Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1907-08-01

violets on her breast are but one
bunch, the roses in her vase but a
single cluster, it may be; but the
across the land arise at her order, as
leagues of greenhouses that stretch
the palace arose at the word of the
afrite, and those who find work there
find it because OF her.
She is sure thac the shopkeerers.
the girls behind the counters, the man
icures, the hairdressers know her for
their best friend. And it is still fur
! ther her contention, that when she
goes abroad The carriage maker, the har-
! ness maker the breeder and breaker of
| horses and all those who serve III her
! stables, or in any way upon her equip
age and equipment, find their account
in her existence, and exist, indeed,
| with all their own households, because
| she does; and that the more dwellings
| she has in town or country the more
/ people are the better OFF by means of
! It.
She viii tell you, too, that she is the
support of the finishing schools, for
har children, with their teachers of
! science and art and languages and
manners, and that even the toys of
| these cUrled darlings of fortune give
food and clothing to whole companies
| OF folk in Swiss valleys, in French
workshops and in the hidden places
OF our own cities. And whether
enough is paid for any of these pos
! sessions of hers, whether wages should
be higher and costs lower, is a ques-
ton she demurs as something alto
| gether on one side of the value to So
ciety OF the society woman.
And not only to tho toilers, to hard
labor, does she insist that she is a
chief source of income, but that she is
| Of financial Importance from another
point Of view. She contends that tire
great opera, the symphony, in which
the musician has scaled the strains of
heaven, is heard by those of lesser
means only by reason of her and
her numbers; that she affords a theme
| to the novelist and buys his book; to
| the playwright, AMI is his patron, and
that the newspaper which has the bes,
record of her daily doings has the
best circulation and in consequence is
able, through its larger receipts, to
give the latest intelligence and the
| fullest reading-for to most other
women this successful one, so called,
is an object of interest, and they fol-
low her movements as they do these
of a heroine of romance.
| =
That the fashionable woman carries
on and endows various great benevo.
| lences she does not mention as show.
! ing her value, since she does not do
such things because she is fashion
able woman, but because she has the
purse of one; but, nevertheless, she
holds that the entertainments which
! she organizes in sweet charity's"
| name, require services which spread
money broadcast, and if she does not
| spend her days among the poor and
her income in gifts to them, she has
! learned from the political economist
himself that the wages which are paid
| for her comforts and pleasures are
more beneficial in the receipt than any
| charity. Whether or not she leads the
| life that is best for herself, in so far
as it has no other aim than enjoyment
Of the passing hour or the obtaining
of social supremacy, it is a life that
she believes good for myriad others,
and if she loses her soul in social friv-
olity, losing it, others find their ad-
vantage. 1t may be, it doubtless is,
a poor and vicious state of society that
makes her life possible, but society be-
ing as it is the fashionable woman
looks upon herself as an unmistak-
able benefactress.
The bonnet rouge at work upon the
streets, who sees the carriage or auto
mobile of the fine lady roll by and
hurls curse after it, does not realize
anything of this claim of hers or be-
thinks himself that the wear and tear
of her wheels gives him work to do
and bread to eat. The tired pedestrian
| who looks after her with envy. the
| poor woman who draws her skirts
closer from the dust of her move
| Ircnt, do not consider that the fash
| ionable woman has nothing on or
about her which uoes not represent
work done and wages paid and their
| share of comfort TO those receiving
! them. But the fashionable woman her