Bisbee daily review., 1911-03-21
An Unfortunate Encomlum By EDWARD IGlEHART Copyright by American Press Asso-
 cl1tiou. lsfL
] marrled an lnconssIous beautl

# it is unconscious Is very nice thing. but as soon as 1t becomes con scious it breeds vanity. and vanity is the mother of a large brood of troubles My wife and mysef-we are both Vans belong to the older aristocracy of New York None of our ancestors would have thought of associatine with the ancestors of persons who are now in the swim and to whose circle we were not admitted They care nothing about our ancestors, though many of them have heard of my fa- ther, Who was a distinguished com modort in the navy, and my wife's grandmother. who was celebrated New York belle. The places once oc- cupied by these worthy people are now nllcd with the descendants of those who sold them oysters and fish and whose wealth runs away up into the millions.
 But my wife and I were happy un- til a certain remark was repeated to her. One of our old family counec- tions who. owas a box in the diamond horses hoc'-so called from being that gallery of the Metropolitan Opera House occupied by the muldmiIHon- aires gave us the use of it for one night The favor nearly caused our ruin. Soon after that night at the opera Gertrude's cousin, who gave us the box. said to my wife.
 ''The Earl of Chapperton. recently from London, asked me who was the lady in my box on Thursday night, saying at the same time; She's the most beautiful woman I ever saw. London could not furnish anything equal to herr"
 The remark. was not only repeated to my wife, but WIS talked about at ev- cry function held by the golden set. It finally game to Gertrude. added tC in this wise What pity that Mrs Van Valkenl6Ira doesn't take the po- sition in society that half a century ago was occupied by her grandmother the beautiful Betty Van Wyke"
 From that moment my dear wife got tbe society bee in her bonnet "OuI family has always kept up in the world tiN the present generation" she Said We have Si00oO a year. and on that we could get or in society Connections of ours in the swim would introduce US. and our especial associ- etes would De Of the older aristocrat.c set who are not so rich as these new commercial people"
 My dear" l protested. "our S1O,0GC income would not keep Us in the swim a month";
 ''Not with your management" sho make money go further than a man let me try. ] will show you what can do"
 Like q fool ! was persuaded. My wife had no trouble in penetrating the society sl.irmish line because of the remark of the Earl of Chapperton which was on every oue's lips. She re ceived a number of invitations, but found that shc must make consider able outlay for costumes before she could accept any of them. And since the costumes she must rival cost all the way from several hundred 10 sev eTai tiiUussriid dollars. and she must have a different costume for each function. the amount soon ran up to . third of our total income. Since oul ordinary necessary expenditures re quired the other two-thirds, 1t was evi dent we would soon run upon the rocks. But what is the one matter oi a woman's costumes, expensive though they be, compared with the thousand end one other luxuries that must be provided by people of fashion. One dinner alone we felt obliged to give cost us $500, and 1t was considered plain at that
 We permeatcd the outer social line and were making some headway into the Inner circle. We were both disap pointed in discovering that we must be civil to a number of the wives of youns muItlmillionaircs who had married actresscs. and my wife had discovered that society was not composed of sucf persons as Ter grandmother had shon6 among. Then something happened that called a halt to our advance
 A certain Mrs Van Ealkenburg  whose inco4ne was some <$2.OO0. 900 q year and who was as homely as { hedge fence. caused it tO be given Ou for a consideration, the price being Invitations t0 certain social climbers C her soirees-that mistake had beer made in reporting Earl Chapperton'i remark as t0 the most beautiful wom an in New York. The Mrs. Van Val kenburg referred to was the lady with the S2.C00,000 income.
 Everybody sneered, but as all un derstood that 10 gainsay this edicf would cost them the enmity of ons i of the most powerful women in New York society Do one dared to lisI a word to the contrary. The ear had returned to England and was no to be even questioned on the subject The moment his lordship's complimen was appropriated by another my wifi ! ceased to be aD object of curiOsit! and, as she had no other claim to b' admitted to society, was dropped Be sides, any further attention to her wal sure to be resented by the other Mrs Van Valkenhurg
 When the battle was over I discOy cred that we had eaten upon our cap ital sufficiently to reduce our incom'