The Savannah morning news., 1902-12-28

society HecuS AeI. oue KNOWS II, and
her bank account flourishes accord
insly.
When a man is elected to Congress
he has fought but half the battle. On
entering Washington he is confronted
by two problems-how to make him
self felt in the political arena and
how to run successfully the social
gauntlet.
Shrould he be placed on an import
ant committee or score a telling
speech during his first year in House
or Senate he feels that he is really in
the running, and, except in rare in
stances, he works out his political SAL
walton alone.
On the other hand, his social career
is largely at the mercy of his wife.
Through her blunders or lack of tact
he may lose that personal, social in
huence which, in Washington, as in
every capital, is invaluable There's
q world of politics brewed in the after
noon tea cup, and it is a wise woman
who, newly come to Washington, let's
the social coach direct the swinging of
the tea-ball.
The social history of Washington
shows that from Presidents down to
members of the lower House. the
majority of men have been self-made,
or, at least, have risen from humble
ranks. In nine cases out of ten, with
their foot on the lowest rung of the
political ladder, they have met and
married. So a woman whose social
aspirations have never risen beyond
the presidency of the Ladies' Aid
Society or the local Woman's Self
md
being borne towards social breakers
by her husbands political career.
Provincial Ways Won't Do In Wash
ingtOn.
without much difficulty she assumes
her pisition in the small city where
her husband holds an office Of some
state capital. where they live in a
barn of hotel and she gives regular
receptions and is duly interviewed by
local reporters. Returning to the home
town, her gowns are talked about and
copied, her entertainments admired and
her favor sought.
Small wonder that her husbands pro-
gression to the national capital fills
her with only pleasurable anticipations
Envied by her women friends and
showered with kindly, If useless, ad-
vice, she lends herself to the most
fashionable modiste in town and to
happy visions of new social worlds to
conquer.
They invade Washington. They en-
terrain, which is necessary. They are
entertained, which is customary. To
do honor to the first occasion she dons
her most elaborate frock and takes
one last complacent glance in her che
val glass.
Then comes the awakening. Passing
that line of receiving women, ire
proachably gowned and groomed she
reads plying amusement behind the
few words of perfunctory greeting and
the feeting smile. 1t must be her
gown, she reasons, and, having paid
her respect, she slips into a corner and
studies the frocks and bearings of
these women who know Washington
as an open book She cannot define
the difference. but it exists. More
over she finds her usual volubility,
which in her home town was voted
charming conversational ability, check
ed by an indescribable shyness. In
word she realizes that she has stepped
into a new world filled with social pit
falls and snares. She goes back to her
hotel, dismayed, retrospective; and she
lies awake the rest of the night think
ink it all out.
If she is brave to the point of RASH
ness, she recalls something a we'll
known foreigner has written about the
adaptabilfty of the American woman
and vows that she will stand or fall
on this quality.
what the Coach Does.
If she is wise she appeals to a coach.
The coach is a woman rich in knowl-
edge of Washington customs, of good
family we'll bred well groomed and
Nc y
financial reverses in her family. Per-
haps she is ambitious and independent.
However this may be, she must be of
the socially elect and consequently to
be approached with due diplomacy.
There must be nothing so plebian as a
Zee, no agreement no vulgar conversa-
ton about terms. But some day there
arrives in the coach's mail a check,
handsome douceur, from her pupil.
The coach, having assumed the re-
sponsibility of the lady's social future,
goes about her work in the most Sys-
tematic fashion. For while she is al
most constantly at her patrons elbow.
The first lesson is, "Who is who and
how shall you greet them" The right
OF precedence. how to avoid the incon-
gruous issuing of invitations-that is,
inviting opposing factions to the same
function-and a nice discrimination in
greeting are taught. For instance, a
hostess may have a genuinely friendly
feeling for department clerk, but she
must not throw into this greeting ex-
actly the same shade of warmth which
she extends to an ambassador. Then,
TOO, she may personally like an indi-
vidual temporarily under the ban of
Washington society, but received by
right of official precedence. For such
meetings she must cultivate what is
known as ''frigid graciousness."
The coach overhauls her patrons
Wardrobe. "Good frocks well made"
is the motto-frocks that absolutely
suit the personality of their owner. If
small town fashions war with this per-
sonality, then everything is cast aside.
The lady places herself unreservedly
an the hands of an artist selected by
the coach, and If quiet elegance suits
her style, she must attain 1t, even
though her heart yearns for the flesh
pots of Egypt in the form of red and
burnt orange.
The Most Noted Coach.
II her patron is particularly obtuse
the coach handles her correspondence,
though il has become essential for
woman really in the Washington
swim to have her private secretary.
Under the coach's tutelage she also
cultivates her memory for faces and
names, she acquires a sweet gracious
ness with a modification OF voice and
manner, and, In fact, goes through
course OF social grooming which can