The Wahpeton times. [volume] (Wahpeton, Richland County, Dakota [N.D.]) 1879-1919, 1907-08-08

Single cluster, IL may De, OUT TN
across the land arise at her order, a:
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 thas the shopKeerers
the girls behind the counters, the man.
icures, the hairdressers know her fol
their best friend. And it is still fur.
Their 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 In 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 will tell you, too, that she is the
support of the finishing schools, TO.
| her 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.
sether on one side of the value to so.
ciety of the society woman.
And not only to the 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 tine
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 theme
to the novelist and buys his book; to
the playwright, AMI is his patron, and
that the newspaper which has the best
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 those
of heroine of romance.
~
That the fashionable woman carries
on and endows various great benevo-
Iences she does not mention as show
ing her value, since she does not do
such things because she is a fashion
able woman, but because she has the
purse of one: bur, 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 End
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 fyiv-
olity, losing it, others find their adj
vantage. 1t may be, it doubtless is,
poor and vicious state of society that
makes her life possible, but society be-
ing as it is the fashionable woman
locks 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
n:cnt, do not consider that the fash
ionable woman has nothing on or
about her which does not represent
work done and wages paid and their
share of comfort 10 those receiving
them. But the fashionable woman her.
self, feeling all she claims in her ius-
LITIGATION to be true, declares that be
she even so much a butterfly fitting
from pleasure to pleasure, she is none
the less factor in the business of the
world and distinct addition to its
wealth. and, with her financial impor-
lance hardly second to that of tho
wheat farmer or the ironmonger, she
drags commerce in her train.
1t is not to be expected that She
should take the political economists
view of herself and her expenditure.
lie Eiay call her luxury; she believes
thai she is necessity. He may COM
pare her to the incubus of standing
aIiMy. whose sole excuse is that un-
der the safety it guarantees enterprises
can be undertaken and Drosnered Che