The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-04-08
A GREAT CHANGE.
For First Time Over Social" Doings are Chronicled in Charleston.

are Chronicled in Charleston. Charleston Letter of J. A. Hoyt in Co.,
 lumbia State.
 Was there ever a more startling inno- vation than that? But, surprising or not, it is here.
 Any one who knows aught of Charles ton society. its history. it's traditions and its customs knows first of all that nothing Is rated so entirely improper the mention in a newspaper of any cial function. Not even marriages arc eX- pected. and for generations people have lived and moved and had their enter tainments and their weddings and their children's weddings in Charleston and their name has never appeared in the newspapers-not even when they died un- less they were men. To publish ahy- thing, even personal" about wo- man has been contrary to the Charleston standard. Respecta oility, therefore, has been sure preventative of publicity. No matter how popular one might be nor how delightfully."- one might entertain the regular herd must not hear of it through the common press. This sentiment as been respected by the newspapers. and conse- quently the Charleston field has been For if there is anything a reporter dreads 1t is to handle a wedding; and receptions and teas are almost as bad. The world has often been told about the eyclusiveness of Cha .leston society and the inviolable rules by which it is governed. The situation has not been exaggerated. and up to the opening ot the Exposition the old standards pre- vailed as strictly ever. But the Expo dtion-an enterprise in which all classes are concerned for the good Of Charleston with its numerous functions. has been something of a leveller and things have been done and people admitted to 'sO- ciety' that have caused the ''clingcrs" to hold up their hands In horror at the rise of the climbers
 So 1t is an opportune time to begin the publication of society news. This is what has been done by the enterprisinR after noon newspaper. The Evening Post To- day Tffe Evening Post has several col umns of social stuff, as 1t is called in the newspaper vernacular. It details the doings of the very smartest set here and covers practically all of Charleston so- cially, making mention of the St. Ce- ella people as freely as it mentions those not within that mystic circle. In it's scope The Posts social news Is similar to that which constitutes such popular feature of the Sunday edition of The State. and If the venture does not prove both popular and profitable in Charleston 1t will be the first time that a society de- partment of a newspaper has failed to at tract readers and subscribers.
 Already there are said to he some kicks; one or two families of the very bluest blood have requested that their affairs be never referred to in the new depart ment, but on the whole the innovation takes better than one would have eX- pcctcd and there is little reason to be- lieve that 1t will ever be discontinued on account of such opposition.
 The department is in charge of Mrs. g. Rhett Roman. herself a Charleston woman of aristocratic lineage who has had experience In newspaper work in New Orleans. and thus doubly fitted for the place. In her salutatory. Mrs. Roman says:
 "The social life of Charleston Is pre- | eminentlv distinguished, both in tone and