The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-03-03
Finds an Excellent Hotel at
Nassau.
Marvels at Lack of Taste in
Dress.
HIS LITTLE SERMON.
Life of Society People Artificial
and Uninteresting.
Glimpse of the Historic Bahama
Islands.
Tuesday. February Il

Tuesday, February Is.
The Colonial hotel at Nassau, where
we arrived To-Day, is the finest hotel of
the kind aver have seen. 1t IS stu
ated on the ocean front, in the center
of a really noteworthy tropical garden
The Colonial Is owned by company
which controls a numer of other
hotels, mainly in Florida, and is de-
voted entirely to tourists, as it is open
onI-- from December 10th to April LIST.
There are about six hundred guests in
the hotel at present, and a hundred
more could be accommodated. The
tourists come here mainly from Miami,
Florida, on the boat Miami" which
we intended to take at O'Clock this
afternoon. but the Miami" has not
arrived at this hour, 10 p. m. 1t left
Miami at 10 o'clock last night, and
there is some apprehension as to its
fifteen hours later. It is certain the
boat will not depart tonight, SO shall
go to bed presently, at the hotel, al
though I cannot get my baggage,
which is locked up at the custom
house.
At o'clock this evening members
of the Atchison party went in to din
ner at the Colonial, and occupied
table near the entrance. We went in
early and saw the guests as they en-
tered. Nearly all were in full evening
dress, and the sight was a very inter-
esting as we'll as a very amusing one.
If you have a notion that rich people
are always good looking, you are mis-
taken; 1 suppose the guests here are
rich, since they are paying eight dol
lars a day at the Colonial, and they
paid a good deal to get here. We
were located where we could see and
not be seen. and as tho six hundred
guests of the Colonial came trailing in
to dinner. they were as interesting as
performers at a theater. Nearly every
woman wore an elaborate gown, with
long trail, and the gowns were of every
style and color imaginable. OF the
hundreds of women we saw only one
who wore a really becoming dress. The
young women were more modeStly at
tired than the elderly ones, and this is
a rule that may be depended upon:
good many elderly women seem to
become panic stricken about dress,
and indulge IN every sort of caprice.
And no one is ever able to tell elderly
women anything. particularly about
clothes. They think they have lived
long enough to know, and carry out
ideas that are frequently absurd. Wom-
en- without shape, good looks or
youth, appeared in the dining room of
the Solonial tonight in dresses that
seemed to have come from the rag
bag. Usually theyewere of expensive
material, but frowsy, ill-fitting and
absurd looking. One man dressed in
a dinner suit usually accompanied sew
erdl women, 1Or Iloro are many more
women than men at the Colonial And
I thought the men made a better ap-
pearance than the women, since men
are willing to learn. Probably most
cession entering the dining room of
the Colonial at dinner tonight, can
do something we'll; if they couldn't,
they wouldn't be here. But many
Unless the guests at the Colonial
have money, there is nothing about
them to envy, since most of them are
old. This is particularly true of the
men: a good many young women
travel. but only a few young men.
Women have four ways of being
funny: in dress, in figure, in their WAYS
of doing their hair, and in the way
they carry themselves. Being stran-
gers in strange land, we remember
all these points without attracting at
tent1on ourselves: we were not trying
to attract attention, since our baggage
was locked up in the custom house
Here would come a woman walking
woman walking rapidly. The men al
ways followed their women folks; they
never preceded them, for dinner is re-
garded as q social function. and men
cheerfully turn that sort of thing over
to the women. Next would come a |
woman dressed very plainly, walking
verv briskly, as though she were say
ing: 81 don't believe in all this fool
Il
enter the dining room dressed as a |
civilized woman should dress" And
you should have seen the faces and
the backsi When woman is scrawny,
she builds her evening dress in a man
ner to display her back, instead of
her bust. And in. displaying a woman's
back a dress may be cut lower than
is possible in displaying her bust.
The head waiter, an important look
ing negro from the states, placed the |
most gorgeously dressed women in
the most favorable locations. I thought
he grouped them to make as good a
display as possible of his material. |
We fingered over the dinner, as we
were waiting for the miami" and had
nothing to do. Our table was at the |
side, near the entrance, and we had
good view of the backs of the wom- |
en- as they sailed down into the main |
dining room. And as they came out |
we had a good view of their fronts, |
1 come from quiet. modest country |
town, and am not much accustomed |
TO society, but the display in the din
ing room of the Colonial seemed al |
most pitiful to me. So many women |
protesting against growing old; so |
many severely plain, stout elderly
women dressing in a way that must |
meet with the disapprova1 of their men |
folks.
And this is what is called High Life. |
This is what we ordinary mortals envy
when at home. A week at the Colon |
ial hotel in Nassau, New Providence |
island, would kill me. The hotel is |
beautiful but the life here is so arti-
fetal and uninteresting, except to look
at for a day. The guests play golf a |
good DEAL which is a more important |
game than we Atchison people realize. /
A daily paper is printed at the Colon |
ial. for free distribution, and is de-
voted mainly to golf events. We |
Atchison people don't play golf-as a |
matter of fact. we don't play any