The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1901-03-10

Let us retrospect a bit. now that the sea-
son proper is past and gone; and consider
the debutantes-those favored young women
who blossomed in the social conservatory
and basked in the sunshine of everybody's
smiles and compliments for the last three
months.
One thing must certainly be stated at the
outset-that not before in years have so
many girls been introduced who so readily
stepped into the popular ranks as this win
ter. Prettier buds there may have been in
past reconstructed. 1 doubt II there will
ever be another crop so individually ir-
resistible and SO collectively charming as
that which bloomed the year Carrie Cook,
Grace Gale. Lillian Holmes, now Mrs. Ed
die" Gould: May Somerville, Alice Scudder
Mrs. Ellis HalletD. Jessamine Barstow,
Mrs. Wallace Simmons. Abby Watson and
Temple Belle Daugherty, made their first
bow after the Mary Institute days were at
an end. No set Of debutantes since has
eQualed these for beauty.
But it's not merely, ''Oh, isn't she pref
ty: but it's oh. hasn't she style, as we'll"
The buds Of this season have style-slathers
OF 1t. to be slangy. They wear their clothes
well. And each and every one has worn
clothes worth wearing all winter.
II one rates social popularity according to
the number Of functions given with Miss
Debutante as the honored guest, then Alice
Morton must take the palm; for certainly
no other bud has had SO many nor such
variety Of entertainments given for her dur
ing the season as this nut-brown maiden,
whose hearty. cordial manner, whose frank
unassuming and really sincere enjoyment
in all that has been done for her, has made
and kept for her shoals Of friends. both
men and women. Miss Morton really was
not a bud this winter. perhaps it isn't
fair to others to put her in their
class, for she came out a year
ago. in the East, and had all the adj
v~antages OF a New York winter to strength
en- her SAVIOR faire before seeing st. Louis
society en- masse.
Miss Morton is a college girl as we'll
Smith. I believe-where the social life 1 S
made much Of; and, with several summers
spent at the smart Northern places, there
really wouldn't have been the slightest eX-
cuse for even a suspicion of crudity on
her part. would there? Men like Alice
Morton because she knows a good deal
concerning subjects that interest the mas
culine sex-athletics particularly, and all
sorts-yachting, which we inlanders don't
find contagious-horses, dogs, and the 9TH
er usual things. Women like her because
she likes them and shows 1t in many ways
that do not occur to the average girl. Host
esses like her because nothing is SO popu-
lar as popularity: and the tea where Alice
Morton serves is assured Of success.
This years buds are a trife older than
those OF many other seasons, probably be-
cause the majority of them are college
graduates. Edna Ffschel is one of these
from Wellesley, and rather more given to
the pleasantries of life than most young
women who come out of that institution.
Miss Fischel has by no means overcome the
Feminine notion that gowns are quite as
important as Greek verbs. and sometimes
more 80. None of the buds has worn more
effective and becoming clothes this winter
than the blond Miss Fischel, whose infec- |
tious laugh and simple manners have prov
en- very attractive. |
Olive Simpkins finished at Mary and then
went to Ogontz, I believe. The fashionable |
Philadelphia school may have had much to
do with Miss Simpkins's ideas on what to
wear and how to wear it, but l doubt the
TACT Style is sometimes inherited, like a
sQuint or a stammer. I have never known
q girl to tie and to wear a stock with more
grace and elegance than Louise Simpkins, !
who has gone nowhere this season, being in
mourning, and I'm convinced that this
ability comes not as the result OF practice, |
but OF Inheritance. Her younger sister. Oh
ave, EXHIBITS the same ease in her gowns |
and the same knack of getting into the right
garment the right way. People turned to
look at Olive Simpkins walk down the the
alter aisle on Monday night, and there were /
dozens OF pretty girls being ushered to seats
all around, but none of them with that pa
trician carriage, that poise to the head,
SSAos vi ClttUES 4
which stamped her at once as the best
dressed young woman in the parquet; and.
upon my word! I can't remember what she
had on. either. except that it was something
new and something blue.
Josephine Walsh is not really out, though
the schoolroom Is far behind and she has
gone places all season. But / mean that no
presentation OF the young woman
has been made; and perhaps there will be
none, as Mrs. Walsh does not quite be-
In such ceremonials and did nothing
OF the kind for her eldest daughter, Ellen.
The Yelled Prophet took charge Of that
part of 1t, which certainly was not Miss
Walsh's fault-rather her misfortune, for
no girl OF Importance in the best social cir
cles' likes to have it thought that she
'came OUT at q big public ball. Miss Jo-
sephine Walsh. while slightly handicapped
BY an older sister who is a pronounced
beauty and belle. has quite drawn about her
enthusiastic friends who delight in her fine
mind and her gentle convent-trained man.
ners. Indeed. as you probably know, the
young woman insisted on going back to
for a full year after her grad
uation. stating emphatically that she pre-
terred books and music to dancing and tea
Carroll West also suffers from the elder
lister handicap. though that does not in the