The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1905-11-18
IN SOCIETY.

my uedr
IN SOCIETY.
have wished for a long time that
l knew just what it meant to be Tin So
ciety." 1 have asked various people
and they have given various replies,
but candor compels me to say that
none of them have been very salts
flying.
The first person I put the question
to was a man prominent in what they
call society. "What does it mean,"
said to him. timidly but very seri-
ously, to be ''in society?"
He looked me over in deep amaze
ment. "Why, really, now," he said,
"what a remarkable question p
Perhaps" 1 replied, "but would
you mind answering it?"
"Why certainly not-not at all.
To be in society-let me see, why to
be in society is to be recognized, to
be invited-to be, we'll to be in it,
you know"
ITO be recognized by whom? To
be invited where? To be in what?"
"Well, now, it's something like
this. There are certain number of
people who stand as the people who
are worth while. To be in society is
to be on the lists of those people. "
Society, he added, triae pompously,
contains the people that are worth
while"
"Oh.' I murmured-"the people
who are worth while Then would
you say that to be in society one is
sure to be worth while"
The man hesitated a little. eyes"
he said finally. "Yes, think SO"
"You would also say" I pursued,
''that all the people who are in society
are worth while, and that all the peo-
pie who are not in society are not
worth while?'
He thought that over long time.
Zone must not generalize too broad
ly," he said, guardedly.
l next sought a man who hates So
ciety. "What does it mean to be in
society,"" I asked.
1T means that you are a fool" he
answered promptly.
mo, really" I said, "what does
it mean?"
"It means that you have narrow
contracted view of life. 1t means
that you are liar, fool, toady and
a snob. 1t means that you would
sell your immortal soul to have some
soulless woman say how do you do
to you. It means that when there
are around you these glorious oppor-
tunities for making something of your
life that you prefer to spend your
days and nights in cheap effort to
get on some ones invitation list. Not
that you expect to have a good time
when you get there. The people who
want to get in society don't want to
get there for the good time they'll
have. They want to get there-well,
heaven knows why.!"
l left him and sought woman for
whose judgment I have great re-
spect. She is in society without hav-
ing much of the stigma of being there.
mean by that that she can be there
if she wants to, but that she doesn't
often want to.
She laughed quite heartily when I
told her of my predicament. "Well,
now let me see," she said, sitting
down near me. "What does it mean
to be in society? Oh, 1 guess it
means that you can't call your time
or your soul your own. 1t means
that you are to spend this precious
life of yours doing things that are not
worth while
"Not worth while? / thought
every one in society was worth while. "
my Child" she whispered, "of
all the mistakes you ever made in your
life that is the greatest of them all"
''But why is it that people who are
not in society want to get in it?' /
asked.
because they do not know how
fortunate they are in being out" she
answered.
1 heaved deep sigh. 81 guess
shall never know" 1 said.
NO." she answered, "you never
will"
"You see,' she went on, "there
has never been a true word written
about society. At any rate there has
never been anything written about it
which has been generally accepted.
The reason is this !: the things writ
ten about society are written by one
of two classes of people-the people
who are in, or the people who are
out. The things written by the
people who are in it are not accepted
because other people say they are
written from the standpoint of snob !;
the things written by people not in
society are not accepted because it is
said they are written from the stand
point of jealousy. My child, don't
write on society. If you had painted
the grandest pictures, written the
greatest poems ever produced, and
then if you were to say one word in
dicating you did not think being in
society was the greatest thing that
could befall a human being, those
people would draw their mantles of
complacency around them and call