Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1906-04-17
FASCINATING
BRIDGE WHIST
DOES THE FEVER FOR IT CAFE.
GUARD WoMEN'S SAN.
ITYf

First good words In favor Of bridge
and love Of dress come from London,
and . specialist Of Harley street haa
spoken them. Certainly he should
know. for does not the popular nov.
elist. after bringing the hero ana her
oine to deaths door. always wire for
the physician from Harley street, and
does not the fate Of the book hans
upon the decision Of the great man,
who hurrtes to the patient by special
train and spends few golden lin
more senses than one) moments at
the bedside Of the stricken one? The
staid family practitioner standing to
one side in breathless suspense waits
in fear and trembling the common.
dation or disapproval Of the man from
Harley street.
So we. the public. who have 30 long
abided by the decision of Harley street
In our literature, may we'll be pardon.
cd 1t We accept the statement from
the same omnipresent source in re-
gard to the two tyrants which sway
society today, says the Detroit News.
Tribune. The man from Harley street
declares:
That the devotion paid by women
to the pursuit of bridge and dress
saves them from the idleness which
sows the seeds of lunacy.
men, on the other hand" he goes
on to explain, with an increased span
OF life as the result of modern science.
retire earlier from active work than
they used to, and the burden of won't
ed idleness results in many cases in
mental upset."
Never before has bridge been look
ed upon other than as the work of
satan, who is credited with finding
SO much work for idle hands to do
Never before has any man had the
courage to stand by his convictions
and find any good in this game. Yet,
In direct contradiction to the dictum
Of the man from Harley street, comes
this from London:
Craze IL Abnormal.
'"The craze for whist has become
SO abnormal that it has taken prece-
dence of the traditional Christmas
turkey, the tree, the children's day.
and the fashionable women at Christ.
mas house parties have thrown them
selves so completely into the fascina-
ton of the game that in houses where
there were children they were bundled
OF to bed at unearthly hours just to
get them out of the way.
Why should this hue and cry go out
against bridge in particular? From
time immemorial have not the men
and women Of fashion given tnemselv-
es over to cards? Would the history
OF bath be as interesting today did
We eliminate the extravagant gamb-
ling debts which the beaux and bellies
of those days contracted?
Yet there was much more insanity
then than now, but that fact is easily
accounted for when we consider the
emptiness Of the home lives Of these
beaux and bellies, the maddening lone
nness of their huge country houses,
the meager means of transportation,
consisting of stage coaches and
chaises; the scarcity of books, the
high prices asked for those on the
market and the lack of postal facili.
ties, which made the sending and re.
ceiving of letters events as important
then as an uprising in Moscow today.
Drains Pocketbooks.
Therefore, in view of the many
more resources of our times, why
should the Harley street man tell US
that bridge and dress save women
from the idleness which sows insan-
ity? This man from Harley street
cannot be married man, else he
might not be so strong an advocate
OF pastime which must surely drain,
if not the woman's pocketbook, then
that Of some male relative.
Perhaps it is not alone bridge and
dress which save women from the
idiehess conducive to insanity. II we
look around US We will find on all sides
that unrest, that reaching out for
something, that craving to be contin.
ually in the limelight Of publicity,
which seems to possess the men and
women of today.
Some find the panacea in the OK.
citement of bridge, others in the fas.
cination of buying new clothes. de-
signing creations which make them
the envy of their less fortunate sis.
tiers. Again, the longing for that I'M.
known something which is in every