The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-02-12
LETTER NUMBER ?.

My dearest Dorothy.-- Birming- ham may be. it is not winter resort. With my love of the tropics and warm glowing things. I have become a martyr to those sudden climatic changes that send you home from an afternoon tea shiyering in your chiffons.
 I fancied few weeks ago that l would be sending you boxes of Topjomieas pack ed in soft gray moss of the south l pie tured myself wearing cool looking gowns and of basking like an Egyptian princess under the warm southern sun. If this weather continues here the southern women will lose their soft langinous grace which is as much the result of this tropical climate as the luxurious manner of living. Somehow it seems nat ural to associate the women of the south with cool dlaphonous frocks and you expect all the men to wear immaculate white linen or soft white fiannels at all seasons of the year. southern woman cloaked to her throat and wearing furs no matter how silky and soft they are seems incongruos, because you feel that the nearer you approach the tropics the nearer you are to the land of caressing sunshine But women who live in the south think they are dressed for the weather in thin soft coats of chinchilla or ia boa of ermine skins, which they wear over the sheerist frocks. A chinch- fila coat, my dear Dorothy and slippers I asked a shoe dealer if southern women ever showed any natural inclination to wear thick soled high shoes. ''Oh, yes" he said. we have orders for high shoes, bLs 1t will require years to make heavy soles popular in the south" and a Birm- ingham physician told me not long ago that high shoes with thick soles were actually more necessary than warm stockings. Wear as thin and silky stockings as you want to, long your shoes extend above your ankle. was his advice. But the southern women lie wear the .innest stockings. French heeled slippers, the sheerest hand made lingerie. the softest, thinnest gowns and when she is Oil the verge of shiverlng she takes out he" ermine skins or puts chinchilla scarf about her fair throat and vows that she Is comfortable.
 If you were not going to be Easter bride. my dear Dorothy, I would have you here where there are lots of eligible men. have concluded that an eligible bach elor should be the most envied creature, not even acce eoting the popular debutante or the married belle. A debutant's career is too short lived to really be interesting and married belles are getting to be common place. It Is the eligible bache- Tor to whom society looks for diversion, who is the piece-de-resistance, on the social menu. If he Is good looking and nowadays there is no excuse for a man not to look well groomed with the com hined efforts of his turkish bath attend ants and gooG tailor If he soends his money lavishy on his friends and has no a.1f .,vlo 1,., A.. lao, greatest success socially. His dinners his driving parties, the women whom he calls upon his affairs d'armour what he says eats and drinks Is of the livliest interest. No event Is complete without his presence or if he pleads an excuse and sends his hostess a box of orchids and violets no one else can fill the niche he occupies season after aes son in Vanity Fair
 I hear the most interesting stories of the bachelor element There has has always been se. of bachelors yoIng. wealthy. pleasure loving and who did not object t. spending money. They have kept house together. entertained lavi5hly. had their retinue of servants. their carriages and altogether maintained n most pretentious establishment. What become of q certain set of bachelorr." l asked a woman the otker day at h-idge 70" she said, 'T married one of tfem, and then after that tlcre were other weddings ard that set or DacnelOTS WIS SLDeFceueu OInerS.
 Every few ser sons there is a new set of men who live in this luxurious and de- lightful way. until one by one each gives his last bachelor dinner.
 But speaking of men. why is it that women and hestesses still depend on them to see that their women gYests nre pro- vided with escorts. when every girl should go to an evening party either with her cl aperon or accompanied by her maid Ir other cities T. would be the height of bad form for a girl to go alone with her escort. but here a girl has to decline an invitation unless some man asks her to -c with him. This necessarily means that she frequently accepts the attention of men sl.e d,slilSes because she is permit ted no ,rdcp tndcnce The bete-roire Of hostesses is providing escorts for the girls they invite to their dances. and the embarrassing rart is that list of the girls is bulletined at the club for their names to be checked The mothers of daughters who will be debutants next winter could change this very provincial custom. A young bachelor who is ex- tremelv popular, confessed to me the other day that there were many men who would welcome a change. Some years ago Birmingham gave it's first Assembly ball and this was the only occasion when the girls went with their chaperones. It was the most elegant ball ever given here and I am surprised that some effort has not been made to reorganize the old As- sembly. The rules governing these exclu-