The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-05-13

spire. And although most of them
confess to being bored to death at
these parties, where the bridge is bad,
the conversation worse and the ''eats"
oftenest ice cream and cake, and des-
perately tired of the girls in Our Set,
1t would be a frightful calamity to be
left out.
Most of the dances are given by
the men, and a man can take a nom
union girl to them If he dares, but he
must run the risk of seeing her come
out of the dressing room with 1c1cles
hanging to her. If Our Set regards the
intruder as particularly dangerous they
will forbid the men they have under
their thumbs, (the engaged men or
Steadies) dancing with her. You may
think this an exaggeration and that
such high-handed methods would be
impossible, but the thing has actually
been done. Although the men give the
dances, the girls boss them. OF
course the union must make some ex-
cuse for such drastic measures so it is
usually said that the unwelcome girl is
Fast. This is "a favorite way of dis
posing of society scabs. (The union
smile is not a good one, by the way.
The intruders are not deliberate scabs
-proteStantS against the social order.
They are not recalcitra hts. In every
case they are non-union from necessity
and not from choice. They bitterly
regret not having been born into the
union or not having money enough to
DuV q membership ana are dIlXlOuS u
conciliate the Powers That Be, to be
accepted by Our Set and put in a posi-
ton to snub later aspirants.)
As for the men, although they are
hopeless towards and, in spite of an
occasional show of braVado in open
attentions to non-union girls, are abb
solutely under the control of the union
and scared of their lives to offend Our
Set. they display no snobbishness with
regard to men who may, from time
To time knock for Q6mitfanGe at the
sacred portals of smart society. They
have no close corporation to protect
themselves from competition. OF
course this is because they don't need
it. There are plenty of girls and to
spare and they welcome new chap
because he, suing for favor in Our Set,
is usually willing to take the goats
around occasionally and relieve them
of this tiresome duty. Any girl in Our
Set who meets a new man she thinks
will do, introduces him without hest
tation and her men friends welcome
him cordially, take him into their
clubs and make him one of them. Far
from making it difficult for the girls
who like him to meet him socially
they help them to chase him and even
if the most popular girls fancy him and
he threatens to become the leader of
the herd there is no organized OppOsi-
ton to him and no arrogant, arbitrary
methods to suppress him. A girl could
take uD with a 1abOrer and the men
would accept him and ask no ques
tons. But there is no hope for such
an improvement, physically and intel
lectually. in Our Set because the girls
will never do it, until the supply of
gentlemanly clerks, in offices and
shops is exhausted.
X
A dainty touch is given to the Sc
verest of tailored suits by the addition
of one of the pretty net blouses, either
in white or the color OF the gown.
They become still prettier when en-
brofdered in a graceful design in silk
or cotton, the latter being rather more
appropriate on the net. The net must
have a foundation of either thin silk