The Savannah morning news., 1901-04-21
WOMAN'S
WORLD.

We hear so much about smart women
In these days, says the New York Com
mercial Advertiser, that it may sound
like heresy to say that persons of intel
ligence exist who actually do not know
what kind of a creature this so-ualled
''smart" woman is. Is she clever? Is she
always rich? Must she be beautiful? Is
she necessarily in society? What are her
accomplishments and how does she live?
These are some of the queries the be-
nighted outsider often puts to himself
and not infrequently puts 70 others who
might be expected to know all about this
special species of human butterfly The
knowing ones are not strictly impartial
In their replies They all admit that the
smart woman so-called is clever but the
knowing one who does not approve of her
adds, she is seldom cultured" while the
admiring one says, "she knows every
thing, but not every one. She has more
shrewd sense and wisdom in her little fin
ger than the old-time conservative wo-
man had in her entire composition. The
smart woman is a success. She does not
know what failure means. 1t Is her creed
to succeed and she lives up to her creed
every instant of her life"
The conservative, who doesn't quite APP
prove of ladies' wearing spangled gowns
playing polo and going to cakewalks and
music halls, wonders why so dignified a
name as creed is given 10 the not. to put
st very gently, very exalted ideal of the
smart woman. She asks the opinion of a
woman young enough and old enough to
DE tolerant. She is member of the
'smart SET" but she also knows a few
women who don't play bridge or run in
debt for clothes before their doctors bills
are paid. This modern conservative says
that the smart woman she knows rs very
well turned out wears clothes regardless
of price, appreciates her food. is good at
repartee, and, above all, is an excellent
listener She has. of late years devel-
oped extraordinary aptitude for getting
everything she wants in life land her
ideals are not particularly modesO out
of limited income. Whispers of con-
science do not give her bad nights rest
nor has she any scrupes. She is not
famous for brains, but she is famous for
lack of manners. She is often pretty,
usually fiippant and sometime rather vul-
gar She believes in all kinds of healthy
things, air and athletics and good things
10 eat, but she rarely embraces a diet
unless she is growing stout. Then she
will give up anything, even her filtration
with her best friends husband, for she
abhors and abonimates embonpoint She
considers it only just trifie less objec-
tionable than living in Harlem or in
cottage at Narragansett. ..
perhaps a kindly Interpretation of the
word smart means the antithesis OF dow
dness, and certainly in matters of taste
and toilette we rather welcome the inva-
sion of the smart woman; but of late we
have had too much of her. and a very
little of the average type is enough to
nauseate most self-respecting people, and
when she becomes too aggressive she
ceases to amuse.
But who shall say that the well-bred
conservative is not just shade jealous
of her rough-riding sister in the social
field who distances every ladylike COM
petitor? Even the snubhed and neglected
ingenue cannot deny. that with al her
faults the smart woman in the society
of to-day plays a very positive and prom
inent role. The rage for smartness. like
every other fashionable craze, has be-
come vulgarized and outrun all sense
of proportion. In France she has no
recognized existence-at least, not as we
understand it. She is more or less artis-
tic, even in the matter of vice. Neither
is she so much an imitation of an alto
gether lower grade of society. For one
thing she is better educated and belongs
to a nation of better manners-manners
which come from kindly feeling and an
appreciation of other peoples feelings.
To be smart in every sense of the word
is an education in Itself, and leaves lit
de leisure for the cultivation OF literature
or higher things. The requisites for keep
ing up "a reputation of smartness are
many, and the defect of real idleness-
lat aae aZfn cold Hao1.,
TO the type; il requires even nowadays
a certain amount of pushing to get into
and remain In that inner circle of smart
society.
The smart woman is ambitious. but her
ambitions are all to be thought smart"
and she will go any length in order to live
up to the reputation Of being known as
such. To call these. women leaders of So
ciety is distinctly unfair to the social life
of the country, but there is no doubt that
they are very important and demoraliza-
ing factor in our land and Ia is only
when they become aggressvely vulgar
that people seem to recognize the lurking
danger. or course, the snobbishness of
it all sickens the more refined and ex-
elusive of the community, who. alasi
withdraw in despair. Some people pre-
dict that smart society will die a nat
ural death, now that nobody is shocked
and nobody is particularly amused. Per-
haps a happy compromise may arise in
the shape of a woman who understands
the poetry of dress-the minute details
which give a woman charm-who is pos
sessed of the virtues of road-mindedness,
kindly feeling, and is free from all forms
of snobbery. A man can never be en-
pected to have fair judgment where the
question of sex is concerned, and the
philosophical woman must see the humor-
Gus ana even pathetic side of the smart
woman. and would have no desire to be
her imitator.
People who have no social ambition
have general idea that it is easy to get
into exclusive society II certain conditions
exist-that Is, If the aspirant possesses
wealth, more or less attractive person
ality and Is sufficiently well born to meet
the very easgygoing requirements Of mod
ern times" said a fashionable woman. to
a representative of the New York Tri-
bune. This is very far from being the
case. The fact is that 1t is much more
difficult to get into what Is known as
smart society in New York than in Lon
don or Paris. People who have all the
essentials enumerated above have tried
in vain to storm the citadel that sur
rounds the inner circle. 1t is not difficult
10 get 10 a certain point, but beyond that
there Is a barrier that Is all the more In