The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1911-12-16
But all Society is Intellec-
tual Only When That is
the Fad.
It's Time Taken u p Race
Track, Bridge, Dancing,
the Theatre.


ttllect.
1t may be allowed at once that q
very charming widow with a taste for
social activity and commanding
pt rse viii have herself to blame ie
she does not have a delightful time
In England. In fact, she need be
neither very charming nor a widow if
her wealth is sufficiently great A
well directed letter of introduction.
followed by an earnest of her intention
to spend her money freely i'm enter
tpining the proper people in the pro-
per way, and she finds herself inside
cf week admitted TO the "smartest
drawing rooms. After that she has
20 the topmost ring OF the social lad
Ger before the season Is over.
She must, however, submit to direc-
ton She must place herself in the
hands Of one or more experienced
members of London society, who will
keep her on the right lines and intro
duce her only to what are, for her
purposes, the fright" people.
one American multl-millionaire wi
dow failed in her designs on London
society only a. couple of years ago
because she was too masterful and in
sisted on having her own way. She
was not exactly boycotted but she
realized that she was not popular and
failed to get gair return for her
expenditures so she sold her house in
London. That was the case Of Mrs.
Potter Palmer.
There is really no substantial differ
cncc between the life of the New York
Four Hundred and the London Smart
set. The chief difference is that at
tending race tracks for about eight
months of the year Is n more import
ant part OF the English society wo-
mans business than the Americans.
There are a certain number of race
meetings which the social rubric pre-
scribcs, must he attended by every
" oman who wants to be considered ''in
It" Then there are the bridge and
poker parties. IL is estimated that a
lady in the set in which Mrs. Leeds
moves I'm London spends at least thirty
hours a week at bridge. Then there
IL the endless stream of luncheon,
dinner and reception engagements, to
say nothing OF balls theatre parties,
house parties in the country. These
don't leave a great deal of time for
mental cultivation.
In the winter there Is hunting; the
sn art set is also the hunting set, and
The parties at the hunting boxes In the
sLircs are the jolliost and most un
conventional and indulging in i'm
proving conversation. Those of them
that are sufficiently wakeful settle
down to bridge These smart women
toke little or no part in politics They
may do a little canvassng for their
relatives at election time, but their
political work, rs u rule, begins and
ends there. There are some arlsto-
cratic women who take a practical in
terest in politics, but they do not be-
long to the much-advertised smart set.
Sir Victor Horsley declares that Eng
lsh society womenare more interested
IN their lapdogs than in their chill
dren.
II Is true there Is a section of ul-
ira smart society here which Is always
trying to be. and to some extent sue
ceeds in being. intellectual. But Mrs.
Leeds was not OF that set, though
doubtless she met some of its mem
bcrs. II Is quite the fashion TO wOr-
ship Bernard Shaw, and, by the way.
an American novel, Ills own Wife,
has been greatly read and admired.
Although they do not take an active
part In It the Suffragette movement is
favored i'm smart society because 1t
/ as caused women to be taken much
more seriously than ever before in
t, Is country.
Mrs. Leeds says the servant question
does not exist here in the same shape
as in New York, and household wor-
ries are little felt. That is quite so.
In England you have a servant caste
attached to the upper classes. The
bulk of the servants in good class
houses in London are the descendants
of servants. some of them servants for
generations. A lady in Mrs. Leeds
position gets steward and a house
keeper, whom she pays well, and has
no further trouble about servants.
In one respect London society Is
more interesting and varied than that
Lf New York. one meets men and wo-
men eminent In every branch of.
thought and effort. Although money
iva sure passport to London society,
brains furnish passport equally sure
III they are brains that can be turn
ed to social account. Society always
wants amusement--a new thrill
London society has largely emanci-
pated itself from Victorian ideas OF
plopriety and Is far more lax than
French society What are called
smart women now talk in general
company about topics that formerly
could not even be limited at; and as
10 scandal there is no city on earth
where scandal-mongering is so general
among all classes. At the present mo-
ment AM exciting correspondence Is
going ON I'm a London daily paper on
the necessity of establishing code
of honor for women. 1t wg,s origin
|ated by a prominent society vcman