| Show THIEVES IN SOCIETY TOLD BY nonbelievers NON BELIEVERS IN kleptomania light finfera in the dressing rooms of fashionable entertainers unfair ex changes which may be called old things for new oh give it any name yon like boi rowing other peoples belongings and failing ever to return them mistaken identity as to special possessions or kleptomania but 1 call it thieving and Bomb thing ought to be bonu about it this i what the blond woman in the very bonnet said to her nearest neighbor in blue whereupon every other woman near the tea table cut short her conversation and bold her cup in midair to hear what the discussion would bring forth that I 1 do went on the blond em and ive been stolen from repeatedly no my dear I 1 wont take a word of it back and I 1 am not speak ing hastily in every instance it was a plain case of theft and ive not up to dale recovered a single belonging why of course if it had been a grimy fingered sneak thief or a too enterprising house maid I 1 most naturally would have gone to the police and detectives for protection and assistance but it is not quite BO easy to have an individual who wears the best french gloves whose bonnets come from an expensive importer and who sometimes asks you to share her opera box receive at her teas or tako a lift home arrested and searched on suspicion well I 1 beverl remarked the woman in blue oh just because you are a dear unsophisticated little creature and out in your western town they dont jo such things the temptations are not BO great but I 1 can assure you that here in our big cities at regular intervals polite kleptomania is simply rampant and hardly a big function breaks up that half the women dont como away quite savage over the loss of some pretty and especially prized belonging evidently the blond was right for all the other women nodded assent and the hostess was apparently breathless to tell of some personal grievance on this score when the first speaker broke in again you see she elaborated wo used to think it might leave been the servants fault or an honest error when wo found our possessions exchanged for others less valuable or simply disappearing until two or three times the offenders were caught right in the act and then came the awfully dismal consciousness that really no one could bo trusted 1 my first experience was with a very costly lace fan I 1 earned to a dinner held on to it most affectionately through out tho evening until some half dozen of us went up to the hostess bedroom for our wraps there I 1 laid it with my vinaigrette and fan on the dressing table and when I 1 turned to get them again the fan was gone I 1 protested the maid searched but nothing came of it and broken heatedly hean edly I 1 went down bewailing my loss to a sympathizing feminine companion we went out to our respective carriages together tut as the butler opened the hall acor a puff of wind blew her long cloak aside and there I 1 saw mug in its pocket my precious fan the next day I 1 wrote her very frankly asking for its return suggesting of course she had taken it by mistake and home it came but we have never spoken since that taught me to look for higher offender than maids in dressing rooms who are usually accused of making wa with all wraps umbrellas overshoes and what not that may be missing ah that is not my trouble chimed in a debutante across the tea table the favorite plan is now to exchange bad for good things I 1 am growing almost philosophical over the deplorable biness of my wardrobe from this con beant swapping last week on coming lup late to the dressing roon from a dance I 1 found in place of m brand new arzen suede carriage overshoes two overlarge badly worn ones of rusty black velvet and my lace head scarf exchanged for a frayed one of soiled white chiffon naturally cross and sleepy I 1 fell on the tired maid who wept and denied but looked as if she could tell a tale only to make a test case of it I 1 rolled my new french gal oches in my mackintosh laid my card on top and puff them in a safe corner of the dressing room of a louse where I 1 went to luncheon alie other day but it was of no avail the gal oches had been metamorphosed into n pair of muddy rubbers with holes m them when I 1 went back and I 1 grumble since my pretty umbrella was left the work of the spoiler goes on ir tho cloakrooms when big wedding receptions teas musicales musi cales and private ia itt r fy I 1 at one 61 iho big alices of the sea aon tho hostess simply ordered her maid to issue checks for every comans womans arp byj charming to relate bot so much as a hairpin was lost for at her daughters wedding reception only a week before three muffs got away somehow without their rightful owners and the of a sable hand warmer found a scrubby old astral cue iu its place that is where the fashionable klep salve their consciences by uc exchange you sec for rarely is that some inferior article is no put in its place and very rarely ar j they caught with them their position in society is one of protection and their victims arc too timid or proud to tracy a clew which too often leads right tc the door of their best friends or some woman who is aiding iu helping them along in society milli Arrow point in chicago record |
