The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-08-30
NEVER 50 DULL AT NEWPORT.
SOCIETY HAVING A SLOW TINE
AT ITS SUMNER CAPITAL.
The Chinese Wall OF Its Indifference EN-
clIIdes the News ami Views Of the
Busy WOrld--SOciaI Successes OF For
c,gncrs and Why the Women Like Them.


cigncrs and Why the Women Like Them.
NEWPORT, Aug eff the summer colony
here had Il better developed sense of humor
it might find enjoyment in the accounts
of its gale les that appear chiefly in the
newspapers Of the West and South. But
these papers are not seen or heard Of here,
| and even If they were Newport would in all
! probability pay no attention 10 them.
The summer colony is interested only in
Itself Beyond its own doings nothing III
the world concerns it.
There would have been ground for aniuse-
ment in the accounts of the feverish gaiety
| that has possessed this place all summer,
when the fact is that 1t was never duller.
| Even the subscription ball fell through be-
cause ii was impossible t o get up sufficient
| enthusiasm for it. This season will be
| recorded as the auietest in a place that
| knows much more enpm and seriousness
than the rest Of the world ever heard any
| hing about.
| Newport S complete Indifference TO any
! thing but its own affairs was very anus
| ingly exhibited last summer, when Henry
! Walterson published highly colored
/ attack on the place and its people. II is
| no exaggeration TO say that half the par
! ticular Newport set against which 1t was
| direce ed never even heard that 1t had been
written, Those who heard Of it took very
| little interest in it and probably few, If
| any, took the trouble 10 read it.
The men and women in the social life at
Newport have raised UP the most effective
Chinese wall they could devise 1t is built
up of on absolute indifference TO the rest
OF the world and it's doings, augmented
by an observing interest in itself
A striking instance of this Indifference
to the opinion of those not in the small set
OF the elect was dinner given last week
| at the Casino on night when the attendance
OF out sders is always large Why the din
ner was given in public rest aurant no.
body seems to know, but the guests We're
easily visible to most of the persons who
paid the price Of admission TO enter the
I Casino. In the presence Of staring crowd
| these guests. less than 100 in number,
could be seen going from the dressing rooms
to the grill room and fitting about from
| one part Of the rest aurant o another.
To give n private entertainment under
/ such Circumsi anCeS can be attributable
to several motives, but in such case as
this indifference to persons outside of
| their own social set, to the extent of even
not caring what they see. think or say, is
the only hypothesis on which public place
could have been selected for such
gathering
Some social regulations have been made
there this summer in spite Of the dulness.
Yesterday one Of the young men, whose
social triumphs are the despair Of his rivals,
appeared at the Casino with one arm in
! a sling. He moved up to one OF the groups
seated on the lawn and a man asked him
the cause of his injury Before he had
| an opportunity TO answer one of the party
called out: Writer'S cramp, isn't it, from
registering your name at the Casino SO
oftcn?"
Even the victim laughed. for he knew
how sedulously these registers appear in
the newspapers, sometimes far in the West
and South. He had, as a matter Of fact,
taken care to see that he registered when
ever the opportunity offered.
Men are of course, In demand-above
all men who will take some interest In
the women There are old ones devoted
to their sport or to talking business, and
there is the numerous young brood Until
| this time there have been few foreigners
! here, hut the remaining weeks of the sea-
son will see the visits OF others.
They are usual features of every year
! here, and supply an agreeable variety to
| the life of the women, who find them more
absorbed in social occasions than the
! Americans, and companions who may be
/ relied on to have no other interest than
making themselves agreeable.
Somebody suggested with more wisdom
| than he realized that n certain number
of foreigners ought always to be imported
| TO keep the gaiety up 10 the average. That
might be heroic measure. but it would
be appreciated by the hostesses who give
dances here and stretch their eyes over
scant battalions OF men who either won't
dance because they're too selfish to make
the effort or can't because they're too old,
while only the foreigners struggle to
entertain the women by doing what they
have come to a dance 10 do.
The foreigners are popular here with
the women, therefore, although all of the
men are not so partial to them. For that
reason they make little OF no effort 10 in
gratiate themselves with the husbands,
especially the older husbands who are
absorbed in business
IL Is, of course, the scarcity Of men here
hat makes it possible for those who want
to make names for themselves in society
TO accomplish that object more easily at
Newport than in some other places. Men
are needed here all day long, and not merely
at night. Women are dependent on them
for luncheon. at the Casino, at the bathing
beach and wherever they may happen to
GO. So the presentahle young man who
would not be considered possible in New
York may make so deep an impression
at Newport a 10 be firmly fixed in the same
social orbit when he goes back 10 town.
II is curious that in the case of men who
climb 40 high there IL never criticism OF
them from either men or women They
are looked upon az rail her admirable persons
by those into whose sphere they have pene-
trated One of those was at luncheon
The other dav at which all the other men
were of families that had been we'll known
Newport.
THAT mans n wonder, said the oldest
Of the party as the newcomer left the room
after luncheon instead of waiting 70 smoke
with the men, -and take off my hot TO
him. Hos not only pulled himself up from
nowhere but he's taken his family along
with him; and he had three brothers to pull
~,