The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-02-12
Do Society Women With Unlimited Funds Al Their Command Care
 How Their Children Are Reared?
Comment of An Observer On Topics of Peculiar Interest to Mothe1s-SaIacious Dances Are Vogue In Some Social Circles-Newest Gossip of Old Gotham

will stand on that monument for what they have done"
 MT. NobIe's great-grandfath ther fought in the Revolution, anF his grandfather in the war of 1872. But while he has the greatest admiration for the pioneer women of America, he says the American women of to-day are fully the equals of the Revolu- tionary heroines.
 'NThe woman who loaded a musket and told her husband to go fight to save his country performed no greater fighting to-day for the right to save their country with their own good of fees and influence. The o.d-fashtoned woman was adequate to her own time. The American woman has always been up to her job, but she hasn't the same tasks that she faced in the early days.
 up to the present time art and lit erature and sculpture have combined to perpetuate the type of woman that does nothing, that is nothing save the beautiful reward of some mans life. Now my monument to Ameri- can womanhood is going to stand just as much for the six million working women of the United States as it stands for Dolly Madison or Molly Pitcher. It's going to be tribute to every self-sacrificing little mother, that pinches and saves and wears old clothes to give her boys and girls an
 .sT believe the monument will be the first general recognition of the wom- en of any nation, and my highest ann bition will be realized if I make it worthy of the women to whom it is dedicated.
 'Is society negIectfuI of its parental obligations? SocioIogists who are never tired of adverting to the dis position of prominent women to turn over to nurses and governesses the care of heir children, have seized upon the recent departure for Europe or young Mrs. Anthony J. Drexel, jr., and Mrs William B. Leeds to strengthen their argument that the modern so- ciety woman considers her children bore. To this notion, the sociologists say can be traced in large part the vagaries and eccentricities of so many of the younger contingent in society, who have been brought up by hired attendants.
 Mrs. Drexel who was Marjorie Gould eldest daughter of MT. and Mrs. Geo -se Gould and sister of Lady Decies, has at Georgian Court, the pretentious home of her parents at Lakewood. On the advice of her physician that a trip abroad would do her good, she other side about four weeks ago, leav- ing the baby at home in the care of nurses, under the supervision of her mother. She expects to be gone two or three months. Mrs. Leeds went to London six weeks ago and before departing for the other side installed her ten year old son, William B. | Leeds, jr., in a big mansion just out | side the city, presided over by twen- l ty servants. The youngster,- who will ] inherit anywhere from 20,O00, 900 to | an automobile, a pony and a number | of horses to whisk him about the | country on his afternoon drive and is | fawned upon by his little army of ser TDr~fw the req m. Every whtm is satisfied | and the socioIogists add, everything is l colored to suit his ch'l5ish fancy. These | two incidents, society thinks do not l class to children and being excep' ion al should not be cited as an indict- | ment of them. However the sociolo- | gists have been making much capitol | of it to buttress their side of the case. | grizzly bear" and those other sug- gestive dances which caused Mayor | Gaynor to recently describe New York | as a modern Baby on, has been damp | on foot here to discourage the extreme in dress. Those interested in the plan declare that the costumes worn | at receptions and other formal pub | lie assemblies by so-called smart wo- men and debutantes. is as immodeSt as the dances in which they have been wont 10 engage. NrS- oEepnGn bah0f and Mrs. Frederick Nathan, two of the women most active in the movement | are particularly caustic in their crit icism of this tendency, which they generacy. Mrs. Nathan said yester- day:
 Ut seems to me that there is a great deal more immodesty and vulgarity of dress to-day than there was twenty years ago. Once there was a sharp differentiation of costume between the women who kept the social laws and those who broke them- That is no longer the case. Positively one can not tell whether the beroughed, low necked, -short-sk k'rted girl one meets on Broadway or Fifth Avenue is re- spectable young woman or-the other sort'' 'tAs for the evening dress of society women it is often disgusting and vulgar. I have not the least ob- jection to decoliette when 1t is worn
 "A moderate deconetege, barring throat and shoulders, is not only ef- fective and beautiful but most appro- priate for dancing or dining in over heated rooms. But there are limits that should be dictated by natural de cency and good sense. And the ev- ening gown cut down to the waist line in the back and with very little above it in the front is quite beyond the pale. No woman with any in nate modesty or refinement would wear such a dress at any function, whether public or private.
 ''Yet they are worn," I suggested.
 ''They are" Mrs. Nathan regretful- ly agreed. However, a too extensive decolletege is not the only sign os vul- garity in many a womans wardrobe. For instance, there are the close-fit- ting hobble skirts for street wear, so much in vogue recently. In fact the excessively narrow skirt is still with us, though it isn't called fhobble' any more.
 ''These garments are imm odest and 5v, 10 hfphaSf decree Vet even quite young girls wear them They achieve the last touch of vulgar ity when they are cut short, some times half way up the leg, and ac- companied by thin silk oDen-work stockings and low shoes. That dis gusting combination is a common sight on our streets, whether it's win ter or summer. Then there is the a,a--rc., -,l ma lrellIl