The Washington times., 1911-10-19
MRS. BULMER LIKES
NEW TRINITY rule
At NAVAL ACADEMY
Middies Forbidden To Invite
More Than Three Girls
Each To. Hops

II three is crowd, more than three
IL a mob.
This is the social edict at the United
States Naval Academy, Annapolis.
limiting midshipmen to the privilege of
inviting not more than three girls to
the, series Of Academy hops this
winter. ..a..,l./
From the superintendent, Captain Glib
bons, down to the middies themselves
at least few of them-the new RUE
has the stamp of society's approval.
Furthermore. the "sweetheart trinity
rule, as 1t is now called by the middies.
has the approval of the official chaper-
ones and social arbiters at Annapolis,
the wives of the staff of officers.
Outspoken In her approval Of the new
arrangement is Mrs. Roscoe c. Bulmer,
wife of Captain Bulmer. formerly Miss
Anita Poor, a. former leader of society
in the Capital, and now one of the most
popular chaperones at the Academy So
cials.
: my goodness, surely three girls are
enough for anv midshipman. when lie
can't have even one upon graduating,
according to the rule against marriage
representative of The Times today in
her home at Annapolis.
why. the middies themselves like
the new rule; they adopted It. OF
order. ! suppose. as nothing can be
done without his approval, and / feel
sure it's going to be the best thin.
that ever happened for the middies. !"
three girls?" ,. =
'"rhey say" Mrs. Rulmer stated with
an ,enigmatic smile. that it is to pre-
vent overcro wding at the hops But.
having one MILDLY with flock Of girls
around him. by sending out wholesale
1T is hoped to make the hops more
chaDerone, herself a member Of the
mos most = exclusive Of exclusive Washing
ti9n 1o,9 soGiety,With eGn shs ra;,SI sapital s. .
Mrs. Bulner continued. '"Thev like to
scatter dance invitations broadcast all
oyer oyer the country, in their home cities.
New York. Annapolis. and everywhere.
Mrs. Buluer says the Sweetheart
trinity has worked out fine since its
inauguration last week.
the result is that only about an av-
ern eraGe . OF two of the three girls invited
When I used to come down here to
hops fve and six years ago." said
Mrs Bulmer. smiling dreamily. as she
mentally reviewed her debutante days
before her marriage to Captain Bulmer
"it was perfectly ridiculous to see Ave
tracted MILDLY. He had invited them
all and had to entertain them. Most
Of the other middies had done the same
thing. Nearly everv MILDLY had two or
three girls. Now. wasn't that q pretty
plight? Because there were more girls
than middies almost always. One mid
DIV to dance with six girls Is somewhat
q preponderance. should say. And the
other middies couldn't felp him out by
taking dances with his half-dozen
Euests., for they were in the same boat
themselves
In placing her official stamp of lap-
middle order Mrs. Bulmer said:
"Now all this overwhelming Of mid
dies by girls will stop. He can't invite
more than three and will probably
have only one guest to entertain. pos
sibly two. for all three invited can
hardly attend in every case. Then there
will be middies enough to go round.
II think IT Is a very good rule. But
the public generally entirely misunder-
stands 1t. The middies are not limited
to the same three girls all the year,
unless they are foolish enough to send
out the names of the same trio Of girls
for the entire series and have all ac-
cept. They can invite three girls for
the first hop three different girls for
the second, and so on.
II am sure the superintendent will
even permit a middle to have an extra
girl friend down occasionally, too"
Mrs. Bulmer says the Academy hops"
are now held in the gymnasium and
not in the armory,. the gym" being
of limited capacity for the SIS midship-
men, officers and guests. Only the