The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1918-07-20
By Beatrice Fairfax.

N ASHIONS change in women
just as they change in clothes,
plays, food and house fur
nishings.
Before the war It was the fashion
10 be frivolous, eKtravagant e1-
elusive And a little farther back
plain imbecility had a great vogue.
Who does not recall the famous
monkey dinner that occurred in
Newport A woman with many
millions and a frantic impulse to
demonstrate her Originality" Dor
rOwed a monkey. trained to the
usages Of knife and fork and placed
him among her guests at dinner.
The dinner was considered a
great social success: every one who
attended 1t was charmed-only, the
monkey kept his real feelings to
himself
This was also the period of
fountain wading. A society" girl
N Baltimore jumped into a foun-
tain. fully clad. and splashed
about And presently. all over the
country. We had an Eruption OF
tank and fountain waders demon
StratinE their Originality"
Then came the reign Of the Ted
az bear. and girls carried these
tiresoms toys about with them, in
an effort to be striking and origi-
nal.
GREEN AND VIOLET WIGS.
Colored wigs came just before
the great war, and with this cul-
ninating bit Of folly, the "original-
sex seems to have walked up to
better things.
Such pitiful efforts to be orig1-
nal have had their day. the war has
given women real work and the
power that goes. with It A woman
no longer has to jump into a foun-
tain or put on a violet wig 10
demonstrate that she has person
Glity.
Furthermore, the woman VINO
cannot now diagnose such Eymp-
ing and Teddy bear walking. must
live a long way indeed from a pub
lie library.
shed recognize the signs imme-
6iate1y for what they were worth
and get busy with something else
something that would be less OF
give away"
Science has q terribly cruel name
for such manifestations Of "Srigi-
pality." It sees in them nothing
more than the raw impulse Of
crude mind to express itself Laek-'
ing such ability 1t explodeS into
variety Of things.
Sometimes it 10 content win
doing something conspicuous Ike
soaring a violet wig. again II may
take the form of dispAraging some
one whose superiority is evident
and. therefore. an anront
Tbess 'TnferiorSy compensa-
tIons." as Freud calls them. are just
kind old Mother Natures way of
l.ttinE down her less promising
children easily. Rich idle women
have always spent untold sums on
their "inferIority compensations."
To them it was a species OF self
justification. They crayed emf
nence: but mental poverty reduced
them to being freakish
WAR AN EDUCATIvE FORCE
It was reserved for the great
war to hold the mirror up TO such
lives One glance was apparently
EunIcient-to Judge By the patience.
industry. eaEerness with which
fashionable women have kept at
work. They have made wonderful
Siseoveries-among them that work.
real work. is good. That work web
done brings immense satisfaction.
something deeper and more COM
forting than being freakish-
They will never 60 back to folly
for folly's sake The monkey din
ner as a social function. IS a. dead
as Nero's nddlinE. Human service
is BEGINNING to humanizs the idle
rich
The war has been q tremendously
sducative force In a couple OF
Years II has showed the clock ahead
a century or more in the way of
progress