Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-01-17
HER SOCIAL SUCCESS
Assured Because She Neglects
No Advantage.
LAYS SIEGE TO HEARTS
EARLY PROVES HER RIGHT TO BE
A LEADER.
Some of the Things a Wise Debutante
Knows She Must Practice if
cy1.
LAYS SIEGE TO HEARTS


copper-colored hair gathers up her furs
and pulls down her veil.
mo. dear; 1 can't stop another minute
I'm simply driven to death, and I'm won
dering If 1 shall be able to hold out until
Lent You know, I'm assisting at Mrs.
BensonS this afternoon, I pour at Kate
Danforth'S tea tomorrow and I'm at Mrs.
Waldron's bridge Friday. I do think it is
perfectly awful for things to come in such
a bunch"
And away she goes, the very tails of her
sable stole quivering with the hustle and
excitement Of a successful social season.
But her looks belle her words. She fairly
radiates happiness, and you vaguely feel
that these strenuous duties are the social
incense that she loves. The girl she left
behind takes a moro pronounced view Of
the situation. She is positively blue with
envy. In her engagement books are notes
in plenty, but no suggestion of a royal
summons to assist"
For be 1t known that the all-round social
| success of today involves the storming Of
feminine citadels as well as the capture Of
masculine outposts. Time was when the
debutante whose dance card was always
full felt that her position as a belle was as
| sured. Now she longs to be taken up and
featured" as the Thespians express 1t, by
her mothers friends and by women whose
social position is just a trif1e more sure
than her own. She scorns mere masculine
scalp locks for her jeweled belt and
reaches out for honors less easily attained
With this end in view, she contemplates
with fine complacence each invitation to
assist in entertaining the guests of her
friends. She knows that this honor is ac-
corded her not because she is pretty, or
wears well-buit frockS or has a pretty
penny in her own right, but because she
possesses that indefinable faculty on which
social achievements are built. And after
she has served her apprenticeship at pre-
siding over friendly tea tables and passing
trapped chocolate, while arrayed in girlish
white frocks, she will be graduated into
| the class of young matrons who are elected
patronesses at smart semi-pubic functions.
Of such fabrics are social dreams built. If.
however, to good looks she adds unim-
oblging father whose purse strings are al
ways united she Is fortunate. But all these
will fail if she lacks tact and graciousness.
That Useful Girl.
We have all met her-the girl who assists
at one function after another. Sometimes
we wonder why she is so much in evidence.
She may be less beautiful than her cousin,
who, swathed in white broadcloth and furs,
trails up to the receiving party, sips Ian
guidly at her tea, and trails out again to
reception No. 2 or %, according to her en-
gagement book for the day. She may wear
the simplest Of point d'esprt, while her
neighbor across the way sets off her bru-
net beauty in lace that cost the eyesight
of more than one Irish lassie. She may
carry her allowance in a miniature chate-
laine while Miss Millions signs her per-
sonal checks, but, just the same, at all
functions where women do ca.Isregate will
he be found, and usually numbered In the
receiving or assisting party.
Why? By reason of those things which
she leaves undone, rather than for those
things she does.
In the first place, she never loses her
head. If any one has the right to feel anx
ious it is the hostess. No matter how ad-
mrably her plans are laid, some evil cir
cumstance may arise to cause confusion.
The invaluable social lieutenant is she who
holds her nerves and her wits always at the
service Of the hostess.
Happy that hostess who may chat with
her guests in the drawing room, conscious
that some absolutely dependable friend
has an eye to the servants In the dining
room.
The best of caterers will sometimes fall
below the standard Of vigilance, and then
the young woman presiding behind the cof-
fee urn saves the reputation of her hostess.
To See and Be Seen.
The average guest at an afternoon affair
makes q mere pretense at eating. She Is
there to see and to be seen. Incidentally,
she has the eye which sees through her
back hair If the dining room appointments
are lacking She who proves an assistant
dining room arrangements are perfect.
Black-clad serving people are indispen-
sable for the formal function, but for the
daintier afternoon affair there is nothing
prettier than bevy of bright-faced girls
passing the vands particularly pleasing to
feminine tastes. rosy frappe from the
slender. white hand Of pretty girl, who
losses in pleasant word, takes on a flavor
indescrbable, but always recognizable. The
girl who Is really Indispensable in this
office Is she whose eye does not fail to see
the latest arrival at the dining room door.
She has faculty, too, for grouping all
Corners and never allows the incoming
guests to take on the appearance of a line
waiting their turn at quick-lunch counter.
If the affair be card party, she has
secret way locked in the innermost recesses
of her hearD for bringing the right sort Of
people together when she passes out the
score cards She knows that the success of
the afternoon may be determined by gath
ering the most congenial people together
during the few minutes while players are
waiting for the tinke of the bell, which
means the starting of the race Of wits and
cards for prize that may represent only
few dollars, but many heart-burnings. And
she deals out consolation prizes with a
gracousness that robs them Of their sting.
Moreover, she Is an authority on cards,
from casino to bridge. She can settle dis
putes without calling on her hostess or her
Hoyle.
If no special duties be assigned her her
magnetic personality pervades all the
rooms. SnS QOeS HOI CIlIS leLdClOuSiy u
the receiving party at the hostess elbow,
but Is here, there, everywhere; never hur-
rying yet never lettering longer than
necessary to make a guest feel at home.
Always Dressed Well.
She does not make the mistake Of dom
ming a half-worn evening frock for this
occasion, but appears in something fresh
and new-distinctly an afternoon gown.
She does not devote herself to some init
mate friend whose conversation is particu-
larly pleasing. nor to the social lionesses
whose favor she would win. Neither does
she add to the discontinue of the bashful,
constrained guest by singing her out and
publishing the fact that she Is wallflower
even in feminine gatherings Rather, in
way quite her own, she scores by reason of
discreetly chosen introductionS.
When the guests have gone and the re-
ceiving party sits down for a chat around
the library fire, or freshens the toilet pre-
paratory to the arrival Of the men for din
ner, she does not drop one word that would
mar the triumph Of her hostess.
She does not repeat one morsal of criti-
cism, which the most discreet Of tea drink
ers will drop on occasions.
She does not detail any slight contre-
temps in the afternoons arrangements
which has escaped her hostess eye.
She does not mention the fact that she is