New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-10-03
SOME WAYS OF THE WORLD
TOO MUCH EXTRAVAGANT EXPENDl-
TURE AT COUNTRY RESIDENCES.
DRESSING FOR DINNER ~ ADIRONDACK CAMPS
Is on TIE VERGE OF ABsURDiTY-PollTE-
NESS IN SMALL. THINGS Is WORTH
STRIVING FOR

STRIVING FOK.
| 10 10 fifteen or twenty years ago IL was GUS
tomary for many Of the best people TO pass theii
| summer outings in primitive simplicity Half a
dozen families OF the samC social set would MI ur
the farmhouscs OF boarding houses. Of some small
| country village. the seashorc. or IN the noun
| tains and would give themselves up to life OF
absolute unconventionaliiy and freedom.
| Stately Murray lIll danes and financial mag
| naics would leave their luxurious homes with n
sense OF relief for this lapse into state %, semi
| barbarsm; while the young people ran riot In un-
| trammelled enjoyment passing their days In san
Ing. Grabbing. mountain climbing. etc. and par;ak-
| ing with keen relish OF the simple fare 81 the
boarding houses. while their elders resigned them
selves with really wonderful equanimity. consider
ing that IT was not In the least obligatory. to a
regime OF midday dinners. where tough. newly
killed chickens curious cuts OF beef and mutton
We're served up with brutaly plentiful steaninE
vegetables and tho inevitable pie as a finish They
had scanty suppers. that opicures and dyspopics
alike might well rebel against-hot saera,us bis
cults. .narmaladc cold. home-cured. strngy ham.
etc.
All this was submitted to a matter OF
course. year after year. regular part Of III"
summer time. the head OF the family generally de-
posting his dear ut distance 80 far from
town that he himself did have 10 enjoy this
existence except for a couple OF days d week. find
ing at other times his cool. large town house and
comfortable club dinners refuge from the his-
glcdy- piggledy life that his soul abhorred.
Cottage life, however. has almost entirely
Superseded boarding house life among the better
classes and while much Is lost by the increased
obligations and expenditures that such "A change
entails. Is undoubtedly gained Tao great
trouble seems 10 he that the change Is carried a
great deal too far To substitute really comfort
able methods for the discomforts Of the old board
Ing house system is only civilized and TO be com
mended but to bring into these comparatively
small wooden villas the and style OF living
OF English country house places. or 70 stfit In on
n round OF entertaining on TIE SAFE lines 80 In
town-long course luncheons. with hostess and
guests deliberately gowned and late dinner parties,
when the same people who have been together more
or less all day, meet grande tenue-ls mdnifesty
absurd.
Just now a cry Of protest comes from the Adj!
rondacks that stronghold OF untrammelled. out-oi-
door life the simplest lines, 50 dear to the
hearts of many Of Its sumner inhabitants. ny
is t? says "A recently returned visitor that people
import manner and occupation into the Wilderness
instead Of enjoying keeping UP the original
traditions of the place? Why should the inhabtans
and knock about golf balls instead OF going on
the excursions into the woods. padding on the
lakes and making the carries, which were once
such a delightful feature OF that life? why brins
The guides up there sit and wait in vain for Gus
toners while the smart people from the camps
drive "a comparatively uninterestlng 10
cality the sake OF meeting together and playing
q fashionable game which Is quite unsuted TO the
character of the place.
another innovation which IN positively painful
IS offered by the impertinent putting little private
launches which invade the stiffness of the lakes
took up with me. as | have always done on my
visits, strictly outing frocks. never dreaming that