Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-06-15

return as have said before for luncheon, dinner and
supper and shelter and breakfast and now and then
little money on the side.
These frequently manage, they are shrewd to
get commissions from tradespcopc caterers, and VINE
merchants for doing neat business with Their patrons
and their patrons friends in introducing, ADVERTISING
and selling; in other words placing themselves on the
same level the cooks and the buffers and other ser
who pocket their rakeots from the grocer and the
butcher
Once in awhile again, this pscudopromoter will de-
velop ceverness and will make capital out OF ecCeI-
trcities bv PLAYING the Clown-and from the Middle
Ages there has beer ecd for Fhommc qnl rt-wth and
without cap and be..s.
But the fool of society not social promoter he
has advanced himself and may have eventually landed
where, greatly to his credit he wanted to BEN the
position of the husband of a rich wife He has then re-
tired He harmless, and like the butterfly he has tu
filled his mission and, if his wit and his hl1nor
have been of that primitive KIND which stlll aWakeS
laughter when we see man tall down or bump ms heu
lose his hat in WindstOrn he has contributed to the
gaiety of society. And the day of another class OF
social promoter has passed.
Perhaps it would be in better taste not to allude to
the dead but one write this subject without
reference to the late Ward McAllster, most useful
member of New York society OF his times, one who has
not been sufficiently appreciated For it was Mr.. Nc.
Allister who by his excellent judgment and his well
earned reputation tha> period as bon 00dnf, did
teach New Yorkers-who not all the word-how to
give dinners and entertainments in less provincial
manner and cosmopolitan mode than did their
worthy ancestors
He instituted from the wreck of a small dancing
senblv which was to meet at the l4th-st. Del
monico's the famous Patriarchs and the Family Dane
ing Classes when New Yorks great restaurant
moved up to 26h-st. He did much in making Newport
home for the rich. He his glory IN the splendid
'7O's and 'SO's-no longer.
He could not exist in the New York of the present,
with multiplicity OF hotels and gorgeous eating pal
and its three thousand and more eligible to the
ranksof the fictitious Four Hundred of that crude period
Mr. McAisters setting up as social dictator, PLAIN
on every page of that silly Society as Have Found
It," his intimate revelations, and his long dissertations
on the price OF wines and vands and other details that
belonged the domain of the steward and the servants
hall, brought down upon him ridiculc and censlre.
| remember calling at Ward McAlllsters house
in tle full of his glory. then interested IN getting
UP little theater club for friends OF mine, and
were to go the list of members together not
to have any detrimenas thereon On that particular
morning he coseted in the dining room with num-
Der of newspaper reporters giving them Tor publca
ton the details of the coming Patrlarchs
In the hall seated two women fashOnably
gowned One the wife OF a powerful politician, and
the other his daughter. They waiting for MIR.
McAllster, and not shown into the drawing room
Presently the dining room door opened and Ward Nc
Aiser appeared He called out to the patient waiting
women found out afterward they had been there
O'Clock, and 1t nearly the luncheon hour,
"You needn't wait any longer can't bother with you
today. | can't promise you to get you your tickets.
will do my BEST but YOU had better go home.
a crowd of grinning reporters had followed McAlls
ter the open door They knew the names OF these
two women and they knew that they had come to ask
for their cards the Patrarchs and they been work
ing for this social triumph for years. They rose
and hurnbly made their way unattended out OF the
house. The dictator of that day
was honest and blunt but his
methods belonged to another
:: .. s: !: .. &
age. Although Ward McAlstcr
did steer few people into III
society, he not social pro- ~ ~
mOter. 1HO
IN these tivS we promote every
thing. Not only in but out OF
the actual realm OF finance and
speculation, promotion thrivcs
greatly. Colleges, charitable in
1,,c,, +11.