Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1910-01-20
FOLLlES OF The CAPITAL
Freaks Of Fashionable Life in
the New Washington.
Rapidly becoming the Most Luxurious
City in the Misunderstanding That
Arc Like I1OtcIs-Ncw "Stunts"
and Eads.

fashionable center of the United States
says the Washington correspondent Of
the Hartford Times. Not only are multi
millionaires from all over the country
coming here to live but the very rich
New YORK people. such rs the Wander
bilts and Belmonts. arc building palaces
Mt the capital for winter occupancy The
Perry Belmont mansion, at the junction
of Eighteenth street and New Hamp-
shire avenue, is almost finished. and IT
Is understood that the George Wander
bits will begin to put up their palace. n
couple of blocks further IN the same
avenue. in the spring.
in n social sense, the Washington nr
fifteen years ago was village compared
with what II Is to-day. The Letters
Leading the movement of the multi-mil-
lionaires in this direction. had then but
newly arrived from Chicago. and were
erecting their huge white brick residence
on Dupont Circle. IT was the first of
the great private palaces. which since
then have been rapidly multiplying so
that to-day they are numbered by scores
Nineteen servants IRE employed in the
Letter mansion: but the Larz Ardersons
have Nv enty-tve. and the Scott Town
sends (nearly opposite the Andevsons on
Massachusetts avenuo) are unable to get
along with fewer than thirty. The en-
pense OF running one OF these huge es-
tablishments-merely to keep it in com
mission that is TO say-is from $1,000
to $4,000 a year.
They are rather like hotels than like
private houses. Indeed the new palace
. of Thomas F. Walsh. on Massachusetts
avenue. is larger than good many
city hotels The lives the occupants are
Obliged to lead are necessarily somewhat
artificial. II is hardly possible to cult
vate home atmosphere under such
| conditions. Kathryn Elkins daughter
of the mult-mllionaire senator from
West Nirgnia) was heard to complain
bitterly, on a recent occasion. that let
tiers and even kilograms that came to
the house We're commonly unsealed and
read by the servants, and that even the
| telephone calls had auditors in buffers
department. where pampered menials en-
ioyed the luxury or listening in" to-
acquire material for downstairs gossip.
II one is to enjoy all the advantages
of wealth and fashion, however one
must make up ones mind to re,inQuish
certain comlorts-among others, that OF
privacy. Inevitably too, there is in the
private palaces enormous extravaganza
| and waste. especially where food sup
| friend permitted muiti-millionaire's
| wife to glance over some Of her house
| hold accounts, CHANGED to notice that
| the mistress Of the establishment was
paying 81 a pound for every beefsteak
purchased. But what is one to do? A
lady in Mrs. Letters position is fully
occupied with social affairs; she has
not time to bother with the business of
| running the domestic hotel.
The young girl who lives in the private
| palace is never allowed to go out alone,
| up to the time when she maker her
debut in society. \ governess, or a
| chuperon hired by the hour. always
| accompanies her. This Is rather a new
! idea. After coming out" Of course it
| is 'ffercnt. But that event merely
marks the beginning Of a period during
| which the endurance of the physical
! feminine machine is tried to the utmost
| Nothing short OF scientific management
will enable even the healthiest young
woman to go through two or three sea-
| sons OF smart" up-to-date social dssi-
patton without losing the bloom of her
youth and the better part of her beauty.
This is why the Fashionable debutante
| of the season Of 1870 is treated in all
! important respect as If she were doll
She is put to bed like a doll, by her
maid. and got up and dressed like a doll.
| Her bath Is drawn for her, when she
wants 1t. She does not know how to do
her own hair She never puts on her
own shoes. She never does anything
useful from the time she gets up in the
morning until the time she goes to bed.
She never takes any care of anything.
If dress or any other article Is to be
tt,n bs.r
kerchief Is needed. the maid gets it.
All Of this Is part OF the business of
being the daughter OF modern multi
millionaire The young lady is not
taught the value of anything. She
knows nothing that is really worth know
ing-though she is we'll acquainted with
many things she ought not to know.
| What education she has acquired at n
fashionable school before coming out"
| is false fabric--a mere pretence. But
| she does not need education; her work
| in life is to be ornamental to amuse.
and to be amused.
She gets up at noon, usually and is
rubbed down by a professional masseusc.
just like a horse. This is to remove all
traces OF tho fatigue arising from the
designations of the day before. Her neck
is rubbed to make it plump, an her face
| likewise to discourage commencing
wrinkles. AS rule, she Is manicured in
bed, and regularly once week her
| pretty toenails receive a similar attcn-
| ton.
1t takes her not less than three hours
to be made ready for the day. The dress
ing of her hair Is in itself a great affair
there is so much of 1t to be put on. In
deed. the average society woman to-day
wears much more hair than ever grew
on one human hear Rats? Not one.
The proper thing is to wear couture
that Is in the main artificial. but wholly
composed of real hair OF the most beauti-
full and expensive kind. The young lady's
own hair is ocmbed straight back from
her forehead. and upon 1t is superposed
a circular, or semi-circuar arrangement
| Of real hair, soft and level PuTs are
| then added, with here and there a CO.
quettish curl.
| 1t is safe to say that no women that
ever lived were so artificial, in a phys-
cal sense, as the fashionable women of
to-day. AS for the hair. dyes have never
been so. generally used. But they are
much better dyes than were formerly OBJ
tainable, and so the employment of them
Is not likely to be suspected. Some OF
these dyes are bought in the shape OF
powders, which are brushed into the hair
They produce very beautiful effect
The fashionable woman Of to-day has a
much better figure than her prototvno
OF a generation ago, or OF any byrone
PERIOD her shape may not be better.
put inquire Is an entirely different matter