The age-herald., 1898-08-23
WOMAN AND SOCIETY,".
 
Where SweIIdom Will Go Next Season
BY ANNIE KENDRIcK WALKER.

Where SweIIdom Will Go Next Season It will be the fashion next season for swelldom to spend a part of the season in the island of Porto Rico The climate. the scenery, the palm-laden coasts, will attract many Americans who are in search of rec reation. The customs of Porto Rico have been written of at great length. The lan- gorous beauty of the women and other characteristics of the Spanish settlement have been discussed very materially, with the general scheme of possession, but the following description from a correspondent will be interesting to Alabama belles. who may go over for the gay season:
 Going to church is the most joyous of all functions in the gay city of San Juan, the chief city of Porto Rico. Military mass is celebrated at o'clock in the morning, and if you are not there you are nobody; also you do not see all the prettiest of the most handsome women of the world. Ask any Porto Rican if this is not so.
 The chief military and civil officers of the city attend in Q body, with all the dignity and pomp that constitute Spanish honor. The military band heads the procession. playing martial airs. Children im- pressed and grown people delight in the dis play The whole city hears and is thrilled, lants who see them. The women are first. lants who see them The woman are first, however, and are arranged on their chairs in the cathedral before any men but the priests dare enter.
 There are no pews in the cathedral, and if you looked in a little before the time for the services you would see the floor bare from the chancel rail to the doorway. As the women arrive, however, one. two, three at a time each with her servant, bearing rug and a chair, and properly chaperoned by mamma or auntie, or some other mar ried woman, each also with her chair and rug. the great nave fills along the left There is kneeling and crossing, then prayer books open devouty and pretty women are absorbed in reverent contemplation or the lesson for the day-also of the doorway. They are facing toward what would De the aisle were there pews in the cathedral with A cold shoulder toward the readers oesk' This is not a slight on the reader; IL IS custom.
 At two minutes before o'clock the blare and rumble at the entrance announced the arrival of the official cortege. and the leaves of the prayer books quiver under the intensely contemplative gaze that IS upon them; they even reflect what IS gong on at the doorway.
 
 swells and the dandies of the town, in or der of precedence, and bedecked in all the insignia and decoration they have any license to. They are pretty as the ladies will be ten years later, which is saying a great deal for men. As they walk in with pompous solemnity they arrange them selve to the right and remain standing, fac ing the women Should there be an old beau among them he might avail himself of bench away back against the wall. The service is chiefly music and responses, and it gives each man chance to look squarely at each woman in the building and to guess whether or not he is progress ing in her favor.
 When the service is nearly over the men disappear; but if stranger were to search for them he would find them, each and every one. with possibly a few late addi- tions. drawn up just without the cathedral. each ready to escort the beauty of his choice to her home-of course, in the com- pany of mamma or some other proper chaperon.
 The chaperon is always there. Always" should be spelled with capital. for there is no exception. Affanced lovers basking in the light of each others eyes, have chaperon always about them She knows her business. She was young once herself, and she remembers it.
 There is a second mass at 10:30 with sermon long enough to be edifying, and probably 1t is; but nobody is anybody eyer heard one, and their merits may be
  It is at breakfast or performing other du- ties In the evening, however, there is musical service. The pretty women and the bespangqed men are recovered some what from the fatigues of the day and meet once more.
 The theater and opera are excellent, not only on the great feast days. but all through the season. The best Spanish artists perform, and many from France, too.
 If you would be popular among the pretty women of San Juan remember all their birthdays. One traveller advised his friends if they were going to Porto Rico. to pur- chase calendar on the day of arrival to hang 1t at the head of the bed, mark on it the dates as fast as they could be ascer- tained, and look at it every morning before arising. to see what cards, verses, sweet meats or other presents might be due The belles of the old walled city are keenly sensitive. and can not forgive the man who forgets to send them a token on the chief day of their year. On the anniver- sary of her birth she receives as proudly as, an empress from early in the morning until late in the evening. Tn former days Vt twas the custom to kill chanticleer in honor of the day.
 With their pale, clear skins dark hair and eyes, their arched eyebrows, 1.-the and graceful figures, eXouisite garments viva cious manners and their wit these women of Porto Rico are beyond comparison Though they take only little exercise unless 1t be to dance-they have strong con- stitutions and are seldom i'll.
 The Porto Rfcan belle is blithe and gay always. A dainty and persistent dancer she dances after she is married-after she is a grandmother. even: so that one may see the daughters of three generations on the same floor together; nor will close ob- servation discover which trips most lightly. KVt.- ~l,A x,Ia rrff fhAr <rN1f se nor rides a wheel, the fair daughter of the island is joyous from the day her first ap- pearance added to the households happi-