The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-07-27
..HFDL ROAST
On NEWPORT
Inane Life of the AriStOcrats
Who Live There.
ALL THOUGHT TABOOED
ample of the Expressions
Heard From the Polite.
ALL THOUGHT TABOOED

! l have been making careful. cC1Scieu-
tious study OF Viewpoints fashionable
talk. Il IS a thing quite remote from
any known type OF conversation
Its never-to- mistaken vocabulary
| and accent really furnish one Of the
chief diversions Of the casual visitor to
/ Newport.
There IS a vernacular Of business, there
IS a lingo peculiar TO the Bowery. there
I is sporting dictionary, the ladies' and
| gentlemen who condescend TO adorn the
professional stage discuss affairs in terms
unknown to the laity. artists have shib-
/ boleths and the clergy a grammar.
But none of these usages resemble the
present mode Of fashionable Newport
talk. It is a thing apart. patterned on
the mountain tops of swelldom. and
handed down to a revering world. To be
master Of II is have a key OF entree more
necessary than family. wealth or clothes.
To be inadept is TO be shut out Of the
/ presence OF the elect. You may dress
well and dance well You may know ev-
erybody and even be somebody. Your
house may be open, your dinners frequent
and good. But 70 all this you must add
the ability to talk in the mode Of the mo-
ment a Newport.
II is quite clear that the first care is
choice OF subject. This must invariably
be an important one. 1t MAY be golf
the prospects of the season. the gossip or
the hour-but these only in their most or.
binary and obvious aspect.
Be not misled; the real. substantial
concerns of Hfe-namely dollars-are not
tabu. and even the phrase per cent" is
sometimes murmured. have seen
proud dame pause at dinner here to re-
move from her finger gem which the
guest were eager to inspect, and have
heard her husband plainly pronounce the
precise figures on the check which the
jeweIer was persuaded TO accept in lieu
thereof
I have heard company here discuss
cooks for two consecutive and thrilling
hours Now, whatever else may be
thought of cooks, they had never present
cd to me an exhniarating topic OF con-
versation. I am not quite convinced that
few have ever understood the possibili-
ties of the subject.
To be sure. there is art there is politics,
literature. Older societies pretend inter
est in these things and gather to ex-
change ideas concerning them. Less con-
spicuous people here in America some
times talk about them.
And that is the trouble The common
people, by discussing these things. have
made them impossible in smart Newport
society.
Now It has always been a rule, and a
perfectly sensible rule. that social inter
course. being intended for recreation,
should avoid too serious topics. or touch
them only in a light way.
At the same time It has not always
Keen the case that the expression of an
idea in this course of small talk provoked
a general stare. Aforetime a remark
trembling on the verge of a real live
thought was not an occasion Tor the
lorgnette.
Il has commonly been impossible to
avoid entirely even the pretense Of an
intelligent exchange Of ideas.
This, smart society as it is found in
this haven of rest and diversion, now
succeeds in doing. With a tact that can
not be sufficiently admired, it steers its
way safely past all obstacles OF thought.
The same skill that drives a spluttering
auto" a-dash down Thames street or
up against a butchers cart or bowling
over a bothersoue pedestrian, can keep a
noisy conversation going at breathless
speed without wavering jot from the
path Of sheer inanity.
The cerebral exertion is slight. Cray
matter is not unduly consumed Some
little physical prowess alone IS required;
this chiefly TO maintain the manner,
which IS totally artificial
The voice most frequent and insistent
among the men. as ! have found them, is
a throaty tenor. winch makes itself heard
in a shrill sort of chirp-
Two chief types OF feminine voice pre-
vail One IS energetic. explosive. STAG
cato Il goes with the superiative style
Of speech which has come over from last
season but is now Invested OF all enthu-
siam and allowed to drivel out in Ian
guid afectat;on which desires least Of
al to be mistaken FOR the real thing.
I took the trouble yesterday 10 lot
down a snatch of fashionable talk exactly
az i was delivered. Here Il Is:
You DON'T mean 70 tell me that
SWEET. DEAR Mrs. Jones IS not coming
How CAN she be SO CRUEL. 50 ABB
SURDLY inconsiderate-who2 Yes. 50 I
heard. but YOU never CAN tel. everybody
is 50 PROvOKINGLY absu7d-But
know the most DELICIOUS you
DID, ISN'T IT QUAINT-Tes Indeed Ne
were very. VERY much theTe-And K
WAS 50 hot-SIZzLtNG-I DO ASSURE
you NEVER saw the Ike in ALL my
POSITIVELY the most INFINITELY.
wRETCHEDLY. ABSURD tine POSI-
BLE-ABSOLUTELY ATROCIOCS-
never. NEVER would DREAM II the
POSSIBILITY-Chi there's DEAR Con-
stance Wentworth-ISN T she just too
WLCKEDI.Y sweet-Iny love where EE-
ER DID you learn n be So BEWITCH-
INGLy. PREPOSTER0CSLY. OBJ
oUSLY PRETTY
or course there are charming and men
tally alers women here. and during The
course q the season some q the brain
est men in the weird come here. in
such companies IS one CT two ~ those
which last week mct the Ambassador 70
France there was an exh.liarstirg- one
might say an iaspiring. b-iliancv u cor
verse. but II common The speech q New
port society" .oes not sctntlllats.--Vs- Il.
A painting q Fort Sumter in war tine.
made in isss by Liertsaant John K Key.
author of The Star spansied Banner.
or exhibitor n Cha-iestou- j was
shipped through the blockade to EnEian1.
where i remained unti Il vas returned
&c Charleston q few DAYS ago.
The camera promises 20 become as r.
dispensibie II business Affairs as ihc
typewriter Z IS now heirs used Ia ;he
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