Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-08-19
AN ENGLISH VIEW OF
UNCLE SANS CAPITAL

tured Itself as larger Smithville, offering
an ampler and more brilliant stage for their
own and their husbands talents. They
have to learn the Unexpectedly bitter lesson
that while the vestibule Is spacious ana
easy of access, the approaches to the inner
sanctums are closely guarded. Those inner
sanctums are peopled by ambassadors ana
their attaches. by the administration set,
by the members Of the State Department,
by the army and navy officers. by such
senators as care enough. or are made by
their wives to care enough, about society
to own rent a house, by few score OF
the old residents. and by colony OF nou-
veaux riches. These latter are by way OF
being a new phenomenon. Ten years ago.
at any rate. when first knew Washington.
1t showed no sign of becoming rich mans
city. Nowadays fashion, or at least wealth.
seems to be setting in its direction. Man
sions that are almost palaces are. rapidly
rising, and the men who build and own
them care nothing for politics. and are
simply intent upon getting good social re-
turn for their outlay. That is very In
teresting development. and one, I imagine.
that is likely to grow more and more popu-
lar.
Twenty years hence 1t may be as much
the thing to have a house in washington
and spend the winter season there as 1t
used to be to have q cottage at Newport;
and I foresee the time when Washington
will compete with and perhaps outstrip
New York as the radiating center for the
fashions and follies Of the smart set"
The equipment of America will then be
complete, and the political plutocracy will
at last have found its social counterpart
After all 1 blame no one who wishes to
live in Washington. If I were an Ameri-
can, with all the cities OF the continent to
choose from, 1t Is there that would pitch
my tent from November to May. There is
a flavor and a distinction about Washing
ton society that no other American city
approaches 1t surpasses New York and
Boston and Philadelphia and Chicago in
that quality that separates French litera-
ture from the literature of all other lands
the quality, above all things, Of agreeable
ness. 1t Is an American community, doing
un-American things, leading an un-Ameri-
can life. 1t impresses one as a caesural
pause In the galloping existence of 'he
country, restful hiatus In the tntermi-
nable rush. There Is serenity. almost be-
nightly. In its ordering of the routine Of
life 1t has its own standard of values.
The ideals of Chicago are the assumed
foundations or the unronsidered trifies OF
Washington. 1t neither talks business nor
thinks 1t; the word conveys no more than a
remote and abstract meaning to its mind.
Commerce and all its banalities are re-
freshingly, delightfully."- absent. Nor Is So
ciety on parade; you meet It only by Invita-
ton; it has neither the wish nor the chance
to display itself in public. Social life in
Washington, like the best social life any
where. Is an affair of private entertain
ments. And Washington. which lives for
society and studies conversation as an art
with zest Beyond that of Boston, knows
supremacy well how to entertain. It's
houses are built to that end, and the best
of them, following the colonial style, are
models OF that rich simplicity to which,
after a wild dabauch in all possible a-chi-
tectural fantasies American taste is now
happily on the return. found in some or
them disposition of rooms that facilitates
charming social custom of which WASH
ington, and Washington alone among Eng
gish-speakiug cities, is the patentee. Given
the dining and drawing rooms on the same
floor. with a spacious landing in between,
1t becomes easy and natural for the men
to escort the women after dinner back to
the drawing room.
In France and Germany I have encoun-
tered the same practice but never in Eng