The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-10-13

E S;s S sss III 'is S'S'S' ~@,
So this new view may be extended to
take another and older class.
The new woman of fifty has not been
received by all of her sex as a complete
success Some of the objections to her
are plainly founded on prejudice. But
what follows is not the talk of a wo-
man who is in the least prejudiced, and
there is no criticism to be made on her
intelligence. She thinks that women
were happier when they were less
youthful looking at fifty.
There may be-" she said, greater
satisfaction among women of a certain
age that they look younger now than
they were able to appear several years
ago; but they are no happier than they
were for that reason. There are more
dissatisfied, observation-disclosures wo-
men of fifty nowadays than there were
in the past,
II think it! lis largely due to the fact
that their new dress and their new
place in the world do not in the least
agree with their ages. 1t is not of the
least use for woman to look like forty
or younger when she is compelled to
act still as she would at her real age.
1T is the incongruity between the
woman's looks and the way she is
compelled to act that makes her I'M
happy and disconnected with her lot
She looks in the glass and sees that she
looks younger by ten years than she
is. That makes her feel as if she
would like to act more in accordance
with the age she would like to be-
But that is out of the question in the
srN,-tA Of rloa to- AaII u
to reconcile herself the best she can
to the difference between her looks and
her aspirations. z
That is the evil of the new change
in the woman of fifty. She may be
younger looking than she was in the
old days, but she is not so happy"
A well-known and thoroughly posted
society matron, says the Philadelphia
Press. was talking:
THAT matrimony is on the decline is
clear to many. Just compare the num-
Der of weddings in fashiona BILE circles
this year with the number three years
ago. But why? that's the question!
"A discussion on this subject at the
Country Club on Sunday afternoon not
long ago may throw some light on the
different points of view. Some one
stated most emphatically that there
were no eligible men, another said men
no longer cared to marry, but could
not tell why. 1t remained for a most
charming married woman to give the
true explanation. Here it is:
"There are plenty of eligible men,
but they go with the married women!
Not according TO the French morals
and methods, but because of the pleas
ant way in which they meet them.
They know the husband member of
their club usually-they can drop in
amy time, stay as long as 1t is pleas
ant, and leave. Invite themselves to
dinner, go up TO the library to write
letter, read the evening papers while
their hostess reads a book There is
no strain, no effort to be entertaining
If they wish to talk over some topic of
interest they need not hesitate to in
troduce it, even if it is a trife broad.
How different is a call on a girl of the
younger set?
"Ushered solemnly into the parlor,
kept waiting for ages, forced to listen
to chatter mixed with giggles, afraid
to talk on any sensible subject less one
be thought a bore. Is it. any wonder
the eligible man never returns to try
and discover If under the veil of friv-
olity there is a stratum of sense?
mo, he goes back with deep joy
to the friends he knows, to the houses
where he can smoke without asking
permission, and where he is as much
at home as at his club The men who
are-who have accomplished something
find little pleasure in talking inanities
while sitting on a white and gilt chair
in an notwithstanding drawing
room.
among the group were several
young girls who had listened in silent
indignation. At last one took up the
cudgels and declared that for her part
she didn't think her set insane; that
they could talk sense, but that the
sensible men seemed to avoid them
and they were forced to depend on the
boys just in and out of college for So
ciety; that these boys either would not
or could not talk of anything save golf
football and the theater. Was il any
wonder, then, that they acquired the
bad habit of nonsense talking, and, she
supposed, she must confess it, slang?
And the truth of this was borne in on
the group.
Then a man chimed in, a Southern
chap, who had listened to the CONVEX
sation with interest.
" In my opinion, he said, 1t is inn
possible to see a young girl in Phil
adelphia on the same natural footing
that one sees a married woman. Now
in my country it is all different. If
ONE is a friend one comes and goes as
one wills. One is trusted, not doubted,
let alone not chaperoned eternally. We
go to girls houses in the same pleas
ant informal way you go to married
womans There is no strain, no eff
fort, l assure you. Marriage is not
on the decline in the South, for we
have a chance to know the girls as they
really are
"A native Philadelphia took up the
conversation.
a. You have forgotten one thing he
said, and a most important one to my
mind. What girl among you but con-
siders an evening wasted If spent at
home during the season? It's only the
married women who are willing to stay
at home. AS for meeting girls at dane
es.' functions, etc, is there anything
more unsatisfactory
1T is only too evident that some
thing is radically wrong. 1t may be
our system, it may be the result of the
peculiar conditions in Philadelphia So
ciety, but whatever 1t is it is doing
these takers denied that matrimony is
on the decline.
There was truth in all the opin-
ions, yet what remedy can be devised?
It would shake society to its founda-
lions to abolish such strict chaperon-
age as is in vogue now. Who indeed,
would dare to make the attempt? Mrs.
Frederick Mason might, but she won't
She believes in the strictest Of social
behavior. You know she doesn't even
introduce the men to the girls at her
own dancing class. and If girl is new
TO the city she often finds ii hopelessly