The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-04-25

circles are all agog Better yet if the lady shoots
or stabs her friend. She scars then into the
very highest realms attains to the inner shrine
by the simple crook of her finger on the trigger
OF revolver or a motion Of the hand.
There is astonishing fascination in the
game of getting into society" and yet it Is
game in which there are no umpircs or referees
final decisions. and in which hardly anybody
ever is quite sure of having won Elderly ladies
on the porches Of summer resorts and represent
ing different communities discuss the subject
gTavely and through long, warm hours taking
up persons and claims by one; but they are
likely to fall into disputations among themselves
and to develop acrimony in argument and their
decisions are not conclusive after all There are
persons everywhere who would be entirely will
ing to do the homicide or elopement or to be
detected shoplifting in a department store-that
serves the correspondents purposes almost
nicely as the murder ttsef-to get into society"
IL they could I've assured Of staying in when they
got there and of the continuing luxury of being
able to look down on their fellow and sister NOR
tails and being passed by the resort porch jury
Unhappily, the glory obtained by criminal per-
Torrance is but transient: the is forgotten
by the public in two or three days and the per
former receives no more attention, save that of
the authorities
So the problem Of how to get into society"
aud stay in and of how to be society woman"
a society girl" or society man. remains un.
solved Nothing is more talked of than these
mystic precincts and indefinite persons; nothing
left SO dehatable and dubious. Reformers and up
filters, politicians preachers newspapers, dis
course to vs. continually of the sins of society"
and its constituent parts, but tell us nothing of
whereabouts or actual personalities and con
struction. individuals posture and ape fatter
and fawn,. pose for photographs, advertise as
assiduousIy as the most enterprisng patent medi'
cine vendor, are at the front in everything; and
We bethink ourselves that we have found it at
last-here is real society" But the elderly
lady on the porch snuffs a deadly and blightng
sniff. unloosens from her store some chapters
of family history and social traditon-and the
fair fabric of assurance falls crumbing and We
are left guessing and wondering again. Who Is
It, who is in It, where is 1t. what is it? Who
Is. this society woman" of whom we hear and
~ead so much, who is discussed so glibly paraded
SO constantly? She is an old. old type. The
prophet jeremiah knew Of her, did not approve of
her and prophesied evil things concerning her;
and the satirists. the cynics, the reformers and
the hopelessly down and outs have been railing
against her. sneering at her, telling of her fol
lies and sins, in every age since jeremiah; prob
ably were doing it before the flood, when the in
EQUITIES of mankind had become intolerabIe But
none has told us who she is or what she does or
explained for us the peculiartics, ear.marks hide
hoof brands, qualities ar compositions that
constitute the Society woman wherein she
differs from any and every other woman. Mean
while, along all these centuries, the woman in
question has been frettine and striving, spending
money ferocously cutting her friends, accumu
lating enemies ebowlng her way here, insinuat
ing herself cautiously there using diplomacy and
ingenuity that might win kingdom; relentless
eager, seryile or naughty and with her own
bosom crowded with anxious doubts whether she
really is IT, so taken and accepted by the world
and can hold her base
Thanks be- the vast, overwhelming majority OF
American women have no socal ambitions. no
desire TO be society women. are piedSahtiF con
tent with that station of life to which it has
pleased God to call them. We would hardly
think so from reading the newspapers. They
nut before us daily their baskets of follies osten
tations monkey shines, vice. crime, divorces and
scandals, so that we may be tempted sometimes
To think that these things make our life as
people However, In the unpretentious and the
side streets OF the cities and everywhere in the
country are hosts of women who not society
women" and have no will to be. They are
lust women-sweet and dear, loving and dearly
loved, satisfied to be feminine and modest and
compelling, and therefore unconsciously and nat
urafy adorable. They wives, mothers and
girls home makers and home keepers. ruling with
gentle but potent touch. These make the real
American life and character They do not
flaunt themselves or live before the public. They
are the inspiration and the power Of the country,
its assurance of stability and of its continuing
piety and reverence for purity, honor and hon
esty They find right principles by sure instinct
and by unobtrusve example enforce decency,
propriety and good behavior where laws would
fail OF these we can be sure--the womanly wo-
men who are just women. They make the real
foundation which our civilization is eStab-