The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-10-30
SOME SERIOUS INTERESTS
 OF THE SOCIETY WOMEN
Recital Under Auspices Mrs Adch An Important Event of Next Week-Fraser Conner Wedding Plans-Mr. Gull lom's Dinner-EIiss Woods Halloween Party Mrs. Dowman's Luncheon-other Topics
 of Social Interest
BY MYRTLE MILES.

musical Tn Birmingham, said:
 Tt matters not how prejudiced, you are
 obliged to confess that lack of appre-.
 ciation now applies principally to our
 men. Musical audiences show a large
 majority of women. It is the women
 of the wealthy class, the wives of busi-
 ness men, who are the patrons every
 where of the arts that represent culture. But then. as William Dean Howells said. All society in this country is transacted
 by women.'"
 This is not true of Birmingham. Wom-
 en are leaders in the development of art,
 but they are receiving a generous and
 interested cooperation from their hus- | bands and men friends.
 There Is a growing tendency just now among society women to interest them selves in other things besides society In the smart dra wing rooms of the east most entertainments are planned with some. serious underlying purpose-the develop ment of some branch of art or sociological
 work or it may be for the shrewd hos tess to win political friends
 There are many New York drawing rooms where the hostess meets men who are her husbands political allies or-what she likes better-his enemies in political life. She holds her little gatherings only
 for men, and retires from her drawing room after her welcome has been given but she has used her opportunity to win friends and probable constituents for him. This custom was touched upon by Mrs. Burton Harrison in her recent com 1 parison between social New York of to-
 day and the period following the Civil war. She deplores the present condi- tions as showing foreign influence. These very women who have now taken their places as political allies of their hus- bands probably learned their political les l son in England and much that is ad- nirable may be traced to this same in- huenee. The whole tendency, indeed, | promises a development of the American woman both Intellectually and spiritually. | | A pretty brown-eyed wisp of girl, who | l has extracted the keenest enjoyment from two seasons of society in Birmingham voiced the general interest in other than the frivoities of society few days ago when she said "The girls in my set are tired of the perpetual play of a society girls career. mean the endless suc- | cesslon of dinners and dances and teas. | 1 We want to organize club and give al part at least of our time this winter to literary or sociological work. We shall probably form one very soon and meet at stated intervals for study di- | rected by one or another of the club l women who have promised to assist us. | Charitable work we will probably do also, | | forwarded without any beating of the | society tom-tom but just quietly and | with an aim to help ourselves and oth- l CTS. It is to be a very simple club. We will probably sew as we discuss the | 1 study or listen to d talk from some older | | woman. The girls will be carefully se- | lected for membership and must be con- | genial in their mental attitude. don't | mean she added, laughingly that | great whoehearted laugh of hers, that | we expect to socially take the veil No- | body likes a good time or a gay time l better than I. but l want to vary it with | something serious" She is a college girl, | not the bookish or blue" kind but just | one of the wholesome, sane sincere girls | that one loves to know. Bright and witty but never as Holmes puts it-'1n the | sense of condemning others less gifted | than herself" equipped with the small | | talk and the araderie that makes | men like her, yet capable of discussing | | seriously things in sparkling clever | way; in fine, she is a girl who knows | what she wants
 By way of suggestion. told her of | New York's Junior league, a decidedly | | exclusive organization. a useful one. as | well. and n he raelxnned yyitl in tho | social life of the metropolis. It is not | | however, an institution peculiar to New | York. for most of the large cities have similar organizations. The desirable | debutantes each season invited to | | become members. | Its purpose is the promotion of neigh | borhood work. The little blue book. with | it's annual report, includes in the list of | l officers and managers names of young married women who. according to rule, | joined the organization when debutantes |
 The members of the league make a per | 1 sonal study of the conditions and needs | of their city districts that for years the | league has been supporting visiting nurses | and that an auxiliary of girls act in | conjunction with each nurse and meets |
 her from time to time to talk over cases | | Art classes in the college settlements are encouraged and supported and scholar | | ships are given to the music schools set | | dement's. Some of the debutantes must go out and visit the public schools-per- haps conduct crochetng classes at War, ren Goddard house. A girl to be popular |
 socially must take her Junior league work
 seriously or affect to do so, else she | will be held in contempt. as was the little | girl of her grandmother's time, who sim | ply went to Sunday school for the Christ l mas gifts and candy and for the ice | cream of the annual picnic day l Some such plan this will eventual | ly be fulfilled in Birmingham and it would undoubtedly mean great deal to
 have such an organization. An annual ball is one of the undertakings of the Junior league. Tn New York many
 women, representative of different cir cles, each season have a common in- terest in the Junior league Perhaps there | are still people who annually attend their
 entertainments who consider it an or ganization. the prime purpose of which is | the chance it gives for social competition | and the gaining of social prestige Per | haps in the heart burnings it gives to debutantes excluded Cor say to the | mothers of these debutantes ignored, | the Junior league is not always consid-
 cred as allied to that charity which walks | with faith and hope. but it is an in-
 stitution that stands for something in Iaiistocratic circles and is greatly bene- | ficial to the poor.
 | In Philadelphia tile girls hay, 4n cf-
 eanization called the Monday Evening EDamlng ciub1-in reality an annual ball. and there Is a tradition that no debutante