The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1918-02-16
Back-Door
Methods
BY Helen Gregg
copyright. Mcclure Newspaper syndicats.)

looking over the top of his horn spec
tacles and not taking the trouble to
take the cigarette from the place where
1t adhered to his lower lip, you've got
to learn the back-door method. Get
the dramatic editor to give you tick
cts for bum shows that none Of us
want to see, and hand them out to h
telephone operators in some of the
swell hotels. In return, they will lis
ten to conversations when the swell
danes In their places call anyone up.
Kid the ladies' maids in the dressing
rooms when you go to charity balls,
and get next to the hair-dressers and
manicure girls that are employed by
the society women who don't have
their own maids. OF course, the big
bugs themselves won't take the trou-
BILE to talk to you," and there was an
emphasis on the you" that was very
belittling to Clarice Daw, newly In
stalled as society editor Of the News
World.
Sometimes, in spite Of the city ed
ltor's judgment, the "~big-bugs" did ak
to ClaEice. If they yer mentioned her
at all to each other 1t was to speak OF
her as a mice little thing" Very
pretty though she was, she managed
never to be striking when she attend
ed society functions, and though more
than one husband or son would gladly
have talked to her instead Of the more
eligible women Of their own set, Clar-
Ice knew too much to let them. She
preferred the back-door method Of get
ting news. If she were forced to con-
suit the "big-bugs" at all, she had
learned that the oldish women when
approached with considerable but dis
Greet fattery yielded up the facts she
wanted TO know better than anyone
else. But Clarice had made the dis
covery that there is no n in the
world that Is so flattered by the at
tention Of a young and pretty woman
as an old woman, especially when that
attention is accompanied by complete
obliviousness of the existence Of that
aging ones husband or SON
On the occasion Of the big war ben
eft bazaar that was to be given out
at Colonel James Drew's country es'
tate late in the autumn, Clarice was
urged to "do her durndest" by the city
editor. he promised to give the event
the most conspicuous position on the
front page, OF course, provided there
was not another revolution in Rus
sia or a cabinet minister Gid not re
sign or something Of that sort. "It's
to be the biggest social event of the
season." he told her, land, besides,
there is a very good reason why we
want to have Drew think the News
World is the best sheet in town"
"Well, I'm sure there is every reason
why he should" protested Clarice
whose loyalty to the paper for which
she worked was complete.
Clarice circled hurriedly round the
large drawing rooms where the vari'
Gus booths had been set up and Their
roamed through the protected gardens
Of the old estate and down linden lanes
and through hemlock groves and il
and out a japanese garden, where the
various money-extracting schemes
were established. She noted on the
tiny sheets of paper that she held in
conspicuously in her hand the gowns
Of the various distinguished womer
whose faces had come to be very ia
miliar to her. But, reflected Clarice
gowns wouldn't be enough for a first
page story. She wished that a fire
might break out in a wing of the house
or that someon would fall into tn,
/. pool in the japanese garden so tina
someone else might make a heroi,
rescue. But nothing like that hap
pened. Then Clarice remembered tn,
back-door method.
Sheltered in a grape arbor that raj
at right angles from the hedge tina
bounded the kitchen yard was an elab
orately set-up bar. Although, pei
: force, all the drinks there dispense,
! we're of the soft variety. The bar wa
! entirely attended by men, who stoo'
smoking and shivering there in the al
bor-apparently their sanctuary iron
too much ~femininity. Mayhap benin,
those bottles Of ginger ale were som
others not listed on the enormous
facetiously worded list of drinks tina
was fastened conspicuously over tn
lmpromptu bar. Clarice knew, o
course, that interesting though such
revelation might be, it would never d
to make the interest of her article DE-
pend on such information.
What did focus her attention wa
the presence of two Woodworking me
= In white liner coats who mixed var
: GUS concoctions with all the expertnes
. of professionals. They were the onl
Q servants that Clarice had yet been abb
to discover. She knew that If she coul
? get hold OF N Of the servant
. OF the Drew household she could e1
y tract what information she wanted
. She therefore sidled her way over t.
wards the bar in the arbor taking car
!. that none of the dowagers. who's
= patronage proved so valuable to he
. should see her taking steps In the d