The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1898-01-01
NEW Y0RkS:, 400
I'm HOT WATER
Discussions in the Ranks of
Society's Upper Tendon.
Trouble All Arose About Bla existing
Some of the Elect for Ger
tain Balls.

[ .
and III. human being can tell what the euI
may he.
The present is troube-deep, dark, pOr-
teutcUs toube-and it began over the
three large dances organized by Mrs. Ogden
Mills. Mrs. HenryT. SIoane, Mrs. John Jd' 1b
Astor and Mrs. Frank PendletOn.
The dances We're planned To be very
fin, and gorgeous affairs. They were TO
take place ia the Metropolitan Ciub, which
has Il suite OF rooms, including ballrUoiii,
foi tire use Of wives aud daughters Of NELL
Der; Of the club.
Originally there were ten pdtru1essSs,
repre- scntatives OF the 400, or what is leit
% It, When these Were selected il was
declared that Che number could not be less
Nov there are but four patronesses and per
/ haps W he, n the battle Is over, and the smoke
clears away, there win not be even four.
Tn. battle isn't over yet. 1t is still rag
| ing with fury. The mutual admiration
/ branch OF the extra exclusives holds ihe
. fort Tut every thing may 80 IL smash at
any mil ute.
As H. was Planted In the beginning the
/ twenty were to run things, but each was
privileged TO ask three other ladies TO be
I come patroneSSes aud TO issue the invita-
tions. The Lame OF each lady invited to
| become 2 patTopesS had 10 be submitted 10
| thu. ten who were to pass upon her eligi
! bility: for tbs 81 dances We're tn toe hight
, exclusive.
InasmlKh as the dances were To take
I place H. a club, 1t was deemed wise ~
conform to the true club spirit. The black
| ball was introduced, and only one was
( necessary 10 CondeJlu.
! mong the ten selected We're Mrs. J..
/ Pierpunt Morgan Mrs. Watts sherman,
Mrs. l. Townsend Burden, Mrs. Harry
Payne Whitney, and Mrs. EIbridge I.
Gerry OF course. 1t H. impossible 70 say
positively who did the blackballing, he
cause she isn't talking about il. But
there are fenily complications which
/ make it easf Ia surmlse.
IL is said that Mrs ]. Abercrombir
jr. was one Of those bIacklisted. Mrs. /.
/ Townsend Burden and Mrs J. Abercro'n-
! bic. Jr., do net speak. This may or may
not have been the beginning. A any rate.
| The Vanderbilt slogan was sounded, and
/ their forces rallied q the fray. Mr.. ].
Abprcrombic. IT,. was d Miss Sloane IL
/ should be remembered, and is, therefor.
! Of the Vanderbilt elan. They were bound
| To rrtaliat'.
| end Mrs Cornelius Vanderbilt. jr., came
/ up. As everybody knows, they are Itsi'ie
! the audcrbilt family They We're profanity
sacrificed.
Then the warfare grew warmer and
bIacr balls fell like hail Mrs. wiia.n {.
WhItrey, Mrs. Alueric Hugh Paget, Mr..
( Frederic Gala tin. and Mrs. starr Nil
We're added TO the list Of victims. The
Coil fa. faIt
/ yeNery other feud in the fashionable world.
became j factor. the havoc was simply
dreadful.
Then came designations and teas.
Ladies who had been uverflowing Win
enthusiasm for the dances a little while
before DECLARED tat they wouldn't At
tend under any circumstances, Ind, being
well bred persons, they did not give ut
teranccs t. al the things in their hearts.
When the haze OF the first encounter
cleared away 1T was found that four
of the originals remained. These were
Mrs Ogden Mills. Mrs. John Jacob Aston,
Mrs. Henry T. Sloane, and Mrs. PendletOn
| They have stood TO their guns. This
! quartet is known as the mutual AL
miratiUu branch of the extra exclusives
The NJ. a. Il. +. f, is bound To carry
through the program. and the heartleSs
| and iuConsilerate persons who are always
ready To make merry at other peoples
| expense have been uEkiud enough 10 dis
tort the initials and call them 'Maybes.''
| The Maybes are going to give a series
of dinner dances, no matter what hap
| pens Ii will be with a very restricted
list Possibly the larger functions may
come later, but even this is not so certain,
for the real trouble is just be ginning.
Ii should Tot be forgotten that these
affairs are t. take place in the Netr ,
| pDl;tan Club, and it should also be borne
| in mind that the ladies who were bla2k-
hailed are the wives and daughters Of
members OF the club, many of them very
pnwe' ful in the organization. They
dent like il a bit. In fact they are in
clined to be up in arms against il. By
the time the feminine members of he
| family are Though the men will he at
whit, Eeat, Ut else the social world has
changed.
THUS far the matter has not gone Ge
yond talk. The members whose wives
and tia lighters Were sacrificed have an
excellent argument. They say il is I'M
fair to restrict the annex. which is for
the aoCommoda ton of all the members
of the club and their families, to a few.
TheE declare tnat the invitations ShOild
be general or the dances abandoned.
The question will come before the gov
e-nors at their meeting the second week
in January, which viii give just about the
proper time for sentiment to reach he
boil. nG-Over point.
In the meantime the affair is widely
discussed. II is important bcca use it
threatens to lessen the narrow circle of
those who CO II Themselves the ''howling
sweIls'' and ''semi-excldsives. Mrs Og
den Mills waits it made smaller than it is
she would have il Include only her par
ticulsr set This will exclude the Van
derbilts. except Mr.. and Mrs Cornelius
Vanderbilt, jr., Miss Fair, Mr. and Mrs.
o. H p. Belmont the Burdens and Miss
Van Allen. Miss Van Allen will be ad-
mitted because she is at ldggerheads with
her father.
The Abercrombie- Burdens, Sloanes and
Vanderiilts will ma he up another set,
while Mr. and Mrs o. n. +. Belmont,
Mrs. sherman Miss Fair AMI Stuy1 esant
Fish and Mrs. HERNIA mn oelrichs will he
third.
From which il viii be seen that So
ciety has troubles of its own.
A Cure for Lame Back
MY do lighter when recover ring from IN