Bluefield evening leader. [volume] (Bluefield, W. Va.) 1906-1911, 1906-07-06
WHY THE ARTIFICIAL
LIFE OF NEW YORK
CALLS TO INNOCENT.


flashing lights OF Broadway. the dis
cordant note OF clinking wine glass
es i'm the big restaurants which line
its rudy way. the false. the artificial.
the hideous life OF the tenderloin,
why does It call alluringly TO the
innocent to come and seek ruin?
Evelyn Nesbit. girl of fifteen.
heard the cry sfar. Eagerly she
answered Il. and as long VS. she
lives she will bear its scared sears
and awful stains.
She is only one girl OF 10000.
Millions of dollars and two world
famous names make her a creature
apart. The others, unknown. 60
down. down, down, A momentary cir
Gle in the vicious dark slough alone
tells that they have ever been.
Few OF these. fortunately. come to
this unreal New York at the tender
age this girl did
II is from the country. the smaller
cities and the large towns that the
girls OF the Evelyn Nesbit type come
They know little. or nothing, of the
world. II they have ideals they are
soon east aside for the great, shall
low. artificial things which TO them
appear to be desirable.
An automobile is thought to he
thing which brings real JOY. A din
ner at Martins. or supper In the
rathskeller of TIC Hotel Marlbor-
ough is supposed to give staunch
position in life.
The pink and white mincing Great
ures that hourly wend their high
heeled way down the bright Broad
way do not seem To be able to dis
| tinguish between the real and the
unreal II is not 10 be wondered at
they fall easy victims to such men as
Stanford White An evening at his
studio was supposed TO give one OF
these an exalted height i'm Bohemian
circles Many an innocent girl has
learend too late that supper there
/ meant nothing moie than moment
amusement TO the men OF that gay
ly gilded artificial world TO the girl
IL was the first downward step to
worse than death.
knew such an one She was a girl
with ideals and a purpose. She had
a rare opportunity to do something
worth while In me artistic world
but, like Eve of o'd, she was inauis-
tive and bit OF the apple OF knowl-
edge.
/ This girl had n splendid New
England background. and came to
New York to go on the stage. She
had ability, but began, like so many
hundred others, in small way. She
was handsome. she was attractive,
and il was not long before she was
invited to be one OF small party
i'm that self-same and now too
famous studio. She told me she was
going, and begged her not to- Her
answer was that she could not be
injured that she had too much pride,
and that her inheritance was strong
enough 10 protect her. She insisted
that she only wished TO go to see
what it was like.
That one taste OF the rotten NOR
bid unreal life led to another. The
next time she gave some other
reason for going. Then she became
hardened and no excuse was made.
She was only one OF the dozens who
became crazed with the idea that
eating, drinking, mad whirls in a
moter, betting at the races. a painted
face and dyed hair constituted living.
Later she found it was the price OF
IHf.
That hollow cry Of thee horus to
come and be one Of the artificial mob
Is probably one OF the evolutions Of
the maddened moment. The wise
mother. the thoughtful father. con
slider long before they permit their
daughter to join that unnatural
throng. Katherine Leckie.