The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-10-18

Paul Women Greatly HandIcaps rne
Social Writers and a Legitimate
Business Seems Like a Reproach-
What Women of Other Cities Do
A very charming woman who lives
in city about the size of this one and
who has been visiting here recently
was talking with the writer about the
conservatism of st. Paul women and
the contrast offered by her own city
in the matter of reporting society news.
She said the social leaders in her city
did all in their power to- assist social
editors Of the various papers and were
willing, not only that their pictures
should occasionally be used in the
papers, but allowed their teas, dinners
and social affairs of all kinds to be
written up in detail. These women, she
said, were not any fonder of publicity
and seeing their names in the papers
than these of~St. Paul, but they knew
what it meant to the women sent out
to obtain the news, and being modern,
up-to-date women, they realized that
this is an age of publicity and it is
Impossible for the socially prominent
to escape it.
She said further that when the
women of her city were giving an es-
pecially pretty dinner or luncheon, or
their daughters were being married,
they allowed the papers to take flash
light pictures of the table and the deco
rated rooms. Their gowns were de-
scribed and those of the assisting
women. names of guests were given,
lists of wedding gifts, and sometimes
a column would be written about one
social affair. On Sunday whole page.
was given UP to the description of the
doings of the week.
When the writer heard this she near
~ dropped dead with establishment and
proceeded to tell the charming woman
in question about the difficulties en-
countered in trying to write social
news in St. Paul. For a well known
woman to allow her picture to appear
in a paper even for the sake of, per-
haps, one Of her best friends, is I'M
heard of. She would consider herself
disgraced, or next door to it. The
writer informed her that it was almost
impossible to obtain even two columns
of social news for the Sunday paper
and that was done only by not asking
the women concerned, but by putting
II III any way livery G,duI 7NOUldu
who is approached on the subject either
fatty refuses to give any information
or begs the social writer to leave her
out To allow picture of her dining
room or description of her gown to
appear in print would indicate aberra-
ton of mind on her part. She has alb
solutely no regard for the writer of
social news. In all of this she is dis
tlnctly provincial, and would be so
regarded in Paris London, New York
and in many smaller American cities.
If you will take the trouble to look up
the London society journals, or the
social departments of London dailies
or Paris dailies, or those of New York
you will find therein portraits of the
titled and untitled leaders of society,
descriptions of their houses and gowns,
and exact accounts of their balls and
dinners, which, of course, could not
have been obtained without their
knowledge and consent.
To be the writer of society news on
a daily paper is as honorable a bust
ness as any other, but the result of the
trials to be met with in this city in
this vocation is to make of every So
cial writer sort of Sherlock Holmes
and her methods that of the detective
In these matters st. Paul is fearfully
behind the times. The woman who is
a social leader in New York fully real
ICES the penalties attached to her posi-
ton, and she does not feel disgraced
when asked for her portrait by a daily
paper, but gives it cheerfully and is so
charming to the young woman who
asks for it that it is a pleasure to go
to her. One of the easiest cities in the
country in which to obtain social news
is in Washington in the diplomatic set
and among the best people of the city.
And why? Because the women are &C
customed to public life and to society.
1t must not be imagined that they are
pushing, vulgar women, for they are
not. They understand the age in which
they live and realize that one Of the
penalties of prominence is having their
gowns, houses and parties written up.
But ST. Paul! Well, the writer of So
ciety news in this city finds her life a
burden and her work regarded as some
unpleasant, rather disgraceful labor, of
which the least said the better. New
York and Washington women write
out the accounts of their affairs, and
send 1t to the papers in order to
have 1t appear correctly, and
this is much the wisest thing to do.
During several years of work of this
kind in this city the writer has had
this happen to her twice, and then she
nearly tainted.
As for pictures-oh, that is out of the
question. Conservatism is all very well
at times, but it is being done to death
in this city in more ways than one.
st. Paul women are proverbially kind
to other women who do things-if you
are nurse, stenographer, teacher, or
what not, but if you write social news
you are to be frowned upon and begged
not to do the very thing your business
obliges you to do. Knowing that often
your living depends on the amount of
social news you obtain, these women
who mean to be kind, will yet hamper
you in every way possible, refuse all
information and make it just as hard
as they can. However, let them not
imagine they are following the social
leaders in other cities, for they are not.
They are simply twenty years behind
the times.
4.