The Washington times., 1923-09-27
SOCIETY YIELDS
To TREND OF
TINE
Precedents Of Aristocracy Are
Swept Aside by World
Of Today.
By LADY ANGELA FORBES.
Copyright 1898, Cosmopolitan News
Service

1 OerV1Ce.J
/ LONDON, Sept. Queen Vic.
toria must be having restless
time in her grave today. II.
reverent hands have ruthlessly
swept away the traditions of that
aristocratic period. BY the mod.
ern mind. anything that has pfec-
edent is condemned today, and
| perhaps this is the Keynote to the
great difference which undoubted-
ly exists between the old order
of things and the new.
1t has always been" used TO be
a WatchWord; 1t never has been
DONE is now q stimulant to &C
ton. Once youth bowed to con-
ernna. If Victorian society was
strictly goverened by the most
stringent rules and regulations,
modern society considers itself fres
from all restraint.
Intimacy Between Sexes.
The liberty accorded to girls,
and the easy Intimacy between the
sexes, has given journalists endless
copy either for vituperative pur-
poses or for the justification Of
the rapid evolution of youth.
Looking hack on my own girl
hood in the nineties, I can visualize
the CONSERVATION that would have
been caused If had suggested
walking from our house in Charles
street to Berkeley squarea mat
ter of few hundred yards unac-
companied. Today CONSERVATION
would be aroused among the girls
IL 1t were suggested that Q, chap
erone was necessary on any oc-
casiori
But such state Of things was
not unique in my case, but the
regular order OF the day, and to
modified extent it continued until
the war came and turned organized
chaperonage into a state Of chaos.
DIVORCE WAS RARE.
The wholesale breakig up of
homes by arrangement stands out
| in lurid contrast to the Victorian
idea of the obligations that fol-
lowed or that were the natural
sequence OF the marriage vow. Be-
fore the war divorce was rare; a
few women threw their bonnets
over the mill and Enthusiastically
paid the penalty of social ostra-
cism. Only a very few isolated
cases existed where women di-
| vorced their husbands. Appear
ances were at all events preserved
and convention acted as brake on
| inclination. Scandals were whispered,
but quickly hushed up, ad the out
ward behavior OF individuals was
decorous.
Society has assumed enormous
proportions-and the once carefully
selected herd has been crossed and
recrossed. Once upon time every
body who was anybody used to know
everybody else. Today you may at
tend many social gatherings without
encountering an acquaintance. So
many of the great houses are al
ready sold or else the shutters are
up and few worthy successors, have
been found to replace the fine auto.
Gratis Of society of the Victorian and
EdWardian era.
Trend Toward Democracy.
The trend of the times we knew,
| is toward democracy, and society is
| comparatively as democratic as a
| labor conference. Apart from the
social climber, who is finding ii
| easier and easier to storm the citadel
of effectiveness, the popular devotion.
ment of sport in all it's branches has
brought forward an unexpectedly
new element into the lineliRht.
Gone are the days Of crinoline and
croquet; women play their games
seriously, and efficiently.
In the old days racing for women
was confined to the most exclusive
| section of society, as racing was
then literally the sport of Kings
| and Peers-today the owners belong
to a different category and their
names are strangely unfamiliar-un.
less you are regular race-goer.
Life, like dome of many colored
glass" reflects at this moment moth.
Ing but distorted values. The wor.
ship Of Mammon is the popular re.
ligion and everything that matters
today can be translated into pounds
shillings and pence.