Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-05-30

railroad engineer.
Take the case of Hester for example.
Hester teaches literature in swell
private school. That in itself implies
expenditures. One may not train the
youthful mind there to appreciate the
beauties of Shelley or the thunder
ings of Carlyle unless one is properly
attired. The scions of the aristocracy
may not hear that George Eliot did not
begin to write novels early in life from
a woman whose tie is badly chosen
and badly tied. And when under the
guidance of the head of the literature
department the class is taken to see
AS You Like IT," the head OF the lit
erature department must be a model in
matinee coStuming.
But in addition to these unavoidable
expenses Hester has others. She has a
wide and varied circle of acquain-
tances. The parents of some of her
pupils are on her visiting list. She
has her own agreeable circle. and one
distinguished one which has descended
to her from days of former greatness.
moreover she is pretty, she can taK
well, and, to the everlasting gratitude
of hostesses, she can listen better. She
fellow teachers envy her in a good ma
tured way.
Some of them We're telling her of her
good fortune last Monday when she re-
turned from two days at Tuxedo. The
country, they said must be perfectly
lovely at this season of the year and
she must have had a great measure of
comfort visiting in a well appointed
house, to say nothing of the delight
she could not have failed to derive
from intercourse with 50 many agree
able persons who did not talk shop
Hester admitted all these blessings, and
then she produced a notebook.
1T comes high" she observed after
making sure that no lurking pupil was
near to be corrupted by her slang, but
we must have it."
Comes high echoed the others.
We thought you were visiting"
Il was" replied Hester. Then she
consulted her book. Tip to the coach
man." she announced, fifty cents
think he utterly despised me for not
making it a dollar; silver coin seems
SO insignificant to him. Tip to the
maid, another fifty-and she laid out
the contents of my bag with an air of
such carefully depressed disdain that
| almost made it two dollars just to
show her that / was a person to be re-
spected, even if l did bring only one
dinner dress for three dinners and two
changes for three days. Tip to man
who was on hand to give me a solitary
breakfast at Z, one dollar-you couldn't
offer him less, you felt so keenly that
you had sinned unpardonably in rout-
ing him out in time for such an ungodly
repast. l think that is all-for tips"
But the tips are not the whole or
even the worst of the drains on the
working woman who aspires to go
out" It's clothes and carriage hire
and return courtesieS and time and en-
ergy. Man, proud man, clotheu in
single evening suit, may make a sea-
son S round of dinners and operas and
dances. He may with it wear the over
coat which does duty by day, and not
be conspicuously badly dressed. A
woman whose chiffon fiounces or
spangled train float free beneath 4
jacket of Persian lamb or broadcloath
is grotesque. Moreover, she is extrav-
agant. Crush all her pillows under the
restricting folds of an ordinary coat
and they are half ruined.
The working man" may walk to or
from any social engagement and no
one will regard him curiousiy. I'M
agine d woman in pale pink or violet
crepe with a Spanish lace scarf over
her head and a white lined cloak over
her shoulders walking out to dinner!
The chances are that she would not
arrive, the constabulary having inter-
fered. She may not even ride in a car
with comfort.
The working woman is often an I'M
attached woman, living alone and with
no comfortable establishment to aid
her in her return hospitality. Yet n
return is necessary, not because of the
mental attitude of her entertainers, but
because of her own. She may consort
with millionaires, but if she does she
wants them also to consort with her.
She cannot take them yachting or in
cite them to her country house. She
must, therefore, in order to preserve
the feeling of equality and reciprocity
which distinguishes the relation Of
friends from that of patrons and fol- |
lowers, devise some other form of en-
tertainment. She must organize a first |
night theater party, she must discover |
a-to use the most abused word in the |
English anguage-bohemian dinner |
there. She must send bunch of flow
ers or a new book. She must intro
duce her acquaintance to new hooks |
and corners which they have not eX-