OCR Text |
Show THE WHIRL OF SOCIETY. WALTER WELLMAN WRITES OF THE WASHINGTON WOMEN WORSHIPERS. They Shine Afternoons, lint In the Evening Even-ing Real Men Come to the Front An Austrian ruimtess Tact Amnrieun Statesmen In Society. Sjwlal Correspondent-. Washington, -Capital soci ety is now in full whirl, and the woman worshiper is again in his glory. 'Washington 'Wash-ington in the social season is a perfect paradise for woman and her masculine adorers. From New Year's to Lent the Washington woman hits a world din- tile men of real importance in the. world men who have won fame and power put on their dress coats and appear in the drawing rxims, our afternoon devotees find themselves dwindling into the sliad- ows of obscurity and neglect cast by the new and stronger lights. The society women, be they ever so gay and thoughtless, thought-less, know the value of real worth, and the polished diplomat or gilded youth are not "in it" when the solid men of ttfl'airs appear upon the scene, no matter how little used to siviety or how poorly gifted with social graces the latter may be. Nor sliould'it be supposed that all this society is stupid and absurd, like the mad races of some of the women, to pay as many calls in a day as swift horses and the endurauce of flesh und blood will ., it r also called on eight or ten ladles living on II street, that being H street day. Late in the afternoon I attended twd teas, and at 7, after changing my dress, was at a dinner. After the dinner I went to a reception, and was in bed about 1 in the morning. Tuesday morning I went ! to market. You know you have to go to : market here or le robbed of house and homo by the tradesmen. I also spent an hour with my dressmaker, and that is such hard work. In the afternoon I was at home to callers, standing on my feet about all the time from '& to 0. Had barely time to change my dress and go out on the double quick to a dinner. din-ner. Wednesday I hail to go to the dressmaker's again and shopping in the morning, and in the afternoon I made tmctly and wholly her own. Society ugrosses all lirr time and her energies, nd very often all her strength and 11m-t'ition. 11m-t'ition. During this roseate period she is absolutely indVendent of her husband for the amusements and activities which all human beings instinctively crave. She has her own field, and well does sho know how t cultivate it. All the husband hus-band ha to do is to pay the bills, and ha tnay stick all day to his desk in the government gov-ernment bureau or to his chair in the, balls of congress, and be but little missed. There are other ami perhaps gayer and younger men to take his place in the drawing room or at the tea table, for. be it understood, tho society devotee, with all her self reliance, all her fondness for "dear Mrs. So-and-so," and "lovely Mrs. What's-her-namo," and "those sweet pills, the Newcomers," has 110 intention of running this little world of hers with- : cut the help of the lords of creation. Wliiitt tiiA women vjiytlv m 1 1 miml ier Water will find its level in society as well as anywhere else, and 1 he brilliant, brainy men who can not only talk, but eay something, are at a premium, ami so aro the women of genuine tact and heart. Probably 110 capital can boast a more refined or intellectual society than 1 this if wo take it at its best. j j Here and there, even in the most fash-j fash-j ionablo of gatherings, one will see an 1 1 awkward and ill-at-ease statesman from , the far west wondering what he shall do with his hands or say with his tongue, j wandering about disconsolate and quite ; overcome by the magnificent gowns ami fascinating figures which the decollete ' mode prodigally discloses: lint wait ' a while, till some tactful and bright j woman gets him off in a corner, sits him i : down wit li an ice and a conversational 1 corkscrew and begins to draw him out. 't Presently our awkward new man from ; the west who, perhaps, habitually wears j all ine anion cans, our 11 crowus, hucu crushes! It takes tho life out of one. Thursday I was at market again and more shopping in tho morning, calling on t he I street and senatorial ladies ami families of representatives all afternoon. Made about thirty calls, actually tiring out one span of horses and sending the coachman home for another. Friday I made twenty calls on tho ladies of G street and Twenty-first street, and went to two teas and two evening receptions. Saturday was another busy day. Had the dressmaker at the house in the morning morn-ing early, rushed oil to market, did a little shopping, saw about a new cook and made a round of calls on the ladies of Connecticut avenue, De .Sales street, Jefferson place and the legations. Wound up the week with a formal dinner din-ner at a senator's house, and after that was over, looked in oti a reception on Massachusetts Mas-sachusetts avenue. And Sunday? Slept till noon mid went out for a Turkish i bnth before dinner. If it wasn't for that Turkish bath every Sunday I'd be dead before Lent." Waltub Wkllma.v. the men at the round of receptions, teas nnd "at homes," enough of tho dear fellows fel-lows are sprinkled in to leaven the whole lump with the delightful possibility of a flirtation for the young inothn and the certainty of polite and flattering attention atten-tion for their inaiiiman. In no other American city is there such a large number num-ber of idle, yet cultured, fairly well to do men, available for society purposes I during the hours of sunshine, as in Washington. Wash-ington. Army and navy officers active, orders waiting, or retired are us thick tin been in June, and, to u man, fond of tho society of the lovely women who make this social whirl in Wiu-.hir.gton a kaleidoncope of fair facos and tine gowtiH. The diplomatic corps, full of dandies, young and old, who have flirted at half the capitals of the world and in three or four languages, may lie always depended upon. Its stock of gallants never quite runs short, and its apietite for tea and cake, and particularly for good wine and terrapin, is altogether inexhaustible. Ita repertoire of compliments anil fine a slouch hat out of doors and forgets to remove his overcoat as ho enters a drawing draw-ing room, will begin to thaw and feel like himself. Me will talk, bo attended by the delicate flattery of close attention, and before he knows it lo ready to vote the reception, which ho had before thought such a great bore, a moot (banning a Hair, and himself one of the lions thereof. Then pretty women will be bronght up for an introduction, and more and broader conversation will follow, and in a few weeks the odds aro this callow westerner will become one of the most charming of society men, straightforward, straightfor-ward, frank and unaffected, and all the more sought and liked on account thereof. there-of. "The young diplomatic attaches and rich men's sons will do for an afternoon's after-noon's amusement, but when the gas is lit, and the electric current turned on, and we don our best gowns," said a most experienced and successful society woman wom-an the other night, "wo waut men, real, substantial men, who have something ihra.si's is capahlo of being turned over anil over without hcing worn out. Many sons of rich or proniintuit men there ure here, idling, listless fellows, to whom the social senson once a year of- , fers an opportunity to rottHe themselves and enjoy tho novel luxury of some sort of employment. A few of tho statesmen . themselves, senators and representatives, representa-tives, and not by any means the younjj ones exclusively, tiud the parlors of the west end, with their flowers and pretty faces and wintiini smiles, more attractive attract-ive of an afternoon than the overheated and speech droning air of the halls of congress. So the sociul whirl brings within its sparkling circle, even in tho afternoon, a ' considerable number of men. A major-) major-) Ity of these am avowed woman worship-" worship-" trs. In Washington the woman wor shiper thrives as he thrives nowhere else on this continent, because here all the conditions ure favorable to his development. develop-ment. To him who loves to bask in the presence of women whose sole aim for 4t,. lmnra ia 11 u r.liui.,ti,.i1 uti1 ..tii.t....- UesKies manners to recommend tnem. Not long ago it was my pleasure to sit for an hour beside a beautiful little woman from Vienna, a countess whose husband is attached to one of tho foreign for-eign legations. "Madam," said I, ''I fear you find our American men very awkward, lacking in social and physical grace, compared with your own gentlemen." gentle-men." "Yes," she replied frankly, "the Americans are a little awkward, and they do lack grace. But I do not like so much grace. A mau may be too graceful grace-ful to suit a woman. You Americans have that which is much lietter thr.n grace, or any superficial quality sincerity sincer-ity and sense and a habit of treating a woman as if she were your intellectual equal and moral superior. I have been with my husband to Madrid, Berlin, Paris, and of course I know Vienna very well, but the American men are as a rule the most charming men I have ever met." Was this not very gixid of the beautiful little countess? And what wonder that the most stolid and prac- tif-nl iF ii4 Arp nf. tiinea iiwlifieil iit luin ing, Washington affords an almost limitless limit-less field. It is very easy to get in. Getting Get-ting into society here is as easy as getting get-ting into the theatres of New York, and not so expensive. Needed, self confidence, confi-dence, a fairly good suit of clothes, four dollars worth of engraved cards. Possibilities, Possi-bilities, a gay round both afternoon and evening, invitations to dinner, a rich bride. Is it any wonder that a largo class of young men would rather borrow money and go into society than work and acquire fame and lucre? The wife of the secretary of tho exterior, ex-terior, or Mrs. Senator Blank, is giving a reception this afternoon. Many carriages car-riages are driving up to the door and discharging dis-charging their contents. Women, nothing noth-ing but women. Women young and beautiful, women old and ugly, women who are using hired carriages and wom- the ranks of tho woman worshipers? American men have the strong quality qual-ity of adaptability. Thero is no doubt about that. We see this eve rywlij're. Plain, common farmers fir professional men or merchants come hero from the rural districts or small towns, take high stations in congress, on the bench, or in tho executive, and deport themselves almost as if they were to the manner born. Thy are weakest in society, fm I there manners and form mean so much more than in the more serious affairs of life; yet even in society they quickly rub off their rough edges, learn to wear dress suits without eternally pulling at the waistcoat, and even master the mysterious mysteri-ous intricacies of card etiquette. But if American men have adaptability, what shall be said of American women? They appear to have been born under some en who luxuriate in wean ii. uecasion-ally uecasion-ally a man walks up and enters the portals. He is a poor young man and he lives in J boarding house, or his mother, who belongs to one of the old families, supports him by working in the departments, but lie is no sooner within madame"s parlor, where tho gas is burning, and there is a delicious hum and titter of soft feminine voices, than he is seized upon, gazed upon, hungered for, lionized, as if he were the hero of the Dark Continent, a famous poet, j great artist or heir to a throne. He is a j man, and men are scarce during busi-1 ness hours. It is in the afternoon that the profes- j tional woman worshipers find the field best adapted to their wants. Then it is ' that they sally forth, sure of easy run-! uing, with small competition a id much success. Thero are not enough of these women worshipers to bring daiiKer of jjiuic tuar. I have in mind, as a typo of the women wo-men of whom I am writing, one who three years ago was a simp girl in a western west-ern city. Her parents having been very Hior, she had few home advantages. Even the public schools did not do her much good, for she was not able to attend at-tend them very long before her father sent her to work in a factory. From the factory and its rough but perhaps honest associations sho drifted to a dry goods store, and was there seen by a well to do and ambitious man, who fell in love wit h and married her. The whirligig of politics poli-tics brought this man to Washington as a member of congress. His wife came with him. They set tip a house, bought a carriage, hired six servants, visited the : milliner and the modiste, and are now in the swim af fashionable society. The wife is an ignorant little body, so iixnorant that when she meets the Italian interference with each other. Where there are fifty women to one man, the man must be very dull, or ugly, or timid who will not feel a serene confidence in himself and his prowess. Thus from house to housa and from flower to flower flow-er flits the worshiper, sipping the honey of flirtation here and there, and drinking drink-ing in the dew and fragrance of word and glance. Poor fool! blissfully unconscious un-conscious that he is rapidly becoming a lave to the woman habit, that most insidious in-sidious and deadly of diseitses. He does not know that, a lew years more of this, and he will be incapable of loving one woman, of miking for himself a home aud a settled connection in life. minister, as sho occasionally does, she cannot tell for the life of her whether ; Italy is in Asia or Africa. But she care- ' fully avoids committing herself on ; geography or anything else with which she is unfamiliar, and by sheer tact and adaptability aud caution, worries along unsuspected. Sho does more than ex-', ex-', ercise her tact and intuition sho makes a study of men and women. Books she knows so little of that literary discussions discus-sions contain ,no charms for her, but i human nature is an open page wherein ! she reaiU as she rifhs. In consequence she is almost universally voted one of the : most fascinating women in Washington, V ltn tue afternoon gallant of Washington Wash-ington society woman become a fad, a craze, a hobby, a means of intoxication, as necessary to his peace and contentment content-ment as drink to a toper. But it is woman wom-an in general, not woman in particular, aud in the final stages of the malady the power of selection ia lost, and the victim ut last, when too late, perceives what faiB has in store for him. He is doomed to old bachelorhood, whithered, rheumatic, rheuma-tic, wizened celibacy, the attendant of dowagers and gallant to chaperone. j Washington hi full of victims of this j species of mental and spiritual intoiica- tion, and every afternoon they may lie j Been flitting about the fashionable north- ; west qwirtcf of tho city. Well do they i know the need of improving each shininir i hour, for after dark and dinner, wheu ' I ouvA lutuij a until utiiaiili Udl V.IIX1 Iltrr : antecedectj envies tie congressman his I possession of such a treasure. This a j a sketch from real life, and could bo j duplicated in many other families. j : How the women who plunge into the ! midst of this social whirl ale able to en-i en-i dure the physkai strain of it is mora j thun I can understand. How they race, j and run, and change dresses, and eat, j and are merry, without much rest or i deep from New Year's to Lent, and still i ki-ep out of the hands of the doctors, is a ; mystery. 1 a.iked a society woman, one of average activity, to tell iiim what she had lieeu doing during the week. "You had lietter ask me what I have not been doing," she replied. "Let me see. Monday Mon-day 1 called on all the ladies of the supreme su-preme court, aud in order to do that you know one has W drive all over town. I |