The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-05-06
NEWS OF TIE DAY IN SOCIETY WORLD. Is 8irminghamAs "Set-sidden"
 As Other Cities NOTES HERE AND THREE Women Playing Bridge to the Score. Mrs. Truman AIdrich Wins
 Trophy For Highest
 Score.
NOTES HERE AND THREE
BY ANNIE KENDRlck WALKER.


 New York correspondent in writing of the successor to Ward McAllister, in the person of MT. Frederick Townsend Martin, quotes him as saying that New York is "set-ridden." MT. Martin believes that this "set" idea is perlous that 1t developes narrowness of thought and ex- treme boredom.
 New York society is set-ridden, he de- clares. There is the Meadow Brook set the Westchester set, the Lenox set the Aiken set, the set that meets at Palm Bach, the set that meets in Paris. These people, says MT. Martin, are perfectly happy, they do not wish any new friends, know all the people they care to, and do not endure any invasion-yet, says MT. Martin, they yawn their heads off Social conditions from which sets are involved are complicating things every where In the south society is being ad- justed on the same lines, "sets" being evolved from the same 'class," in measure, but distinctive and with inn aginary lines. In the old aristocratic south conditions were so different that social complications did not occur Tradi- tion ruled society. And some of these old traditions have come down to the present time; some of them have unfor- tunately sank into oblivion. Nowadays people go into society with out anything to boast of in the way of family. Some of them are refined enough to run the gauntlet and people of social prestige do not any longer concern them selves with the social antecedents of the hordes whom they meet in society. They accept what they see on the surface. No one stops now to think if they belong in the best society. There are too many social asprants, too many successful climbers. If they do not get into one set they get into another. And there are many sets made up of well-bred peo- pie.
 i But there will always be the ultra-fash- ionable set what is called the smart set" There cannot be several smart sets.'' In the south, members of this set like the set described by MT. Martin, are perfectly happy in the society of each l other, and only occasionally welcoming an | invader. The members of this set meet l all winter, and the summer resort season | finds very much the same set at favored
  | sections.
 The conservative set is beginning to | admit that there are other sets making up social life. "There are so many sets 1 in the Country club" said a woman the other evening, that I feel that I am the veriest stranger when I take a survey of the ball room on some of the Saturday night 'crushes.' The constant influx of new people has completely transformed the boundaries of society, enlarged them l so to speak, to the casual observer, but to l those who are close observers it is evident that society is everywhere 'set-ridden, as 1 this New Yorker suggests, but whether 1 the various members of these respective sets are bored with each other I shall not attempt to discuss.
 My observation has been that it is only the social climber who is bored if not promptly admitted into what he may con slider the charmed circle' 7"
 ''I think Birmingham is sufficiently cos mopolitan to be 'set-ridden,' said an-
 other woman. Society here is being made up of sets, gradually evolving along those lines pointed out by Frederick Townsend Martin. Of course, we do not have our sets designated as in the east where the 1 villa colony at nearby summer places 1 constitutes an exclusive set, like the Tux | edo set or the Southhampton set.
 "The Country club set would also be matter is that Birmingham is so entirely cosmopolitan that a dozen or more sets can be made up among the Country club membership, each set quite satisfied with itself. And every year the number of new | people is so noticeable that these sets are l constantly widening, but no embarrass- ment occurs until you have visitor who | happens to know some of the people not on your visiting list, or your husband gets some new man in the club whose wife is not conme-il faut.'
 l Mrs. Dean of Gadsden is the guest of | her sister, Mrs. L. K. Ross. i After an absence of several months in | California Miss, Mary Anderson has re- turned and is at her home on Highland avenue.
 1 MT. and Mrs James E. Penny have | returned from Decatur.
 I
 | Mr. and Mrs. R. L. Hayden of Birming- | ham are now in Atlanta and have taken apartments there until the first of Oc- I tober
 | Miss Emma Openhagen has returned to | Decatur.
 | Mrs. Mabelle Sloss Cecil who is the ! guest of Mrs. A. McD. Wilson in At lanta, will be entertained this week at | a tea by her hostess.
 1 Mrs Langston McCalley is in Atlanta, 1 the guest of Mrs. Walter c. Henderson. | Miss Natalie Williams is in Marshall | vile, Ga., the guest of her aunt, Mrs. | Carl Shepard.
 | Mrs. T. U. Walter will entertain the l General Sumter chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, this afternoon at o'clock at her home in Mountain Terrace.
 MT. and Mrs Leonard Phinizy of Au- gusta have announced the engagement of Their daughter Anita, to MT. Fielding