Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-07-21
THE CHORUS "LYDIES"

The Thaw case has been evocative of
large number OF ''defenses'' of chorus
lydies--or show girls" as they Ike to be.
called nowadays-in the bug daiiies' Sunday
editions.
Inasmuch as most of these defenses have
been written by representative chorus iydies
themselves, they are of course not open to
the charge of bias, one way or the other.
Representative chorus iydies who. on their
| $1S-per-week and -thetr-own- expenses,
ride in Panhards, wear two or three pounds
of diamonds. possess summer Villas on
Long Island, employ couple Of maids and
a hairdresser and a secretary. and subsist
on Holsters. drilled bones and 80 vinsages-
why shouldn't they know all about the
hard, bare life'' and the ''unremittfng
| labor and the "sQualid environment and
I the ''scant rewards" of their profession
These ''defenses," with the names of rep
resentative chorus lydies prefxed Or APP
| pended thereto, 1t Is true, have certain
press agentish tang about them. This,
/ however, is not material point. It mere
( ~ goes to show that the down-trodden S1S-
a-weekers have earnest-seeming scribes, in
addition to their other servants. on their
! STATS.
| The pulsating motive OF these defenses
| is this joke. namely: That far from being
communicating. the life of abnegation neces-
sarily led by the chorus lydy Is really up
! lifting"
A few days ago Washington man met.
quite by accident, one of the ''uplifted''
| ones. Last evening he was telling about
| 1t with a certain air Of melancholy.
Il knew her up on Capitol Hill when she
| wore pigtails and little starched knee skirts
that stuck out like boards" he said. She
was a pretty, demure little wisp, with
pouting mouth. and accomplished in the art
of assuming the baby stare. even in those
| years.
1T was thought for while that she was
| going to develop into bluestocking. She
was extremely studious Her choice of
words. even In ordinary conversation, was
beyond criticism She abhorred girls who
used even the mildest sort of slang. She.
became good singer and not a bad pian-
list. She was fond of reading ancient his
tory She was very prompt at Sunday
school. where she taught class. She be-
came prettier all tie time, and daintier, and
her folks, who weren't well-to-do, dressed
| her extremely well-she had most of the
| girls Of her coterie buffaloed, as 1t were,
| in respect to toys.
She was anxious to go to vassar or
| Wellesley, and 1t was the regret of her
parents lives that they couldn't see 1t in
| the domestic finances to send her there.
she knew how to make lace handker
chiefs, and she had the home girls adroit-
ness In turning a couple of barrel slaves
iato gilded milking STOOL tied with
cherry ribbons, for the ornamentation OF
| e coy corner, and such like girly-girly
| plishments.
AS she drew on toward womanhood a
/ lot of the boys of the neighborhood who
lad grown up alongside of her and who
| had begun to make fairish livings. began
| to nudge IN her direction with serious in
Sentlons. I was one OF them.
We were all most impartially, but de-
| terminedly, famed. Not only the girl
| herself, but her father and mother, it
seemed. had higher notions for the
young woman. One day it got around the
neighborhood on the Hill that she'd gone
| uh-Wy from heah. Not just gone away,
hut had run away. New York was the
place. First her father. and then her
| mother, went over to New York to fetch
| her home
| In both cases. nothing doing. She
wouldn't be fetched. Her folks came back
with sad faces. but without little Gladys.
n month or SO later we heard the name of
| the extravaganza company she'd Joined,
| In the capacity Of show girl. In New
| York
When that show came to Washington I
| saw her She was ON one of the ends first
| In long DRESS and then, later on, IN very
| scant raiment. 1t looked disturbing to see
| her that way. She was un6eniably pretty
| and there were no anatomical reasons why
| there should be anything disturbing in the
| sight of her in little or nothing in the way
| of apparel. But I didn't enjoy seeing her
| that way, honest. And I'm not such a
| f1ncal cuss, at that, But, you see, had
| remembered her as something entirely
| different
"She made a visit or two at her parents
| home while her show was here, but refused
| to appear when any of her old friends
| called at the house. Those who did call, to
| be thus turned down. were not actuated by
| any motives of curiosity, but simply ami
| mated by the desire to see an early friend.
| But she didn't want to EN-, and that's
| all there was to it. Glmpses were caught
of her on the downtown streets. however.
| and she looked II she certainly get
| ting lot out Of her S18 week, for her
| gowning was gorgeous and there didn't ap-
| pear to be anything phony about the shiny
| circlets that covered her fingers to the
| knuckles.
| "Um. Fine.
We'll, one evening last week I was din
| ing with some former Washington folks,
| now living In New York at G rather splen-
| diferous road house up in Westchester
county, not far from the sound. A lot Of
| hilarious buzz-wagon parties were dining
| there.
I'VE were preparing TO leave along to-
ward / o'clock at night when the merriest
party of all, consisting of fourteen people
men and women-entered with a great chat
| tering and laughing, indicating, In several
of the individual cases, that there had been
some preliminaries to the dining further
down the road-for they came in four SUI
| perb motor cars, this party.
| Tables had been saved for them, and
| they took their seats with a tremendous
| burst of gaiety. One of the forms OF the
gaiety was this: The prettiest young wom-
| an of the party, veritable peach in color
| ing, absolutely perfect grooming and law
! ishness of toggish investture, was lifted
| by couple of the men-rather sodden look
| ing chaps in evening clothes-so that, for a
| moment, she had to stand on one of the
! tables. She was more than equal to the sit
uation. kissed her finger tips gaily to the
! bunch as she stood there for moment, in
peril of knocking over the fine glasses, and
| then the men lifted her down again. In
| CHANGING around the room from her e1e-
! waited position on the table she had caught
| sight of me- and she nodded with a sort
| of merry pertness at me- When they lifted
her down she tripped over to where I was
| sitting.
why, hay-o, there old pal. she said
| extending me the tips OF her extremely
| well-manicured fingers. My, but the sight
! OF you's good for sore lamps. How's the
| rest of the Rubes down in little old Wash
| ington, hey? Still sound asleep? How they
handiin' you. DO? You look like you aim
| overlookin any bets. Still the naughty,
| naughty boy that takes EN- out car ridin'
| and then stakes EN- to chocolate ice cream
| soda, eh? Those reckless, daredevil Wash
/ ington boys. upon ward! What am
dom? Oh. I'm still with the merry-rnerry
| got some lines In the new piece. at that
| Sure thingi hull line-"Me lud, the Buck