Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1906-04-17


anything and everything which viii
take US out Of ourselves.
The consensus Of opinion seems C
be rather against than for bridge
and yet Mrs. Wharton's heroine in
The House Of Mirth" is very sane
II not very happy, when she is in
the social swim to the extent of losing
hundreds Of dollars night at bridge
Lily Bart does not become, to . Ger
tain extent insane until she is doom.
ed to the wyetched lonesomeness Of
q woman thrown on her own resour.
ces without preparation or the ability
to work.
One prominent society woman own.
Cd to being a slave to bridge, and her
case would denote a condition exactly
contrary to the statement made by
the man from Harley street. She plain.
~ called the present craze for bridge
species Of insanity. She said:
The opinion of that London spec.
ialist is tommyrot. He evidently does
not know what he is talking about.
or else he knows nothing Of the game.
Why. when the fever Of bridge once
clutches you every grain of common
sense you possess leaves you. How
can any woman be sane with the
nomenclature and rules Of bridge run.
ming constantly in her head? You no
sooner finish one sitting than you are
restless for the next. Time drags
along on leaden wheels, and the hours
are interminable.
Lose Sense Of Honor.
Il have known bridge fiends to lose
all sense of honor as to any debt but
bridge debt. They will Il have done
it myself stake their pin money, their
modiste's money, even borrow money
with which to play. Awake or asleep
the combinations and hands are al
ways with you. You dream of leads
which can be made, and hands which.
If differently played, might have TAX
en- more tricks.
mo, do not agree with your man
flom Harley street, except in this
much. You would never have the
spare time for insanity. for you would
never find time drag. You have not
half time enough. One would almost
sigh to be Marian, for on Mars the
days are AZ hours long, and you would
have so much more time for bridge,
Really, if you ask my opinion-but,
remember, it is only that of an every.
oay woman, and l am not a special
list on brain diseases-I should say
that bridge is much more conducive
to insanity than vice versa. But, then,
as mere men would say, 4 am only q
woman!'"
Eyes, think understand the
meaning of the Harley street special.
lists statement" replied q man who
makes social economy problems his
life study, to the question l put to
him as to whether bridge could be
helpful as well as harmful under the
conditions named.
Occupation Better Than ldIeness.
II do not think the London physi
clan intended to confine himself to
bridge and dress. He meant, to my
way of thinking, that occupation of any
kind was better for preserving a sane
mentality than idleness. Anyone who
has made a study of insanity knows
that there is no class so prone to men
tai diseases as the farmers wife. It
is the dreary monotony of recurrent
days, the long hours of enforced 81
lence, when the men are in the fields
and the children at school; the same
ness of the daily tasks, the aloofness
from the busy workaday world; 1t is
practically being buried alive. There
are more asylums and sanitariums to-
day for women whose lives have been
passed on farms than of any other
class.
Therefore your Harley street man
means that the idleness which is part
of the life of the women of wealth.
the lack of an object in life, a goal
to be reached, an ambition to be at
tanned, a deed to be struggled for and
accomplished, which is so conducive
to insanity, is Offset by bridge and
kindred occupations which may be re-
garded as safeguard against insan-
ity.
Fondness for Dress.
'Fondness for dress may be con
demned when carried to an extreme,
yet there is always an object under.
lying it. It is to please some loved
one, to crafty personal vanity, to out.
shine a neighbor, but in every case
the brain is occupied and busy.
"You will find the Harley street
mans remarks apply equally well to
the club women. They find in the ex-
citement Of club life what the women
OF fashion find in Understanding
to occupy them. I believe q census
was taken among club women lately,
and 1t was found that the majority of