The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-12-31
Daughters Debut.
he
BY MARGARET E. sANesTER.

a MONG the most brilliant and beau
~ tiful of social functions is the de-
= but OF a daughter. During the
years of childhood she is the joy and
delight Of her home. and in fashion,
able circles her education is watched
over with the minutest care from the
hour Of her birth. The nursery, the
kindergarten and the schoolroom have
done their best for the little maid be-
fore she grows up and goes TO col
lege. Throughout this time her mother
is--iooking forward to the days when
she Shall have her as almost her sec
snt sell, her companion and friend with
wAom she has everything in common
and who is the object of her ambition
aHd the crown of her life as no other
possession is.
The old couplet says:
your sons your son till he marries
wife,
But your daughters your daughter all
- the days Of her life"
American mothers are not in haste
to be rid of their daughters; they
look forward with pleasure and antici-
patton to the daughters triumphant
giFlhood.
When a daughter is to be introduced
to- society her mother sends cards of
iIrSitation to an at home and so far
as-she may she omits none of her own
friends and also asks the young peo-
pie OF her friends families. Old and
young throng to the house to meet and
honor the young woman who yesterday
WIS IN the background and of no ac-
OF no account socially, I mean, for un-
til she has been formally presented a
girl does not nguTe TO any extent in
her mothers world. She has had her
birthday parties and other pleasures
Incidental TO juvenile years, but she is
net in the least a parsonage, nor can
she be until after her. debut That
event Immediately puts her in the
front rank. young person 10 be
treated with consideration, properly
chaperoned and expected beyond every
thing else TO have good time while
she remains young. beautiful and full
OF interest in all that is going on.
- .. '-r-~-k--sE S----,..'
The daughter Whose debut takes
place under happy auspices is as like
her mother as if she were a younger
sister. The mother isSSfill young and
charming, gracious in demeanor, and
al fait in all the acquisitions made
upon her in society. Very likely this
giA has a grapdmother who is still a
social queen. wearing velvet, satin, lace
ann diamonds, with an air of royalty;
a woman Who looks back over life and
surVssIs~-as tseFies--ef .~eenquests. There
are sure 10 be courtly old -beaux who
remember when the grandmother was
a slip Of a girl with the world at her
feet
Society is by no means left to the
sparkling beauties who are in the first
freshne5s of their bloom. 1t enlists all
who remain attractive and girls and
boys. though they enter it with Zest,
have by no means the monopoly, nor
do-they take precedence of older peo-
plc9 Yet there is nothing in the world
sO-sWeet, so bright and so bewitch-
ing as a girl in her early twenties,
particularly if she is an American
girl.
on the occasion of her debut the
daughter receives with her mother and
is surrounded by a beVy of friends Of
her own age. She is rObed in simple
white, but you need not fancy that her
toilette shall be inexpensive because it
does not look elaborate. One pays a
rOHnd sum for simplicity when a
French dressmaker sends in her bilf
Whatever this young girl wears will
b6-certain TO suit her Youth sets off
dress, and she needs no ornament of
gold or Jewels. Flowers are her only
adornment. She holds them in her
hand and the house will be heaped
with them and fragrant with their in
cense, for friends send them in law
ishly. and every time the bell rings a
florists messenger will be at the door.
Flowers are banked on the mantels
fhaV stand on the DianO thew fill every
available space, and this, not in sum
mer. when they may be had for the
picking, but in winter when they cost
a goOdly sum.
After a few words of greeting and
eongratulation TO the mother who
presents the daughter. smiling COM
pliment or two 10 the girl herself, and
a little desultOry chat with friends, the