Omaha daily bee., 1914-09-01

X
about getting what ssMkS
they want In diff al -
ferent ways, w kH
TAKE, for in
stance, the social climbers the men and
women who are trying to break into So
ciety, and who are dyins TO Know the
pesople who don't want to know them.
Now. when / was a young woman,
the open door to smart society was
through the church, and religion was In
as many stratss as a layer cake, with
tn. most fashionable brand of it, the
icing. on top. There was just as much
social distinction between different
denominations as there is between a
Fifth avenue restaurant and a sixth
avenue auicklunch place.
''Therefore. when the social climber
acquired money her first step up the
ladder consisted in forsaking her old
faith ard espousing a fashionable creed
She'd Join the smartest church In her
vicinity, and become an enthusiastic
missionary worker. or head of a guild,
or the leader Of the women's prayer
meetings.
"And the first thing you knew the
coupes and broughams OF her fashion
able sisters in the church would be
stopping at her door. and she would
have neatly turned the trick OF getting
into thes local four hundred.
by and by the religious path to So
ciety played out and often wonder ~
the falling off in church attendance. Of
which ministers complain so much. isn't
largely due to the church being no longer
the open sesame tn society. At any
rate, that method OF forcing a way
under tine right awnings as Richard
Grant White used To say, became an ~
productive vein to work. and the social
climber passed II up for philanthropy.
About twenty years ago. IL you will
remember. all the new rich and socially
ambitious suddenly awoke 10 the woes
OF humanity, and they fell ovor them
selves TO respond to the call OF the needy.
when the call was voiced by the rich
and fashionable women OF their home
towns.
They espoused causes. and went on
hospital boards. and worked themselves
to death at bazaars. and opened up their
purses and gave ostentatIously every
time tho local leader OF their 400 passed
around the subscription list
And Il worked like a charm. Mrs. =,
Croesus was bound to take notice Of |
Mrs. Parvenu. who had just come across |
with big check for her favorite charity, |
and in this manner did many woman |
whose name now stands at the head OF !
the society column buy her way into the |
charmed circle 10 which she aspired |
Believe me. the heather has done moro |
for many a social climber that she has
ever done for the heather.
Finally. however. too many shrewd !
women began working the philanthropic |
overdone.
Then heaven. in It's mercy, sent the |
woman's club mania, which swept the
country like a prairie fire.
THE socially ambitious woman saw |
the opportunity that II offered her. and
abe went for Il. She Immediately be-
came highbrowed and intellectual. and |
she organised Browning clubs with trim !
mings on the side Of terrapin and cham |
payne. or sandwiches and ties. according
to her means. and she employed mystic
interpreters who used strange and occult
language. TO come and expound the
meaning OF what the poet thought he
thought 10 the assembled audience OF
ladies'. in their best gowns
1T gave the women a delightful sense
OF culture and as most OF them were too
honest. and too simple. and too much
afraid of making mistakes to force
themselves forward. II gave the woman
with nerve and ambition clear field.
She instantly assembled a pedestal, and
became a ruler. and a power among her
sex-and her sex makes society In
America.
"Oh. the .weman's clubs has been
most effective club In the right hands,
and many a woman has broken her way
into society with II. Rut as a social
weapon the womsn's club has now passed
into inocuous deseutude. so TO speak.
Nowadays II il through the country club.
That. and not sudden love OF rural
life. explains the back-to-nature move
ment among the new rich.
AS soon a. = man makes money now
adsys tho first thing he does is TO buy
a country place. There's always a coun-
try club near. and a. there's always
general letting down. more OF less. Of
the social bars In summer. it's no trick
Al all for decent people. with decent
manners. and unexceptional motor cars.
and money that they don't mind spend
Ing. TO get elected 10 the country club,
Then the hlEhbail. and tennis. and
golf DO the rest. and before you can say
scat the social climbers are In society.
and turning up their noses at those
now H.
It's funny progressive game the
social climber has played, isn't 1.-THE
church. philanthropy. the woman's club,
tho solf llnks-I wonder what will be
R4xt?' sighed the old womsn My
principle objection 10 dying 10 that I
won't BE here TO see