Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-01-23

society. Moreover, some years ago. New
York society gave evidence of decided
inclination to adopt" Miss Maude Adams.
Those who are the most enthusiastic IN
praise of Miss Adams do not maintain mat
she is even passably pretty, but because
she possessed exactly the same appre-
ciated traits possessed by Miss Barrymore.
New York society made overtures to her
which she was compelled to reject because
her health would not permit OF her allow
ing herself to be made an object OF social
adulation.
Passing of the Stag Banquet.
1t is freely predicted that the stag BAN
auet is on its last legs over here. and that
the time is at hand when the wives and
daughters and sisters of the guests will
participate as guests. and not as mere
lookers-on. at the big speech-making af-
fairs of societies and organizations. OF
which there are many in New York
during the season. In cities like Chicago
and st. Louis and San Francisco, women
banquets for many years past. and New
York Is ready 10 abandon its selfish scheme
of excluding the women.
The unwritten stipulation is that the
presence of the women Is in no wise 10 In
terfere with the smoking of the men at the
banquet table, which the women declare Is
no hardship to them whatever. since they
are all enwrapped. nimbussed and picked
III tneiT men 1olkS smoke at tnelr homes
from one years end to the other. And, as
smoke rises. their situation at the tables,
enveloped in the rising smoke. can by no
possibility be as bad as II is when they arc
poked into the galleries. subject to the to-
bacco fumes and the discomfort and tho
sense or wrong and the nothing -to-eat out<
rage. all at one and the same time.
Complaints of New York Women.
For years the women Of New York have
been complaining of the fact that they
never had any opportunity to hear any OF
this enormously eloquent and humorous
after-dinner talk of which their husbands
spoke so much and so enthusiastically.
They read the after-dinner talks in the
papers on the following day and declared
that they couldn't see anything in any of
them to rave over. This was an ingenious
way OF forcing the men folks to say. Yes.
but yought to've heard the talks as they
were delivered. They don't read like they
sound, which. of course. gave the women
the opportunity to say. well. why don't
you seinsh creatures arrange IL SO that we
can hear the speeches as they are deliv-
ered? This sort of thing has been going
on for long time, and IL has at length
borne fruit. The women will be guests at
some OF the big banquets this year and
next year they will probably attend all OF
them.
The splendor and brilliance and enjoy.
ment OF the big banquets will, ii is superfiu.
Gus to say. be vastly amplifed by the at
tendance of the women Chicago has had
all the best Of 1t In the matter of tie pic-
turesqueness of its banquets for many
years There Is nothing particularly ims
pressive In the spectacle of three or four
hundred men. all dressed just alike in con-
ventional evening clothes, seated around a
banquet board. Western men, accustomed
to the presence at their banquets of their
splendiferously arrayed women, have. in
truth. found the New York banouets to ba
decidedly dull affairs.
G. L. q