Evening star., 1936-11-03
Living Alone
Has Its Own
Advantages
Miss Marjorie Hills,
Author, Has Sug- .
gestiOns.
BY vESTA CUMMINGS.

BY VESTA CUMMINGS.
WOMEN who live alone in Wash
ington and want very much to
like it are better equipped for single
ness since the recent visit of Mar
jorie Hills, associate editor Of a great
fashion magazine, who wrote the cur
rent best-seller, Live Alone and Like
It."
Miss Hills came to town to auto
graph her books at local depart.
ment store and declared afterward
that all records for the name signing
jaunt she is now on were broken at
the Nationa's Capital. Washington
business women in q body failed to
return to their apartments and hotel
rooms Saturday afternoon, but in
stead remained downtown with their
Government pay checks in hand to
buy a copy of the only handbook
ever written on spinsterhood. or to
have a glimpse Of the author.
Miss Hills herself has never mar
ried and she feels that the problem
Of the extra woman-long ignored by
standard etiquette guides-is of par
amount interest to both spinsters and
widows. She herself lives solo in an
apartment in Tudor City, New York.
and has q maid who comes In at 4
o'clock to clean up and prepare din
ner. Just as Miss Hills recommends
in her book. her apartment Is run
with as much care as If q man shared
it, and she does not believe that be-
cause q woman Is unmarried she
should live on sandwiches. Miss Hol-
lis has been working in New York
since she finished school in 1917, and
she has been conducting her own
establishment since her mother died
in 1890.
"The chances are that some time
in your life, possibly only now and
then between husbands, you will find
yourself settling down to q solitary
existence" Miss Hills says on the
first page. She goes on to tell the
ladies that one-woman menage gives
them the chance Of lifetime to do as
they please.
Miss Hills writes for the employed
woman Of taste who isn't ready to
give up amusing work and financial
independence for q half-hearted sort
Of marriage, but who, In the meantime,
likes to have men friends and mar
ried friends, to give parties and 60
to parties, and turns slightly Ill at the
thought Of any one regarding her as .
member Of the great army Of lonely
hearts" with nobody to love them.
Received with enthusiasm by this
the American city with the largest
proportion Of unmarried women-Miss
Hills said, "All Of my writing friends
say Z wish I'd thought to write that
because the subject has long remained
unmentioned, in spite Of need for
frankness."
The main idea for the manless
woman Miss Hills says, In her chap
ter on solitary refinement" is to have
"a mental picture Of yourself - Q
gay and independent person, and
spunk enough to get the picture across
to the other person"
"You can live alone gaily, graciously,
ostentatiously, duly, stolidly. Or you
can just exist In sullen Loneliness,
feeling sorry for yourself and arous-
ing no feeling Whatever in anybody
else. Your choice in this matter need
have nothing to do with your income.
II it's small one, you'll probably
find more other solitary dwellers
living at about your level than you
would II it were large.
Plenty of women have mastered
the art Of living alone without any
help from me-" Miss Hills said, "and
they are writing me daily stories Of
successful experiments In being q
bachelor girl. I should think that
Washington would contain more tales
Of this kind than any city in the
United States. with utter strangers
arriving regularly for Government
Jobs. The challenge to lone female
must be terrific here"
Here are . few tips for the woman
alone. whether she is 26 or 66 years,
according to Miss Hills:
The old-fashioned notion that soli-
tary women are objects q charity
was killed In the war.
You win have nobody 10 make fuss