Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1897-11-26
THIEVES IN SOCIETY.
sToRlEs<ToEp BY NoNBeLIENERs IN
KliEPTOMANiA

Eashi0nablo Unfair Ex.
changes Which MayBe>called Robbery.
Old\Things For New.
"Oh,,give it any name you like-bor-
rowing other peoples belongings and
failing ever to return \them, mistaken
identity.as to special possessions or KEEP
tomania, but I call it, thieving, and
something>ought to be dome about it"
This is what,the blond woman in the
very smart bonnet said to her nearest
neighbor in blue, whereupon every other
woman near the tea table, cut short her
conversations and held hertcup in midair
to hear what,the discussion would bring
forth.
"That do, +" went9on the blond en-
phatically, land I've been stolen from
repeatedly. No. my dear, I won't take
a word of it back, and i am not.speak.
ing hastily. In every instance it'was a
plain case of theft, and I've not up to
date recovered a single DC longing. Why,
Of course if it had been grimy fingered
sneak thief, or too enter prising house.
maid, most naturally W ould have gone
to the police and detectives for protec-
ton and assistance, but il is not quite
so easy to have an individual who wears
the best French gloves, Whose bomets
come from an expensive importer and
who sometimes asks you ITO share her
opera box, receive at her teas or take
lift home in her brougham, .armsted and
searched on suspicion.
"Well, neverr' remarkedithe wom-
an in blue.
"Oh, that's just because :you are
dear, unsophisticated little creature,
and out in your western town they don't
do such things. The temptations are not
go great, but can assure you, that here
in our big cities, at regular intervals,
polite kleptomania is simply rampant
and hardly q 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 GREATNESS to tell
Of some personalgrievance on this score,
/ WuVh viz lllst SpSAihCi cAohC III u$sulu.
| "You see," she elaborated, Eve used
| to think it might have been the servants
fault, or an honest error, when we found
our possessions exchanged for others
less valuable or simply disappearing, un.
til two or three times the offenders were
caught right in the act, and then came
the awfully dismal consciousness that
L I>o
my first experience with avery
costly lace fan carried to q dinner.
held on to it most affectionately through
out the evening, until some half dozen
of rs went up to the hostess bedroom
for our wraps. There I laid.it, with my
vinaigrette and fan, on the dressing ia
bic, and when 1 turned to get them
again the fan was gone. protested, the
maid searched, but nothing came of it,
and broken heartedly I wentdown, be-
wailing my loss'to sympatlrizing fem
mime companion. We went out to our
respective carriages together, but as, the
butler opened the hall door a puff of
wind blew her long cloak aside, and
there I saw, snug in its pocket, my pre-.
cious fan. Well, the next day I wrote
her very frankly, asking for Its return,
suggesting, Of course, she had taken it
by mistake, and home it.came. But we
have never spoken since.
"That taught me to look for higher
offenders than maids in dressing rooms,
who are usually accused Of making way
with all wraps, umbrellas, overshoes
and what not that may be missing"
| "Ah, that is not my'trouble, " chimed
in a debutante across the tea table. 1.-THE
favorite plan is now to exchange bad
for good things. I am growing almost
philosophical over the deplorable shah.
biness Of my wardrobe from this con-
slant swapping. Last week, ON coming
mp late to the dressing room from q
dance, I found in place of my brand
new green suede carriage overshoes two
overlarge, 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, /
fell On the tired maid, who wept and
! denied, but looked as If she could tell a
,o&ls.
h "Only to make test case of it rolled
my new French galoches in my mackin-
tosh, laid my card ON top and put them
in a safe corner Of the dressing room of
house where I went to luncheon the
other day. But it was of no avail. The
galoches had been metamorphosed into
pair of muddy rubbers with holes in
them when went back, and didn't
grumbie, 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 a week before,
three muffs got away somehow without
their rightful owners, and the possessor
of a $500 sable hand warmer found a
scrubby old astrakhan one in its place.
THAT is where the fashionable klep.
tomaniacs salve their consciences by an
exchange, you see, for rarely is anything
taken that some inferior article is not
put in its place, and very rarely are
they caught with them. Their position
u