The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-08-09
NO REST IN RECREATION.

,r-s Burton Harrison, the distin-
-,isbad authoress is not classed as a
-ogorrner or a cynic, but she has some
,deas respecting the habits of MEM
hors of her sex that are worthy OF
consideration. She has recently taken
rains to arraign American women for
.Aeir summer habits. II allude,' she
.ovs "to the utterly irrational way of
CARRYING our winter pleasures, the en-
.sr+ainments that belong by right to
our season Of urban gayety into the
long hot months when nature and the
,nfettered heart Of mankind cry aloud
for simpler joys. All other nations
save our own have a time when the
leaders and participants in social d.
yersion withdraw from the theater of
+beir conspicuous performances before
the world and enshrine themselves in
fhe seclusion of country homes, where
nothfng happily occurs that is worthy
Of chronicle in print. The great lady
of the British aristocracy seeks her
Northern moor or castle, where clad
in serge, with sailor nat she Is
abroad all day in the heather or on
the water not to be distinguished in
action or attire from the school girl
off for her holiday.
$50 also the Paris belle marquise.
During these months of inaction in
fine service of the gay world she is at
least storing up fresh powers of en-
ioyrnent against the time when duty
calls her to take her place again as a
purveyor in fashions mart. And she
has tact enough to see that people are
more glad to welcome back a favor
tie than to applaud her every day.
Put we Americans" continues Mrs.
Harrison, give no one a chance to
welcome us back. We are always be-
fore the curtain, in the full blaze of
nmenght, maneuvering to the music
of an unfiagging orchestra. Who is
there among the readers of daily news
papers who cannot tell one the where
abouts and proceedings of Mrs. This
or That during every month of her
busy year spent in chasing pleasure
at home or abroad? There is no sea-
son when the dear creature is cruel
enough to hide herself from our gaze.
Her summers are like her autumns,
winters, springs. She dances, dresses,
yachts, gives house parties, travels,
iaunts. inventS novelties in entertain
ing with almost delirious rapidity. II
she is fortunate enough to possess a
country home fitted and equipped with
the manifold luxuries of modern life
or a great estate, or even a fancy
farm, nothing concerning it or her re-
lations to it is ever withheld from the
public. The camera, penetrating ev-
erywhere, reveals her in her stable
yard, on her golf links, among her
dogs, or cows, or fowls: in the act of
gardening, riding, driving four-in-
hand. automobiling, canoing, sailing
her boat or jumping her hunter over
a pair of bars. Wherever she elects
to go. when tired of what town life
has been able to supply to her in
sat:ate appetite for amusement we
may be sure it will not be long before
we hear a full account of it.
and it is the same with the whole
family. Once established in a hotel
or cottage at the popular resort, there
is no holding back from the current
that carries all the world on its heav
ing bosom. Soon father, mother, boys
and girls are engulfed in the gayeties
the elders may decry, but are not
stror- enough to resist. They re-
sumo the mode of existence that has
engrossed them during the winter past.
They lunch they dine together, they
call on each other without mercy, they
must be always en- grande toilette, see
ing and being seen; their dances oc-
cur night after night, their afternoon
drive is the same old pageant of Van
ity Fair transferred from Fifth ave-
nue., only, Delng more concentrated,
it is far more brilliant in effect. Never
absent is the nervous strain of trying
to keep up with the procession that is
the bane of our modern life 1t is like
black care sitting behind the conquer
ing hero of finance. who sees his fam
lily the victims, rather than the bene-
ficiaries, of the millions he has given
so much of his own life to obtain for
them. It racks the temper and robs
of her best charm the wife and moth
err, who at heart knowing her OWN
folly cannot control the desire to see
herself and hers making as brave
show as any of the rest. And all the
while the pace is increasing stand
ard of magnificence in establishment,
dress and equipage is being pushed
upward-the nervous strain goes on
intensifying. Certainly we are a won
derous young nation, but in some mat
tiers we have yet to learn common
senseu'