The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-03-02
sonn msxrD nnronrrns.

SOME MIXED KERoRTERs.
 The high-flyers up in New York have some queer ideas about social and other functions. as they call them. None can well have forgotten the va rious monkey shines and other idiocies of Harry Leh---who seems to have gotten out of the iimeiight by some means. Harry used to attend the most exclusive assembiages of the 400. and it was dull evening indeed when he failed to make a monumental ass of himself to the delight and amusement of the exclusives.
 But Harry was not the only, bidder for notoriety of the kind for others have tried to initiate him In various ways. though we believe none has quite measured down to his standard of assininity. A few evenings ago the wealthy and fashionable Mrs. Waldorf Astor gave an entertainment to par ty of her friends-we believe 1t was for charitable purposes--and one of the features was that her guests, or as many of them as would. were to ap- pear in costumes for the purpose of forming tableaux. One of her guests was Mrs. James B. Eustis. who appeared as salambo. wearing live snake coiled around her neck.
 Of course Mrs. Eustis created a sem sation; that was what she was there for, but that was not really the funny part of the affair. She was admired and cheered. but the funny part of it Is the way the reporters got the story in the papers. Reporters have a way of seeing things that are to be seen and some that are not--and of writ ing them up in their own way, and this incident was no exception. It might be supposed that the reporters of the different papers would get the story in something like the same form, even if not in the same words. One would naturally suppose that bright newspaper men would get such an af- fair as this measurably straight. what ever else they might neglect.
 But they were badly scattered in this instance. For example. the re- porter of The Times solemnly declared that the reptile was a boa-constrictor and that it weighed forty-five pounds. He doesn't give the length, probably because he was not allowed to un- wind and measure 1t. and we are left in the dark as to how he learned the exact weight on her neohs but that We suppose is simply . matter of detail and not essential to the story.
 Then comes The Suns man with quite different story. He ayers that the reptile was a genuine and live thon. and he thinks he knows snakes when he sees one. what is more. he declares that it was just fifteen feet in length. He didn't weigh 1t, perhaps because he was afraid to touch it. nor does he tell how he aseertained Its length. but we suppose he noted how many times it went around the wear er's neck, then guessed ct the circum- ference of that organ and thus fig gered it out" in that way. That wuoId have been easy-for q newspaper re- porter.
 But that isn't all. for The Herald was on the spot also. Its reporter se- cured pictures of some of the most not cd characters, but for some reason failed to obtain a snapshot of the snake woman and her ornamental necklace. That is to be regretted. but it might be that the artist was afraid to get near enough to get a good pie ture. Nevertheless he says in his story that Mrs. Eustis had a live beacon strictor wound about her neck. and that 1t was six feet long.
 So far as we are informed these are the only reporters who have filed their reports. and 1t is plain that they are all at sea, and apparently inR dif- ferent boats. Perhaps they indulged too freely in the refreshments, and may also have had different brands of same, which might account for the various conclusions they arrived at. However, the lady created a sensation, and that was the main point
 HOW ABOUT ITS