The Savannah morning news., 1904-10-23
WOMAN'S WORLD

elected president, as like as not, OF
hers.
1t is. however. when it comes to the
gentle art OF grafting-of getting things
| by ones wits-that women loom up
/ great and unreproachable at the head
OF the confidence profession. Strange
| ~ enough, this vice. like that of the
| souvenir collector. belongs almost ex-
| clusively TO the rich. and those who
! attempt TO live like the rich. In one
Of Henry James novels he tells of a
man who rolled in luxury and stvle
| on an income of nothing q year. When
people first saw him they always ex-
| claimed: How he does dress.'' But
| after they had known him for a while
| they would ask: How does he dress -
! The feminine CRATER could answer that
! question So also could the fashion,
able dress makers of every city in the
land.
The gentle CRATER has only two arti-
cles in her philosophy. The first is
that IT is her business I'm life to get
everything she wants. The second Is
that it is other peoples business to
get paid il they can. She begins by
running up bills at the shops, paving
a little on account now and then. This
puts the merchants who trust her at
her mercy. They are bound to give
more credit to her in order not to lose
what she already owes them, and so
she goes her triumphant way. adorned
like solomon in all his glory. while the
envious cry out How she does dress,"
and the knowing ones ask How does
she dress ?'
This system applies equally as we'll
to her servants and the smaller trades
people with whom she deals, and by
dint OF continually changing sewing
women and cheap dressmakers she
n dc
honest. But she treads on hearts.
Poor dressmakers have told me of hav-
ing walked for miles, lacking even car
fare, to the houses of rich women who
owed them bills, merely to be turned
away without cent, and with a vague
call some other time
The gentle CRATER does not confine
herself, however. to imposing OH
tradespeople. In the language of the
profession, she works both sides of the
street, and holds up her friends and
acquaintances with equal assiduity.
Indeed, one never realizes what the
cash value of friendship is until one
observes her methods. She never pays
hotel bills. oh, dear no. Wherever
she goes she knows somebody on whom
she foists herself as an unlimited guest.
Neither does she spend any money!
on her lunches. Instead, she has a
family just as they are sitting down
to the table when, of course, she must
be invited to eat no matter whether it
is convenient or incOnVenient.
Nor does she waste her substance on
carriages, although like the Irishman
in the song, she always rides in chaises.
The way, she manages this is a tri-
umph of artful simplicity.
Are you going to Mrs. AS ball?"
< ell all off al ~
Mrs. 3. Mrs. B. replies that she is,
whereupon the gentle CRATER says:
Lets take a carriage together then,
cabs are so frightfully dear. You or
der it and just drop by for me-" Mrs.
3. agrees and orders the carriage. She
also pays for it. for never, never does
she see the color of the gentle graft
er's money, for that astute lady has
never contemplated contributing her
share of the expense.
Still another vile from which most
Of us have suffered is the practice the
gentle CRATER has of getting US to buy
something for her when we go down
town, and which she invariably for
gets to pay us for. Still more fatal
is it to go shopping with her, for she
is sure to see some article for which
she never has quite enough money to
pay. MY dear, lend me two dollars or
five. or ten she cooes. Il simply
must have this, and l will hand the
change back to you when I see you
next" Alas and alack you might as
well kiss your money good bye, for
never moro will you behold its face
again.
These are not extreme instance. Any
poor sewing woman will tell you that
her rich customers are her worst pay,
and as for the balance of us, there
is not one Of us who does not number
among her acquaintance some woman
who continually works her whole social
circle, and so common is the custom
women have of borrowing and not pay
ing back that most women have learn
ed that it is prudence only to carry car
fare in their purse. This is especially
true If there are going out with a
woman who is better off than them
selves, for it is not our poor friends
who rob us, it is our rich acquaintan-
ces who are expensive luxuries.
And the curious part about all of this
is that the women who do all of these
things still esteem themselves models
of honesty The feminine point of view
is peculiar in many ways, but in
nothing more than the slantwise way
at which they look at this subject. Be
fore, however, lively woman SHES any
more bricks at her brother for steal
ing she ought to amend her own Nays
in the matter of souvenir collecting,
progressive euchre, and above all give
up the gentle art of trying to get
something for nothing
Dorothy Dix.