The Washington times., 1922-12-24
Bv Daniel O. Cdslceu.
CHAPTER VIII.

DEFORE / 60 on with my adventures with the
- "Follies" ladies In the various cities In which
the show appeared should like to complete
my description Of that most familiar type Of chorus
girl-the gold digger"
In previous chapter mentioned the origin Of
this unique expression. Literally, It means pros
psctor, and to my mind that term fits many show
girls to T, No mining prospsctor ever surveyed
the lay of the land with more cool calculation than
that displayed by an experienced chorus lady on
meeting some sentimental noodle with more money
than brains, And certainly no miner ever separated
the last possible milgram OF gold from q
bucketful of ore with more patience than
one of these charming creatures exer-
cises In subtracting the last thin dime
from her admirers bank roll
Nor do they stop at money. Most cho-
rus girls have an innate merchandising
sense as shrewd and accurate New
England horse traders They will, many
of them, take anything that is not nailed J
down.
shall never forget day that spent \.
In Boston as the guest OF once-wealthy k
art collector whose extravagant tastes
and their consequences had forced him
to dispose OF his treasures. All OF his
priceless porcelains, paintings rugs and
other <Qbjects pf art were to 60 under the
haml&er, and the poor fellow was quite
unl61ppy about it. Perhaps that was the
re2son that on the day before the auction
he decided to give one last party in honor
Of my charmingwife and her companions
in the show.
II the unfortunate man had only known
whit he was In for he would have locked
allkhe doors and windows and called out
the National Guard an hour before our
arrival As 1t was he welcomed all the
little gold diggers" with great cordially,
and asked everyone to have chair In
a moment he was escorting the girls all
through the house, describing each Of the
priceless objects that were to be sold the
following day.
"Just look at that little miniature !" he would ex-
claim. "That was painted for Catherine Of Russia,
and and i its worth thousands of dollars How hate to
"My gracious!" chorused all the little gold dig
gers Thousands of dollars! You don't say! My.
my, myl'
And two of them would divert the unhappy art
collectors attention while third poked the mnia-
ture far down in her stocking as 1t would go. So
with books vases, clocks, brocades, mirrors, paint
bulging like old time football players, and the rooms
through which they had passed were being skilfully
stripped of such treasures and trinkets as could be
secreted about themselves.
When the party reached the last room was
dered to engage the host in long conversation
while the girls slipped out and returned to the hotel
each looking like stuffed ostrich.
The girls had absolutely no use for most of the
things they had taken. One girl who had never read
anything but theatre programmes and dirner menus
ali her life had taken valuable copy of the Koran.
Even had she understood Arabic she would not have
known what the book was about. Nevertheless she
held on to it, and when devoted sutor later on
offered her copy OF popular work OF nctlon sne
declined the gift on the ground that she already had
book
Another girl used very fine vase of the Louis
XIV period as a receptacle for hairpns; and still
another threw away antique brass clock, worth
hundreds of dollars, because 1t didn't keep time, and
also because the pawnbroker informed her that 1t
was not gold, as she had supposed.
The poor collector who was the victim of this
raid could not understand il. Of course
'If they had needed the things they took, would
not have cared" he said. But he had lot to learn
about the gold digger
don't want to give the impression that the gold
digger goes around with butterfly net, scooping up
everything that she The case Of the collector
was an exception The Usual course is to ''work an
angel" as the process of separating millionaire
from his bank roll is called.
very expert technique has been developed
along this lire. II may be summed up. as pointed
- 81.