The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1903-03-25
LAURENs. $. c.. Mar. 20, 1908.
The Society Column.

Inc society COlumH'
The Columbia State and the Charles
ton News and Courier nov publish a
great quantity of society news in their
Sunday Issues. 1t adds much to the In
terest of both papers, A curious thing
Is that the News and Courier publishes
no news about Charleston society. This
is because the Charleston people dis
like to see society news in print. The
charleston Post publishes a column or
two about people occasionally, which
adds to the value of the paper, though
1t must be said hat it's society depart
ment is not remarkably well con-
Quoted. This may be due to the prevail
ing objections Of the people rather than
TO lack of ability on the part of the So
ciety editor. One does we'll to be able
to have q respectable excuse for a so.
ciety column in Charleston.
This objection by Charlestonians to
the publishing of news about them
selves is an interesting phenomenon.
1t deserves to be studied. Similar pc
~culiarities are observed in the orient.
The Turkieh aud Persian wom en- keep
their faces covered, except as to the
eyes.
The a~nti-publicity trait in Charles
ton is old. 1t does not necessarily in
dictate superior breeding. The court
gazettes of Europe publish the engage
ments, and announcements OF impor-
tant social affairs. Indeed, 1t may be
that the "society column had its orr
gin in the customs Of the highest cir
Giles.
AT any rate, in the up country we
rather like the society column. 1t is a
convenience. When q Llurens woman
has a visitor from Spartanburg she is
glad to have others know IL quickly and
the newspaper is a good medium
Hostess and guest usually profit by it
In pleasure. Our folks avail them
selves of whatever seems to be practi-
cal and good. OF course vulgarity,
gaudy writing, nashy descriptions of
parties, etc, do not find approval
among IL people any more than
among the people of Charleston. But
IL people like to read of the doings of
each other, their comings and goings,
and they see no sound reason why a
newspaper of good taste may not tell
OF them. Of course they do not read
newspapers capable of violating the
rules OF good taste. Our up-coun-
try people, the people Of the Pied
mont South, we believe are superior in
cultivation and in refinement to those
OF most sections of this country. We do
not wish to make unpleasant compari-
sons but we think that the commune
ties OF Spartanburg and Greenviile will
average higher in cultivation than the
communities of Charleston and Savan-
nah. Both of these old coast w
nave many people, very many, who in
good manners are equal to the best ia
the world. Nevertheless, the average
is higher in these younger and smaller
Piedmont towns and one is more apt to
lind a safe guide in the public opinion
OF the latter on social questions than in
h former.In short there is such a thing
as progress in good manner as well as
IN material affairs and ancient habits
of action and thought are not always the
best or purest. On the whole, an un-
prejudiced outsider would probably de-
eide that ideally good prevail
In such towns as S~partanburg and
G~reenville, in preference to any of the
larger cities, Northern or Southern,
OF ours We are not Directing to the
objections of the Charleston people to
personal newspaper mention. That
would not be good manners on our
part. The individual is the hnal Judge
In these matters. "De gustibus" etc.
But discussing the question solely be-
cause it is interesting as a study iu hu-
mon nature, We believe the Up-country
opinion is distinctly better than that of
the seacoast cities. Therefore, The
News and Courier confers a favor upon
It's ~up-country friends by giving them
a weekly medium of communicating
about each other socially, even though
the Forbidden City remain forbidden.
But it would be the essence of i'll
breeding to criticise the Turkish gem
tlemen n the Turkish ladies on ac-
count of social customs and ideas.
which, though undoubtedly peculiar
seeming to us, are in no wise harmful
or in the least distressing.
M