The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-04-26

seem to have "smartnessp thrust upon
them.
I'VE will make you smart willy
nilly," society seems to say in their
cases, "and you shall not escape us. "
And it pursues them until they are
as far within the inner circle as the
most ambitious could desire.
1t might be said that these persons,
fortunate or not as they are regarded,
had accomplished something which
made them very interesting to society,
worth knowing and talking to and en-
joying. That explanation serves in
some cases. but in others it does not.
That will account for the young actress,
for instance, but leaves the miniature
painter mystery. So is the Western
Senator's wife; and what is to be said
of the fat portrait painter who has for
thirty years been considered most in
teresting because he married an I'M
sympathetic wife and lives apart from
her and his four children? To be sure,
he comes of an old Southern family,
but distinguished ancestry never yet
made a person smart in New York S
social estimate unless there were other
qualities to recommend him. Perhaps
he has them, and so have all the per-
sons who are really to be considered
smart
One can go through a long list and
discover no specific reason why this
or that person should be there except
in the case of the very rich. 1t is only
surprising that there are so many very
rich persons who are not in the least
smart" And there seems no way Of
advising Mary Smith as to the best
means of becoming as successful as
Mary Jones. One puzzled social the
orist abandoned his Investigations with
tho ficfXyinpr conclusion
had to be born with the power OF
achieving smartness by his or her eff
forts and that it would be impossible
without that heaven-sent gift ever tc
reach the heights.
But there have been too many IN
stances of acquiring the reputation o.
"smartness" to make any such fatalis
tic belief acceptable. Men and womer
have practically pulled themselves into
it by their bootstraps when every
chance seemed against them. Else the
| young painter of good family could
never have been so much in demand
So many similar cases are in mind that
we cannot excuse the lack of spirit
shown by a commentator supine enough
to decide that the ability to be smart
! must be born with a person.
Perhaps opinions may differ as tc
what makes a person smart" There
alone, family alone or talent alone can
not, or, at least, does not, always dc
| it. To be smart" nowadays seems tC
consist in knowing other people who
are smart" being with them anj
sticking to their set with the exclusive
ness and persistence with which mem
bers of social cliques cling to one an.
other in New York. That seems to be
the only way to reduce the receipt fol
acquiring snartness to amy formula
The social authority will always In
dorse that valuable advice.
eff you want to be smart yourself, ,
he will say, know smart people al
whatever sacrifice is necessary. If you
are rich spend your money for this
purpose, attacking them at the point
| of least resistance and spending it or
| the poorest. If you are bright direct
your attention to the dull ones, help
| ing them out and making them appear
less stupid than they are. At what.
ever cost, know the people who are
smart if you want to be smart your
self. Don't ponder over what consti-
| tutes smartness or wonder why this
person is and the other is not. SIM
ply know those whom the world oil
New York, or society, or perhaps only
a hundred or more persons have de-
clared to be smart. That is the easiest
way of achieving sn1artness-if IL be
thought worth while to take that trou-
| BILE in such cause"