The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-01-08
Rapid Pace of
Society Women
By Margaret e. SangSter
SOMEWHAT loose definition of the


- term society is sufficiently cor
rect for our present consideration.
groups Of people who have money
| enough and time enough % put wo"k
in the background and diversion in the
= foreground
/ Very few men in America belong to
| this company. Our men of largest
means are our most energetic toilers.
/ The owner of millions finds the care of
! his property no sinecure. and breaks
| down from brain flag while his coach,
man and his gardener are in their
prime. The men. younger or older.
| who frequent society. go to it's engage
| mentS in the late evening, after bust
ness and professional duties are over.
! Society is the affair, and the peculiar
province of we'll American wo-
/ men.
! In the great cities. what is called
the smart set"s is very much in evil
| dence, its doings are reported and the
| names of its families are household
words about town. Every one feels
| more or less acquainted with those who
| bear them. Society is not limited to
( the smart set anywhere and there
| are exclusive sets in our smaller towns.
/ which regard the Ultra-fashionabie
4 with a degree of lofty condescension
| In drOwsy New England villages in
/ beautiful southern cities. in thriving
, places of the middle west. there are
( women of good family. who pride them
/ selves on the traditions of long descent
and smile at the follies of the nouveau
| richie. Their attitude is that of the old
! aristocracy in France toward the par
venus of Napoleon's regime.
Women ordain the ways of society
| They preside at its functions, and Their
spirit pervades them. making it the
! fashion 10 have wild extravaganza or
| serene simplicity as the dominant note
| of the hour
To thousands of American women.
many of them prominent i'm the society
l of the place i'm which they live. il can
| never seem a sensible and decorous
( thing, for example. TO play cards in tho
/ daytime They may have no objection
! whatever to cards as an amusement
but their consciencess rebel at the waste
OF daylight over a card table. Thou
/ sands of other American women Iet il
be said with pride and gratitude OBJ
/ Ject TO certain vicious practices. i'm
! ported from abroad. which have crept
! into american society in some of its
! circles To these women. deficient in
no grace. at ease i'm every environment,
! accustomed TO influence and Difference
! card playing for money. even when the
| money is lost or won for sweet chart
4 tvs sake. is gambling. and is therefore
I extremely ObjectiOna BILE. So too. are
| wine drinking and the smoking of CT
. SdIelleS- pTacllCeS drowned bN
| conservative American gentIeWOrnen
Long may it be before those who ad-
minister our home life accept lower.
I standards of morals and manners than
| have obtained with us from the begin
ming. Women must be the censors
] here.
! We cannot help ourselves. if we
would. The men of our country are
4 busy with its public affairs. It's pri-
! waite life derives color, consistency and
/ strength from the womanhood Of
! America.
! One wonders sometimes at the siren
uous life a woman OF fashion can lead
! without breaking down. No laundress
going 10 and from her daily toll. with
her thick shawl crosswise over her
{ shoulders; no saleswOman, standing
| long hours behind a counter: no fac
1 tory operative at her loom works more
/ steadily than My Lady Beautiful in her
| steady round, after the season has fair
/ ~ started.
The dressmaker alone nlonopoIizes
/ the time and vitality Of her client to a
] formidable extent. To step into the
drawing room of a fashionable dress
maker is to find ones-self in the pres
; eEce of an autocrat. She is of all per-
/ sons in the world the haughtiest in her
/ indifference TO the women who wait
with humility for her pleasure in fit
! ting them, and who beseech her with
! eager breath to send home their gowns
! If time Dinner gowns, street gowns
| evening gowns debutante gowns bril-
daI gowns, their prices running up into
hundreds of dollars, litter u1adane's
chairs and sofas. Folded into boxes
| with hlmy tissue paper putting out
sleeves and shielding laces. and filling
up every space that else might crush
I the precious finery, these elegant crea-
| garb necessary to the proper appear
ance of society woman at the several
functions of a single day are in them
! selves appalling. My Lady Beautiful
could not possibly get through it all
unless she Mad "A good deal of personal
service. Her maid arranges her bath
| i'm the morning, testing the temperature
and pertaining il with violet or rose
! My lady's letters are brought her with
/ her breakfast, which she takes in her
! room. Her children arc brought in at
| the same hour to say. good-morning or.
! when she IS dressed. she pays a fleet
ing visit to her nursery.
Do not take ii for granted that the
| society woman necessarily negIects her
! children because she delegates their
| care TO others. Though they miss some
/ of the sweet mothering and cuddling.
| the lowering over the nest, and the
broOding wing of mothers. who give So
ciety the second place in their lives.
| these little ones are often splendid spe-
! cimens OF robust health and sturdy
physical development. The head nurse
| in wealthy home is a woman of char
acter and responsibility. The baby's
| nurse has been graduated by a training
school. and this apparent social butter.
1 fly generally exercises a vigilant super-
vision over the children and their care
/ taker.
she may have a hospital board meet
| ing or committee at some society of
municipal reform 20 visit first in the
4 morning From this when NV Lady
| Beautiful issues. she may go TO lunch
/ con, then for drive I'm the park then.
| home for a brief rest, after which come
y in SVtiff -,