davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-02-04

rooms up stairs some of the best known
poets and artists and actors of the country
are telling us how wonderful we are
On these occasions we can take up the
social game If we wish. If We are tired we
can do as we please. For instance, from
the gymnasium and swimming pool every
now and then a gladstone splashing indi-
Gates that some of the Hat Pins are in
dulging in game of water hockey. Now
fois from the fencing room and the soft
apartment where Prof. Jonavan Is instruct
ing some of our ambitious girls in the art
of boxing.
In fact, there is nothing that one cannot
learn here. Our dining rooms and kitchens
are on the top floor. of course. and there is
a room directly off the pantries, where in
structions in cooking are given. Miss Rose
tree, the playwright has become such an
expert in the making of layer cake that
she had column In the Hat Pin Magazine
last month.
The Hat Pin, by the way, IS one of the
best things that ever came out since the
most delightful kind. and is written. edited
and illustrated by our members. A cele-
brated poster artist does the cover, and
the pertaining and Uniting of the leaves as
well the smart quality OF the contents
have made such a hit with the public that
Mr.. Lock OF the Hyphen has ordered a
thousand copies for private distribution. his
advertisement occupying the entire inside
cover, although 1t consists merely of the
name of the hotel. written in olive and PIN
ned with a scarlet hat pin.
We have also obtained tie services Of the
celebrated maitre dhotel who for 80 long
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-02-04


viously could not he sold at So an acre are
now held at SO, with no sellers, and the
price in all probability will reach $40 an
acre before the ditch has been working
very long.
In all this immense increase in values the
irrigation engineer can have no part He is
debarred by law from buying selling any
land under the project On which he is work
ing, and the most he may own is a house
if he is going to live there for term of
years TIL his work is completed The salary
of the engineer is not large, and it is said
that the service has so far been absolutely
free from any suspicion of scandal.
There is only one man in the service who
has even awaited himself of the nern1iss or
to buy n home on the site of the work, and
he did that as it was necess Try to buiid
house, there being none that could be rented.
Thus, the engineer sees the fruits of his
work in immensely increased land values
all around him, but he can have no part in
this wealth, and when he gets through with
a great piece of work he has to move to
some other point, and have the same drama
re-enacted before his eyes
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-02-04

- Until the now famous Hat Pin
club found its inevitable way into
American existence. with splendid
~ temples in all the big cities. iden-
titled above the entrance arch by
the eloquent symbol of the organization
the best womens clubs In the country had
been merely shadows cast before. such as
prepare the way for all important move
ments
1t is true that the mere fact of feminine
organization being proved possible as
founded many OF those who assoc ated The
sex with talents for disintegration rather
than the reverse. But disIlusion followed
establishment when II was discovered that
the organization had merely resolved itself
into an organized taIkfest in every in
stance.
The best takers were always the most
prominent members and the most convinc-
ing speechmakers were officers. Rivalry
being established on this peculiar basis. de-
bates assumed ferocious amount of inn
portance and frequently wound up in rows,
which found their way to the newspapers
through members interested in literary pur-
suits
The unpleasant incidents that character
lied some of the elections when frauds
were publicly charged and recounts de-
manded are happily now a part of ancient
history. AS we sit here this afternoon in
the writing room OF the Hat Pin Club. the
great windows opening unon balconies laden
with boxes OF hyacinths and pansies. Tor It
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-02-04

is springtime, we are forced to smile with
a tender pity for the Old clubs that used to
ind a vagrant existence in the hired par
lors of snowy hotels and the fifth-foor lofts
in side streets, where we used to climb on
afternoons TO partake of admirably bad
tea and the society of exquisitely hem
minded men.
From without the open easements the un-
mistakable tar paved. gasoline-scented
odors of 9TH avenue come in. Without the
awninged entrance, where liveried men
stand with powdered hair and silk stock
ings there is line of our smart hansoms,
olive and scaflet-the club colors-the
horses neatly blanketed and undoubtedly
the best groomed IN New York.
II is absolutely delightful to realize that
the Hat Pin Club has been the means of
reducing exorbitant cab fares in America.
Through the cooperation of one of our
wealthy members we were able TO procure
our own hansoms and broughams. and,
managing them as a private stable connect
ed with the club, we arranged rates SO that
cabs were no longer an extravaganza.
The union troubles and the opposition to
our innovation failed miserably. as they de-
served. in their object. We had enlisted
the interest OF the powers, and with six
months of cheap. clean. comfortable cabs
one of the most disgraceful conditions In
our own city was remedfed and all others
have long ago followed suit.
Looking out from this beautifully quiet
room the great hall shows perfect forest
OF giant palms. for this afternoon happens
TO be mans day. and In the drawing
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-02-04

which is surrounded by hills, making
natural reservoir site. The hills converge
at the lower end to within a mile of each
other, and It is here that the great earth
dam has been commenced. The flow OF
water from the reservoir will be controlled
by immense steel and concrete gates IN the
middle and the main canal which will carry
off this flow will be as big as river, forty
feet wide on the bottom and twenty feet
deep. OF the area that will be irrigated
about $1,000 acres are government land, and
most of this has been filed on already in
160-acre plats. AS the size of the farm
unit recommended by the reclamation serv-
ice is eighty acres, these filings will have
to be reauoed and reapportioned.
One interesting feature of the work Is
that there will be a second canal necessary
to carry the water of the Belle Fourche
into the reservoir. The dam is not built
as some of the reservoir dams are built,
across the bed of the stream, but off TO one
side. There will have to be a canal cut
through a range of hills to pour the Belle
Fourche into the reservoir. When the res
ervoir is full. or in heavy food time, the
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-02-04

The effect of irrigation on the country In
question is well illustrated in the two ac-
companying pictures. OF course, there has
been a little private irrigation work done
in the region. The bare picture, with the
two men in the foreground, shows the Belle
Fourche reservoir site, and the other, with
the houses and trees, is where a little water
has been run on the land by private enter
prise, and formed the nucleus of a thriving
town.
The region was great cattle range, and
the soil rich, even with the scanty rainfall.
The farmers declare that with water they
can grow ten-penny nails and broom ham
dies" And there Is good market for
everything that can be raised on the S5,H0
acres. 1t is close to the edge of the Black
Hills country. All the provisions used
there now have to be imported over a long
and circuitous railway route, and prices are
correspondingly high With big supply of
foodstuffs at a reasonable price il is ex-
pected that mining in the Black Hills Will
take a fresh boom and that then the over
grade ores can be worked at a profit, W hich
was not the case before.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-02-04

restaurant charges. They claimed that the
club would deteriorate il it were possible
to obtain cup of good soup and roll for
the small sum charged in one room. while
in another the same portion cost double the
amount.
The scheme. on the contrary, has proved
entirely satisfactory as business venture.
The club is really club and is a mutual
benefit The wealthy woman who wishes
to entertain can give luncheon at ten or
twenty dollars a plate if she chooses. ana
is encouraged to do so, as the cfuD Dement'S
and is thus enabled to provide the girls or
more moderate means with excellent fare,
pretty china fine spotless linen, flower
at breakfast and candle or two at din
ner.
Never was the magic of cooperation
proved so splendidly. Never was there such
genuine benefit to women working in the
professions who had heretofore been forced
TO exist in boarding houses and hotels or
else maintain expensive establishments thar
they might have the small comforts that
women love.
Bachelors had always been provided Cor
with fats built for them and catering to
their needs. They also had their clubs, but
the woman alone was to an extent pariah
on the face of the earth. The only recrea-
ton that offered TO her was the social pre-
tense attempted by other weary women Ike
herself. who gave teas and afternoons TO
which they invited their dearest enc
mics when they really should have been in
bed or else walking in the outdoor air,
plunging through the surf or galloping over
a country road to refresh their oyerworked
brains and morbid. literary bodies.
OF course. all women OF sense had Thought
along such lines. and when those educated
mind waves met and eddfed they cast up
an idea that has through time and patient
waiting evolved into this magnificent thing
the Hat Pin-with Its waiting list of sew
erai hundred eager women, egged on by
their husbands and men relatives, who
few short years ago regarded womens
clubs as the beginning of the end.
They are lighting the candles In the din
ing rooms now. each room in a different
color.
1t is quite amusing TO see the six-foof-two
man who stands at the foot OF the stairs
with an impassiye face. He is really the
club detective McCarty who for years was
the dude of Mulberry street. He chose this
device which allows him fair view OF
every one that enters the place and SO
protects us from undesirable persons.
II is getting too gay down here. We are
due for dinner in the grill tonight, Wire
we have as guests an opera singer. ahol
draws caricatures on the table CLOTH a re-
formed matinee actor. who owns an auto
mobile and a captain of industry from
Pittsburg
After all. perhaps II might be better to
curl our hair. The athletic girls who al
ways dine in the grill look so damp and
shiny that some one has cllrlstened the g.ili
room for a few hurried curls!
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-02-04

oil channel of the river can be utilized as
wasteway to carry off the flood water.
Also as the water enters the reservoir from
the side there will be stream pressure
against the big dam, but it will simply
have to hold up the weight of water
against it. All the waste water from the
great lake and the water that is returned
from the irrigated fields will find its way
back into the old river channel below the
great dam
The 'project'--all the irrigation works
are known as projects-is in the middle of
the cattle country close 10 the Black
Hills. Belle Fourche is typical cattle
town one of the biggest cattle shipping
points in the west. 1t is essentially cow
puncher'S'' town, wild and woolly as could
well be magined. The coming of the irri-
cation works will change all this. Already
since the project has been sanctioned, the
town of Bell Fourche has doubled in size
and people are living in tents because they
cal not get houses Farm lands that pre-
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-02-04

has been identified with the fortunes of the
Hyphen. He has the entire charge of our
dining reafn and cafe. and manages 1t
cleverly .in connection with the hotel, by
which our club is connected by an under
ground passage.
The mandolin orchestra has begun to
play upstairs. and any number of nice men
are arriving for tea. 1t has become quite
the fashion to drop in at the Hat Pin for
tea, not that the society idea is adhered to,
but rather the reverse. 1t is entirely in
formal.
Here, for instance, one sees noted play
wright who had grown famous through his
successful presentation of plays requiring
remarkable scenic effects He is being en-
tertained by young society woman who
drives a four-in-hand in stunning style, and
has also literary ambitions. She is wearing
white broadcloth afternoon gown with
gold embroidery. The playwright, how
ever wears riding stock and carries a
newspaper.
In the corner of the hall a clever woman
book critic is talking to financier who is
deeply interested in the success of the Hat
Pin. She wears a shirt waist and short
skirt for she has just come from her Of
fee and disdains dressing when she is tired.
In few moments she win be in the swim
ming pool and later on she will give little
dinner 81 the Irish room.
one OF the important matters discussed
Pin was this question of dressing and also
of feeling forced to take part in club junket-
ings when member might have other mat
tiers that engaged her attention.
~
The men and women who formed the club
for 1t NUT be admitted that we have six
, men on the governing board men who are
now drawing immense dividends from their
original acknowledged that in Amer
lea woman's sex was a decided limitation
when she was what We must call .'unat-
tached. We dislike the WORD ..lonef'
One of the busy millonaires who took up
the idea of the Hat Pin with enthusiasm,
said in his speech that a woman's club
should be to her like a warm cloak which
she might use when the weather required
In other words. it should stand as a pro-
lection and a resting place. Every woman
understood this simfle, and the applause
which greeted the generous hearted Croesus
rippled to the stars.
We agreed that the woman's club as it
had existed vas more of a party dress
something assumed for occasions with a
great deal of mental make up and make
believe. The best OF the clubs had been
merely an arrow that while hitting the tar
get went wild of the bnlfs-eye. OF course
this was intensely feminine. but Ii was also
Intensely futile.
We recalled the social advantages. So
called, of the various organizations and we
realized that they were NIL The meetings
were as rule merely clothes gatherings al
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-02-04

which girls with good gowns put those who
were poorer in a decidedly bad light. This
was one of the advantages" Then, too,
the society, not the social idea, was upper
most.
1t was not that society is as bad as it's
painted. for the Hat Pin Club is not averse
to society when it behaves itself. But the
club meets were only tawdry limitations of
society. Especially in the case of women
workers who, after a day in an office,
shop or a theater, put on long-tatled gowns
and attempted a forced brilliancy of con
versation which was positively hideous
when one realized that the girl was keenly
intelligent and actually charming in her
own environment-her home or her studio
or her stage
Nearly all the popular club women indi-
vidually interesting and admirable, became
in the environment of the cub reception
mere shadow of something they were not.
Not one trace of picturesqueness remained
and when it came to esprit, the very magic
of a club it was entirely lacking. 1t was,
II we must admit 1t, merely question or
talk and of clothes and great deal of I'M
necessary moving about and dragging
serpentine train after one. To sit quietly
in chair at a club reception was unpar-
donable. The expulsion of Miss Pearl, who
planted herself beside a radiator at the
Moonshine Clubs smoker and refused to
bulge when she arrived with wet feet one
day, will always be remembered in cub an
nais. Miss Pearl. by the way, now longs
to the Hat Pin and does just exactly as she
pieases.
We cannot say that she is prominent
member, because we have no prominent
members. Once inside the club rooms we are
all equal and bound by club etiquette We
have no elections and no officers. The gov
erning board regulates the management OF
our organization and there are no stuffed
ballot boxes or factions. We have only
few stringent rules. One is against gossip.
which is absolutely tabooed. Another is OPP
posed to any tendency to self-advertise-
ment. which meets with strict chastisement
from our chosen managers.
X
We have no literary meetings and read
no papers in public. We have a glorious
library, though, and all the publications
and magazines of the world on file. We
have an information bureau, where it is
possible to learn within sixty minutes
everything that it is right that one should
know. 1t is in charge OLA former editor.
whose work was for years printed in dis
play type and whose articles on the ediica-
ton of infants and hygienic dress for wom-
en- have been translated into Chinese.
Our studio suites on the eighteenth floor
are so arranged that they can be thrown
into one vast room. the decorations blend
ing and here the most informal of the
Hatpin girls enjoy life in their own way.
They are, of course, the grinders and hard
the butterfly element, which, however. has
its part In the success of the club. With
the grinders alone the club might be dull;
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-02-04

~ NE of the newest irrigation pro-
y iects that has been started by the
government reclamation service
is the great Belle Fourche works
in the northwestern corner OF
South Dakota.
The work will be remarkable in num-
Der Of ways It involves the construction
OF the greatest earth dam in the world,
structure mile long and 115 feet high at
fits highest point The dam will be 20 feet
broad on top throughout its whole length
and will back UP the waters of the Belle
Fourche river and of Owl creek into lake
five miles wide twenty miles long and in
places over 100 feet deep. This will be the
largest natural or artificial lake in the state
and il will hold water TO irrigate 5000
acres of land
Such is the brief outline of the project.
II is only one Of the eighteen great irrigs-
ton projects now sanctioned in the west.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-02-04

with the butterflies it would be merely
fashionable. AS it is it is unique in the
annals of clubs the world over. The men
like II.
1t gives US a living place-those of us who
find it convenient-and it offers recreation
of several different kinds when those of us
who work are tired. Not the sort of play
that is offered by getting into elaborate
frock. but athletics. baths of all kinds.
beauty grooming and delightful riding les
sons in the great indoor ring rooted over
with glass, where we have persuaded Miss
Blue Ribbon to preside.
There is no burlesque about the Hatpin.
and tries to seem other than she is.
We have any number of stage girls in our
club, but IL any charming little second
rater or even O first-rater, We're to pat on
airs and ermines and attempt to fiaunt
about like u tragedy queen she would be
gently but firmly repealed. We have none
of these seif-seekers in the Hatpin. for il
there is one requirement that stands above
all others # is intelligence.
Easy our code is on the surface, il is
rigid about some things and there is a
blacklist as well as waiting list There
are certain essentials for membership.
which, however, are regarded as private
affair of our own. One of the great rules
is that secrecy be observed about our life
within these delightful walls and that no
hint of any club matter reaches the public
except those which we wish to give out.
and you may be sure that we have not
built up the success of our club by giving
out anything disagreeable.
x X
And to think that few years ago wo-
mems clubs were practically joke. And
worse than that. to think that so many dis
sensions married them that a scrap book
was really the most important in the ar
chives of every association
1ndividualfsm is allowed here. but not OPP
position. For instance. listening now TO
the orchestra playing 81 Would Like to
Marry You" there comes the memory of
what threatened to be row. and fierce
one, on the subject of the class of music that
should be played during tea and dinner.
Those who merely thought they were intel
ligent came out biatantly in favor of classic
music for all time, never seeming to realize
what dreary round of sameness this
would produce.
The influence of Mr.. Ragby was secured
and the Japanese chimes rang quite FREE
quently during that week. as voices grew
loud and scornful in the big hail and the
dinner rooms. The idea of classic music
meant culture to so many of the girls, and
they were quite downcast when a bulletin
was posted to the effect that the music
would be varied and to suit all tastes, and
that votes would be taken from time to
time as to the program.
1t is, of course, quite true that a number
of the members are not aware that the
club Is conducted with a view TO the estab-
lishment of big dividends. It was this ig-
norance of the facts which caused many of
them to object TO the sliding scale of our
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-02-04

The water rights to the land have been
fixed at So per acre, and at this rate the
whole cost of the project be paid back
to the reclamation service in ten years, as
required by law in all the irrigation works.
The farmers say that the land can Wen
stand this tax
The beet sugar manufacturers are taking
advantage of the prospective benefit that
will result from irrigation, and will erect
big beet sugar mill in the region. 1t is in
teresting to observe that the plans for the
mill have been drawn since the agitation
about the importation Of Philippine sugar
has been going on, but the manufacturers
do not seem in any fear that it viii ruin
their Industry. All the capital for the re-
fnery has been subscribed, and the only
thing that the refiners are waiting FOR is
not to whether the Philippine bill VIII
pass but whether the farmers will guaran-
tee them sufficient acreage In sugar beets
on which to run the refinery.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-02-04

The speed with which it is to be completed
is one of the surprising things about 1t.
Some of the English engineers who were
over here and witnessed the opening of the
great Truckee-Carson project, now COM
pleted and in working order. said that 1t
was simply incredible that this work should
have been completed in three years. They
said that if it had been within the
British empire they would not have ex-
pected the work begun till after at least
ten years of preliminary investigation. But
the Belle Fourche project, which is already
started, will be even swifter in compile
ton.
The great earthen dam will have a little
over half the cubic contents of the Pyramid
of Cheops. Now, this work, which, bar the
great wall of China, is the greatest ever
undertaken by man, is estimated to have
occupied about 500 years. The Belle Fourche
dam, on the other hand, will be built in
one year.
The reservoir is on the line OF Owl creek,
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-02-04

restaurant charges. They claimed that the
club would deteriorate il it were possible
to obtain cup of good soup and roll for
the small sum charged in one room. while
in another the same portion cost double the
amount.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-02-04

has been identified with the fortunes of the
Hyphen. He has the entire charge of our
dining ream and cafe. and manages it
cleverly lin connection with the hotel, by
which our club is connected by an under
ground passage.