Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1910-02-18

lnlHtS as ms hahltS.
For example take the matter of meet
ing ana overcoming difficulties. The most
OF the men who succeed do so because
nrSt OF all success is in them. Most
faIlures are due not to difficulties. but to
tlle spirit, the attutde-the lack Of ha
bltual thoroughneSs-of doing work to
completion. 1t is safe to affirm thai
most successful men would succeed in
anything, and most who fail would fail
III everything. The fault is not in the
luck or their stars but in them
selves. The habit of mastering was nev-
er formed, Everett r. Thompson in
Womans Home Companion.
1850
New York Society.
In the February number Of Harpcr'S
Bazaar, Ralph Pulitzer prints the third
and last of the papers in which he so
brilliantly arraigns New York society.
In this article, which describes a New
York ball, Mr.. Pulitzer's pen is very
sharply pointed. For example, he says:
The hostess issues the invitations to
her dance only a week or even five days
before the event, At first thought this
might seem to be a mistake, giving a
suggestion of the impromptu with its
attendant geniality and informality, to
ceremonial. But deeper consideration
will show that this very briefness of no
tlce is Il circumstance full of pOmp and
prestige. 1t demonstrates that the host
esS is a lady of such calihor that she
need fear the rival entertainments of no
lesser ladies' on the evening of her choice;
that her invitations are paramount TO
be eagerly accepted, no matter what
else her guests had planned for that
night The only danger in this method
that one of the few other hostesses Of
equal position with herself should
chance to choose the same night for a
ball Of her OWNS avoided by each of
these hosIesscs having secured the social
rights to n certain week in winter for
her ANIMAL ball, and on this week none
of her equals would think of infringing"
The home of the ball is of course the
center of suspense. The hostess her
self is upruffled She is a proud and
worldly-wise lady who has been giving
her balls year before year as far back
as she cares to remember. With her
wealth and her position the giving Of n
BAH reduces itself to a very simple for
mula. She has quickly edited her last
years list ot guests up to date, adding
here. erasing there, as deaths, debuts,
and divorces necessitate, and has with
judicial discrimination elevated a few
worthy outsiders to the ranks OF Socle-
ty. She has then instructed her score
tary to address invitations to the names
ON her list. Having selected the young
man whom she wishes to lead her CO.
tillon, she has then ordered the flowers,
the food, the orchestra, and the 1aYOrS
as methodically as she has ordered the
guests. 1t never occurs to her to spec
ulate as to whether her guests VIII fall
to enjoy themselves any more than as
to whether any Of them may fail and
break their legs Such worries she leaves
to the majority of hoSteSSes who have
to give balls fer a social livelihood. AS
for herself. it is not a question whether
her hall will seem a success to her guests,
but whether her guests will be success
Mt her ball. 1t may as well be con-
fessed at once that she IS not typlcal
of most hOsUeSSeS Of New York society,
but she is typical of what they would
all like to be. and this is an occasion
on which it seems more magnanlmous
to typify the few ideals than the many
actualitieS.
At half past II the first covey of
guests fits in. finds refuge in the cloak
rooms, and stealthily waits for reinforce
ments. These early arrivals are unfor
tunates who were not able TO get INVITA-
tions to either Of the opera houses. They
have been unable TO pass the evening at
the theatar because to wear decoHete
dresses there would be improper, owing
tn the obscure law which in our country
has hitherto made it indecent to expose
Mt the play those identical physical eX-
Danses which it is obligatory to exhibit at
the opera They have therefore been
doomed to domesticity, and have been
dra gging themselves through the endless
hours since dinner. in the arid atmos-
pkere of home, nervOusly alternating be
tween the easy-Chair, the piano, the
= I IL. L. FDl
earliest possible moment they have shak-
en- the dust of their habitatiOn from their
sinners. and. accompanied by mother,
brother husband or maid, have sped to
the ball.
Now the second orchestra. which has
heeu furnished to alternate with the first
80 that there shall he no lapses in the
music, arousns itself from its detected al
tituda Of Waiting for the worst, and
from its end Of the room takes up the
relay race Of melody. 1t is by this time
plavipg to standing room only. The
great room is filled with a dazzling mass
of fashionable humanity. Those who
have escaped from the operas have add
Cd themselves to those who have escaped
from the homes. The crowd stands. ITS
members jOStliu- one another politely
nodding. smiling. shaking hands, turning
the cold shoulder, seeing, making Itself
seen. The dancers have become longest
ed into an amOrphous mass which OoZes
round and round. From time to time
this viscous whirlpool casts out au eX-
bausted and bedragged couple, and from
time to time q fresh pair. united in the
holy bonds Of waltz or two-step, wedge
their way into the struggle.
No one can for q moment doubt that
the dancers are doing their duty. But
in the seemingly aimless c0ngIomeratIon
which covers the rest Of the floor q Use