The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-06-04

have my suspicious that the society columns" are sometimes read by men. The average man no doubt feels that a perusal of the society page in the news paper would be sheer waste of time, and he generally hands over the society part of his paper to his wife, while he turns to the heavier subjects discussed from day to day.
 The society page is the only part of the paper that my wife reads" said a man recently, with the satisfied air of having said something very fattering: and" he continued, q confess that read 1t also" as if 1t was truly surpris- ing that he could condescend to glance at anything so frivolous as the society department of the paper. He seemed to | feel regretful about it, as if he had been entieed into reading something that was not intended for him to see. He reminded one of school girl who had reluctantly admitted that she was fond of Belzac or Sardou
 "rhsy are not so bad" I told him. "The more you read society pages the quicker
  vatlng and that their moral tone is all that could be desired. You should not be alarmed that you, too, have preference for the society column"
 But he only stared at me somewhat stupidly as if his meaning had been lost upon me entirely.
 It was not that, however, that aroused my suspicious. It was little question asked by two or three of the men in a little party of friends the other evening.
 'It is mystery to me-" said one. "how you can call fifty women in one room perfectly beautiful in fifty different ways. Now, in tomorrow's paper one shall read that Miss Blank was the beauty of the occasion. while Mrs. Blank was the charming figure of the evening, and so on, until every woman here will be the particular beauty of the evening and her dress the most exquisite. It is posi- lively fascinating to me to see how you manipulate great problems like these"
 It would have been tiresome to have explained away the mystery, and besides, some one just then suggested that 1t was rather unnecessary to call attention to the fact that any woman looked more att tractive at one time than another.
 "It stands to reason that all women make desperate efforts to look their best, and that all women are beautiful goes without saying" this from a bachelor, who reads the society columns religious ly, but who can not read women.
 Why, I would resent any statement in the papers to the effect that I look ed unusually handsome'-" But he was not allowed to finish the sentence, for all of his admiring friends declared that no paper with any regard for truth would put such a statement in print.
 The society page was discussed again quite recently by two prominent men.
 'I am amazed" said one, "at the quan- tity of news you print about women s | clubs Not being a club woman l dc not always read the full reports, but I read enough to know that the women are always stirred up over something. either an appropriation, or building a hospital, or opening reading rooms and | night schools in the sums, and then re- l gently I noticed that Alabama women were holding two or three conventions. Now, are not these conventions mere Joi- lications, without any real practical re- sults?"
 Then I felt that the "society page" had A real mission. It could be frivolous and could call fifty women beautiful fifty different ways, but 1t fell far short of everything if 1t did not dispel the idea that women In their great annual gatherings met purely for 'jollihca- tion," and that no practical good re- | suited from an interchange of ideas and | a discussion of the subjects, which are no longer considered the woman ques- tion," but are public questions.
 | It Is through the society page that women make their appeals for hospitals, for kindergartens, for appropriations for educational purposes, for the opening of night schools, for the redemption of the | little waifs of the street, for the open- ing of homes for the friendless, for the regulation of factory laws These are a | few public questions that are discussed in the so-called frivolous society columns. These are few of the subjects to which the thinking women give serious consid- eration at their publications.
 The society page was being discussed again. This was a man for whom 1 shall always have a great reverence. He said that he always read it. that 1t was bright, entertaining. clever and among other things he said it was educating In it's att titude to all questions therein discussed. I shall never forget him. A K. w.