official So
ciety Is uncertain, because people may
be in official life In Washington and
still be beyond the social pale. There
is just curious and accidental mix
ture here of rich and poor, vulgar and
holders and professional or business
men. And all this makes up Wash
ington society as you read about it
in the columns of the Washington pa
pers. a.
I have said that some people In off,
ctal 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 president to congress, a function
which very few Of the fashionable
people Of Washington attend. They
call on the wives of the cabinet mem
bers, and a liveried footman returns
the call by leaving cards at their DOORS
That Is the limit of the congressman's
wife in Washington, unless she has
some social qualifications beyond the
mere fact of being in official life.
PRIMITIVE NOTIONS.
What really count chiefly in the So
cial world here are cleverness and
adaptability. Of course there are
coarse grained, laundering millionaires
in Washington as there are in New
York society-men and women who
possess not a single social qualification
except the ability to entertain finely
And there are people who are stupid
or bad or in some other way uninterest-
ing or offensive, who demand and re-
ceive recognition merely because their
grandfathers and great grapdfathers
were respectable people in Washington
or in Maryland or in Virginia. Wash
ington is really in Maryland and Vir-
glnia, for they furnished the land on
which the District of Columbia was
laid out.
But there are others, people without
wealth or family, and even without
official position Of any kind, who make
their way in society by dint of clever
ness and perseverance. / heard Of a
case in Illustration only a few days
ago.
UP LIKE A ROCKET.
A woman of wealth, welT known So
oially, had in her employment a nurse
whom she knew as Nellie. Perhaps,
in the words of the old song. Nellie
was lady,, but she was not recognize
ed as one In Washington society.
Nellie's employer decided to break up
housekeeping and go abroad Her
house furnishings were to be sold at
auction Nellie asked permission to
ing house. Her mistress consented, and
soon afterward departed, never to re-
turn. eel
Nellie-or Mrs. Portfolio as she was
known thereafter-opened a boarding
house, and having such fine furnish
lngs she was able to command fash
1onable trade. Her service too. was
good and her business presently in
creased SO that she had to enlarge her
establishment. 1t increased still more
as years went by and Mrs. Portfolio.
VINO now represented herself as the
WIDOW Of naval officer, grew well to
DO. The fact that no Capt Portfolio
could have been found in the old navy
registers was sOmthing no one took the
trouble to trace.
A few days ago-less than ten years
after the departure of Nellie's employ
era lady who had been intimate with
her was attending an afternoon recep-
ton at a fashionable house. A woman
of fine appearance and elegant dress
was presented to her as Mrs. Port
hole, the widow of Capt Portfolio, Of
the navy" The widow gave her the
conventional automatic handshake
and passed on, smiling.
The other woman glanced after her
and then racked her brains to identify
the race. She had 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.
Usually 1t is the second or third gen
GRAFTON which puts awhy the yard
stick OF the awl or the pint measure;
for trade, you know; is Regarded with
horror in Washington society. Fam
lily counts for. very little If a man Is a
cutter of cloth or vendor Of tea and
coffee. There is an old family here
which furnishes striking illustration
of the nice distinctions society makes
This family is from Virginia and it is
one of those first families" which are
the peculiar property of the Old Do
minion. OF two sons in the family
one adopted the profession Of medicine
the other for some reason choose to
become grocer. They were equally
refined and attractive, personally
Probably the second brother had an
aptitude for trade and would have
been a miserable failureI in anything
else. But if he had any social am
bition he might better have taken
government clerkship or lived on what
he could borrow from his friends.
Neither Of these occupations is consid-
cred a social barrier
GROCER AND DOCTOR
DR.. Carter-that is not his name,
however-fourished in society, and be-
cause he was SO popular fashionable
and wealthy people became his patients
and he gained very comfortable in
come. Grocer Carter meantime sold
conee and sugar and lard and enjoyed