The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-03-09

I stantial material food has been some thing to prove ones supremacy Of m | tellect and to qualify one for a. social | leader; to be in touch with the poliucs of the country only in so far as 1t was necessary to be able to talk intelhgently with the few outsiders one was obliged | to meet: to be more~than contented with a most primitive means of locomoton rather than to go in for smart traps and horses-all has been part and parcel Of the old Washington life.
 Now comes on the scene of bevy Of
 smart folk. with we'll appointed traps,
 most lavishly maintained households, where the most expensive and luxurious | of dinners and suppers are given-wo- men whs wear the newest and most ex- pensiye of gowns, are up in every topic of the day, find visits to the House and the Senate, even when unaccompanied .. by charming little luncheons, very at- tractive; who delight in entertaining the foreign element-and the foreign element in return are most charmed to be en- tertained: who only walk for the pleas ure of walking, and who would no more dream of going to an evening entertain
 ment on foot or in any public conveyance than they would fly to the moon; women
 who enjoy every luxury their wealth can give. and who are only too anxious l 10 share that luxury with friends and | acquaintances. new and old, and who, in short, represent a leisure class of Americans well fitted for society. Old Families Annoyed. Small wonder is it tha: they have at | once come tremendously to the front. | and that they are sweeping along in fashion that is decidedly irritating to the old families. who see their traditions crumbling into dust under the tidal wave of prosperity that beats at their very doors.
 Mrs. Roosevelt, the First Lady of the Land.' has little to do with this new el-
 ement; that is to say. she is not a leader
 of it. as her life is distinctly apart from it. but she is known to and knows many of the newcomers. who are, of course included in many of the public and many of the private entertainments given at
 the White House. but really Mrs. Roose- welt herself does not represent the set
 who at present are so prominent. This new element has changed many | things. is decidedly in torch with foreign
 
 <athetic with them It 1: perfectly easy | to distinguish at one glance the, foreign turnouts from cny of the others. The | tra ppings may not be one bit more 9or- geous, if as gorgeous; but there is a | certain air of finish. luxIry and atten- l ten to details that has not until recently l been noticeable in Washington, where many of the oldest families do not think of keeping horses. but go about in the | ;,,1a fac n O Qn- tertainments on foot if the night be pleasant or if the entertainment be near at hand, or in q 25 or 50-cent cab if the n ght be bad.
 ,. Use Their Own Vehicles. The newcomer cannot afford to do this, and at cordngly goes about il his or her own conveyance always orr takes an au-
 tomobile At the diplomatic reception at the White House, where the rule is that only one carriage can be driven in at the gates at time. some of these strangers l had their first experience Cf going for some distance on foot. or women in the
 smartest gowns walked from the gate to | the house rather than wait so long out side for their turn to enter the drive. Some of the b ,st-best In every sense of the word-hoUses in Washington are | most simply run. with what seems to the newcomers ~idFas an impossibily small retinue of colored servants. who always ! go home at night, and yet there. is an air of hospitality that is most charming abe Ut these houses. None the less con- | traSt to the newcomers is most striking with their liveried servants and their | formal households, with an air of would
 be informality which somehow does not
 strike just true.
 | Unquestonahly human nature likes
 luxury and takss kindly to luxury. and it | is amusing to see how many of the old Mashinst ton households are now being