The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-11-19

| Aunt Lucreatia defended. Maybe they
We're shy of beaux"
mot at all" Anne snapped. Take the
Robinson girls, for instance They ae-
eepted my invitation as soon as they re-
eeiVed 1t, and about o'clock the evening
of the party they called up over the tele-
phone and said that Mary had a severe
sore throat. Somebody told me after
ward they saw her at the theatre that
self same night Birmingham isn't as big
! as New Hork-no, not by long shot
! ana girls can't expect to do things like
that, and not be caught"
Il still insist that girls have some ex-
cuse for refusing at the eleventh hour
said Aunt Lucretia. Sometimes they
really are sick, maybe have to stay at
home with a sick mother or father or
| brother or sister, but how a man WHO
comes from nice white folks and has
been used to things all his life, can de-
liberately ignore an invitation, or having
accepted it, back out without any eX-
cuse whatever to his host or hostess, Is
beyond me. It's their conceit-that's what
makes them do it, They think they are
Indispensable; that a hostess has got to
invite them to make her party a go
and it matters not whether they accept
her invitation or not she'll turn right
around and ask them the next time. Why,
| know men who boast of never answer
ing an invitation, and as for party call
well, that sort of politeness and appre-
citation went out with hoop skirts and
Prince Albert coats"
Now, isn't the average coneeited young
chap a nice one to be boasting of not
paying any attention to inVitations?' she
went on, very much taken up with her
subject "He is needed l suppose-that
will have to admit-beeause a party can't
be a success without lots of men, but
~. H. 4 4
entertainment, the majority of them?
Conversation is a lost art they no longer
talk even in every day, commonplace YER
nacular; in fact, they are SO slangy that
can't understand what they are driving
at half OF the time. All that the ma
iority of the present day young men can
do, after they've said 'How-dy-do, is to
grab some girl and cavort about turkey
trotting, or tangoing, or something equal
ly as silly and foolish. And then when
they condescend to pay a party call the
first thing they do after getting into the
dining room is to wind up the victrola or
get some girl in the crowd to play some
'ragtime' music and all you hear or see
is just a-shuffling and a-ragging, and
"Why, Aunt Luoretla, you are growing
positively slangy yourself" teased Anne.
II didn't know you'd ever heard or rag
ging or turkey trotting, but l supposed
you were that unsophisticated that you
imagined the tango was some sort OF
tropical fruit, like tangerines Or
"Never mind about my unsophisticated
state. of mind" Aunt Lucretia answered
quickly. Il haven't lived in this house with
four neices, all popular girls, and three
nephews, without learning something OF
the modern ways of young men and wom-
en- I'll venture to assert that no hostess
in this town can truthfully say that any
one of my neices or nephews have ever
left an invitation unanswered or ignored
the compliment paid them by an invita-
ton to a home wedding or debut party
or any social function
AUNT Lucretia, heart to heart, do you
believe that Tom and Jack and Dick do
their duty and pay party calls like the
men used to do when father was a beau
teased Anne again.
II believe it with all my heart" was the
reply. "Those boys have been raised
by hand so to speak. They are not the
common or garden variety any more
than YOU are. Your mother has drilled
good manners into them. andinto you girls,
and so have l. If | ever hear of one or
that trio of boys neglecting such mat
ters I'll deliver my opinion on the sub
teet to them, just as I am. delivering IL
now Why, the hostesses in birmingham
this winter could fill book f they told
their experiences along this line Ihe
hundreds of dollars invested in fetresh-
ments and wines, with sometimes ohiy
half of the number invited present. TO
eat the food and drink the wine, OF
course makes no impression whatever on
men. but | should think women, and es-
pecially those who entertain great deal
themselves. and have been the victims
of such circumstances would know
enough. and have consideration enough,
to reply to an invitation"