The times., 1899-03-05
Lectures and Intellectual EX-
cursiOns in Full Swing.
Great Mi-Careme Bazaar Achieved
by Social Queens.
Society Girls Who Are Working
Hard nt Their Clubs TO Compete
in Easter Games.

from exhausting frivolities, have been in
vited to sit on uneasy little campstoos,
in stufy gas-lighted parlors, and harken
TO the futile chirrupings of some well-in-
tending female on medieval architecture,
OF coptic civilization. This spring revolt
has appeared all along the line, and the
women are crowding 10 Mrs. Frederick
Vanderbilt's at $40 head TO hear and
vote upon the burning questions of the
hour.
There is something very serious and at
tractive about these mornings with the
"Dreyfus Trial" Discussions of the
War With Spain" Are We or Are We
Not Ready for Colonization" What the
British Are Doing in Africa" etc Those
are some of the subjects under eXamina
tion by the lecturer, and so popular are
they that when ticket holder falls i'll, or
is unable to attend. she can easily dispose
OF her card of admission to friend at a
price that would make a theatre ticket
speculator open his eyes.
Mrs. Vanderbilt's long drawing rooms
are open to the daylight; on lecture morn
ings they are decorated with pots of
blooming tulips etc, and if you don't ar
rive on time for the beginning of the lee
ture you simply are not allowed in the
rooms. The lecturer is man or wo-
man, as the case and subject may demand.
For the Dreyfus affair a weIl-known legal
light was persuaded to tell the whole story
of the great French army scandal; SOL
der and war correspondent were selected
to explain the causes and progress of the
war with Spain, and an able politician ex-
pounded the advantages and drawbacks of
Imperialism for the United States.
At the end of every lecture a vote is
taken TO test the effect of the argument set
forth, but Mrs. Vanderbilts scheme has not
proven bit more successful than that of
Mrs. Oelrich's, who, with twenty congenial
souls, drinks weekly drafts of knowledge at
the fount of science. One week all the am
bilious ladies turned up in Telsa's labora-
tory and saw stunning experiments with
electricity. Another week they Travelled 10
the studio Of an uptown scientist and saw
air compressed until It dripped like
liquid, and for all OF the remaining weeks
in Lent excursions are arranged TO conclude
with a talk-it-all-over luncheon at a smart
restaurant.
The mjdLent fairs have wrung the pock-
cts of the generous quite dry, since for once
the lady patronesses. including Mrs. Astor.
Mrs. Parsons Mrs. Mills, and a score of
others, thought out a scheme fof a bazaar
that showed quite superior business talent.
The great mld-Lent sale, held in the
ground floor of famous Fifth Avenue
caravansary, was no common or garden af-
fair, SO TO speak, with foolish, useless tri-
fes cluttering the tables.
The visiting women might easily have
imagined themselves in a Partisan street,
with gay, irresistible little shops on either
side. In one booth not only were the most
exquisite models IN French hats displayed.
but a corps of expert trimmers, under
well-known milliner. would copy any one
OF the models while you waited. At an
other booth skilled fingers wove ribbons.
spangies tulle, etc. into the most fetching
topknots for the head. At another counter
neckwear. stocks. and novelties in collars
were twisted into shape, and sewed or pin
ned right on to the customers gown II she
wished. There was a hairdressing booth.
where you could so right in and have train
ed hands crimp and comb your locks after
the last mode, and in a charming little
motor basket phaeton a man would, for
dime, give you a ride on a cleared circle
round the hall, and for another fee teach
you how to work the levers yourself
Quite the most profitable booth in the
place. however, was a shoe parlor. presided
over by half dozen of the most fashion
able young men in society. Every stately
salesman was provided with a gorgeous
spangled white satin slipper, and every
woman who entered and asked for shoes
was obliged to pay a fee and submit to
taking off her right shoe and attempting
10 put her stocking foot into the slipper
the salesman carried. If in the opinion of
all the other statesmen the slipper was an
exact fit then she received as reward of
possessing charming foot, pair of the
smartest new black satin dancing shoes.
tied together with broad blue ribbons II
her foot proved too big, or too broad, or
too narrow to fit exactly. then she was
obliged 10 put a forfeit in the head sales
mans bank. In spite of the wellknown
delicacy OF the American woman's foot II
was at this booth that the greatest amount
of merriment and money was earned, and
the men proved admirably conscientious
sticklers for enforcing the rules of their
shoe shop.
Every gay and ambitious girl with q
pound OF muscle worth encouraging is
working with her might and main at the
skating rink or the riding club in order 10
take part in the wonderful games to be
held IN Easter week. At the rink hockey
is the idol Of the Lenten hour. There is 10
be great and only match played off In the
spring, and one night in every week the CO.
horts OF society gather to see Miss Post
Miss Vanderbilt Miss Morton, and dozen
other sylphs go whizzing round the ice
bound arena between the goal posts.
II is not, however. their really superb
velvet and fur costumes and their agility
most surprising point about the skaters,
but il is their really monstrous hockey
skates and the time they make on the
elongated steel runners A slip of girl
with a waist that would fit between your
thumbs and forehngers, and pair OF Gin
derella feet. goes whiZZing along the ice
on a pair Of skates nearly as long as her
arm and curled up Dutch fashion at The
tip. They cost her half dozen dollars
or more. and they certainly look amazingly
out of proportion to her fairy-like ex-
tremities. but she wouldn't wear any 9TH
er, and no more would any one of the
fashionable young women who make III.
smallest pretence as skaters. They scorr
10 clamp on their feet the cheap, short clut
skate, and II you put pair of short
fellows and try TO take a girl on lont
skates round the frozen floor you very
soon realize why hockey runners are worn
The girl on the long, curly steel blade:
simply leaves you. feet first. then yards
then rods, behind, and she does this amaz
ing pace without a pound of extra lunl
pressure or strain on her muscles. Besid,
the advantage Of swiftness there is rome
thing very quaint and amusing in seein,
pretty woman rush round and round OF
these enormous shining blades that bea
about the same relation to her feet tha
skees DO 10 the feet Of a Norwegian Her
cules. At any rate. the long stretch skate
have made hockey possible as polite ac
complishment for the damsel who now con
siders 1t as important TO her life TO skat
as to waltz well.
Motor Vehicles may. arrive and bicycle
have their way, but society still clings {
the horse, and never before this winte
has SO much riding been done in club
and classes in New York as one sees dur
Ing Lent. Not at all content. however