The Washington herald., 1908-01-26

nobody was I'm, Three or four calls of
an afternoon is all that is ever attempt
ed in London Paris, or Berlin. but those
who call ga TO see and talk TO the friends
they visit, not merely 10 leave their
cards and rejoice when they are not ad-
mitted.
/ The position of the young woman in So
ciety there Is So different from that Of
| the young woman here that they are not
comparable and the point of view across
/ the water is utterly at variance rs re-
CARDS this subject with ours. Ii is doIbt-
/ ful il any girl outside of America coulC
write such "a letter as the one already
( alluded 90, The foreign young woman.
even after she has made her debut, is kept
more or less in the background until she
/ is married. There is no exploiting of the
/ dehutante, and the girl who has been
out two or three seasons does not carry
everything before her as she often does
here. Indeed. it is considered most un-
| fortunate for q young woman to be- out
/ for several seasons and have no matri-
! monial prospects i'm view. IF such a one
/ has younger sisters, waiting their chance
/ TO appear I'm the world, she either hies
her 10 a nunnery or takes up some fad
she does anything, in fact that Will ac-
count for her being absent from society
and explain her spinsterhood
TITS stiI the custom on the other side
and long may it remain sO-f0r mothers
I 70 teach their daughters in social mat
/ terS, not for mothers 10 receive instruc-
/ tions from them. woman is her daurh-
tor's social sponsor and she has no right
/ to reiegate this duty 20 any one else. save
1 in most exceptional cases. such as illness.
nor has she the right 10 allow her daugh-
/ ter to shift for herself Natalie does
l Just as well without ME as she does with
me, announced am irresponsible mother
the other day. "She always manages 20
| fnd some one to chaperon her so I've
/ just given up going about with her" An
other equally irresponsible parent has had
/ a separate draWing-room arranged for
herself so I can receive my friends i'm
peace she explained. James beaux do
So annoy me-"
! Then there is the overzeaIous mamma.
/ the mamma who pushes her daughter
into every available place. who drags her
/ around to every social function until the
/ poor child is spent I'm soul and body.
/ That makes no difference. however. moth
/ ing makes any difference as long as
daughter is a blazing social success
] Some Washington girls have had the
/ character ana spirit 10 rebel against the
/ marUrdom society imposes upon them
and have thrown aside its sfackles.
/ A certain young woman. after one very
/ successful season here. finding nothing TO
/ her liking in what society offered. turned
her back upon her home in WASHINGTON
and entered Radcliffe College. from which
she was graduated with distinction and is
/ now launched upon "A successful carer
Another girl packed away her dancing slip
/ pers and ball gowns and went seriously
10 work at her music. with the result that
she is to-day one of the best-known wom-
en- violnists in the world. The daughter
/ of naval officer became q trained nurse
after two seasons of bolleship, and is
/ happy i'm her vocation. and there are
/ countless others who, finding society
/ nothing but BaTmecide feast. have
! abandoned It 10 those who are content
within its limits and sought surroundings
more agreeable to them
/ \ square block will not ft into a round
hole, and The Arbiter believes that every
{ one should find happiness where he may.
/ and while he refuses 20 criticise those
who desert society for more ccngeutaI
/ employment he regrets that the brilliant
and talented women who are generally
the ones 20 go should not have the cuur-
age to stay and work a little reform in
/ Vanity Fair. For clever girl TO wash
her hands of society because it bores her
its like "a rich and talented man who
/ eschews politics because it is dirty"
Now If such men leave politics
to be controlled by the low and the ig-
norant. what can they expect but dirt ?
And if all the clever women Danish them
selves from society what can thav ex-
pect there but frivolity? Happily. how
ever all the clever women are not tempt
ed away from their social duties. which
are as high as any other duties. if one
regards them with a proper spirit. and
there is no better society in the world
than is to be found in our midst II
/ would be truly sad if bad manners and
bad morals were the rule and not the
exception, and it is sad that they exist
at all, but much must be excused q
society where there are no recognized
class distinctions. no accepted laws
Of precedence. and few traditions What
Is most deserving of criticism I'm
our society is the tendency TO do evory-
thing I'm a wholesale way. To ignore a
middle course for its members. TO he in
"a word, gourmands instead of gouTmets.
1t is this OVERRIDING. this constant going.
with never moment TO rest. from New
Years to Lent, this heated and feverish
chase after pleasure and excitement that
soon tires out a not oversrong girl in
her teens and makes her blase before
even she has learned that a society is not
/ a nightmare Of balls dinners. and
luncheons, but that it has a better and a
finer side, and that, without being prig-
gish or forward. she can do much by
adopting fine standards and living up 10
them, to develop that finer side
L QuestioH-If il is not TOO late one would lks
10 thank The Arbiter for his courage In criticisms
1 certain details about the management Of the musi
/ Gales at the White House 1t does seem as If olu
democracy were incompatible with courtesy, clnsid
| Grafton. and even deCeuCy az times. Where should
an artist expect courteous audience if not az the
White House. And yet the buzz Of conversation at
recent Tetltals has been fairly disgrace. Also the
piaHists have suffered from the condition Of the
piano lthe action too little used TO he responsive
and the lack Of proper chair for So slippery floor
No one has command over q keyboard II there is I'D
rug ct other means Of keeping the chair OF stool
firmly placed. one lady was heard to remark at q
recent musicale that the pianist looked If he feared
he would "eithcr spill into his instrument OF bach
on his head II Is an exception when artist doe
himself justice 40 the White House, and this seem.
the greater pity, since IL is all for glory that De
! appears there and he should not be handicapped by
/ amy lack of consideration for his comfort IN mat
tiers concerning his art Still this is not seriou.
as the general lack Of culture among best people
lack q any apparent desire TO hear with their Owl
ears; for surely to listen 10 artist ouy because
one has been told by some one or by advertisements
that he is worth hearing, and not because Of zen
1 uIne desire 10 Judge for ones self Is pemiciou'
/ habit only too common among Washington audiences
thus making mutually discriminating public
very small one, So small in fact that the kneise