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Show Society Mn of Ideas j Dresses Well on Little "V lOW lo look llko a mllllonnlre and k IV I Hvo on u pittance has been achieved l by a St. Louis mnn whose noclal I utnhltlonH nro many times larger I than his purse. lly profession ho In a lawser. with h praotlco set to com, hy Inheritance ho Is tho possessor of $'I0( n vear, out of which he pas for lodgings, lt ttm, clothes, office rent (desk rocm), club dura and plays tho merry noclal camp It is nil u matter of economics. His economies are hi own secret and unsuspected bv the members of tho smart act who nlKhtlv Inilto him to dinner, thereby saving him dollars per Ho lives In u lodging house, that for him Jielng the thenpeat nrrungement, and when It Is ncccssury to speak of his abode ' 'refers to It as his 'diggings." which sounds rather well for a "fourth floor ball bedroom hack," with the una of a bath two Moors below, Such a, room In a cheap neighborhood could bo procured for JJ a week. This nstute man, however, knows tho Importance of saving tlmo and rar faro ond puvs $1 IX) for the privilege of living In tho West end, where lie Is within walking walk-ing distance of his fashionable friends. Ills room Is so small tint It Is practically practi-cally all bed, and a cot bed at that. Tho rest of tho furniture consists of a chiffonier, u washstnnd nnd ono chair. The landlady, when ho took possession, seneronsly offered him a table If he tould pee any place where It could bo In, but Jin couldn't. Ho makes the thalr do tnblo duty Instead. In-stead. The things that go on In this "fourth, floor hack" would nstonlsh those who Tcnnw him. To begin with ho gets his own breakfasts break-fasts 'i'lio meal consists of coffee and nn .egg he dispenses with a roll. As ho really prefers his coffeo without either cream or sugar. It Is easily man-aged man-aged by boiling a saurepanful of water over the gas. , This water serves the double purposo of cooking the egg nnd making the coffeo without loss of time. His method Is to coddle the egg, which Tneans that It Is put Into the saucepan J (while the water Is cold and allowed to re- m Jnnln there until tho water comes to n , " noil. j '!'."" ." ,a liken out done and Is more dsUentely nnd wholesomely cooked than "when put Into boiling wnter. The same wnter la then poured over the .coffee grounds In his little French drip ipot, nnd In two minutes he Is drinking strong, clear, delicious coffee. 1-KKs and coffee as he cooks them nre not lo be found outside of the most ex- tpenslvo restaurants. Ills breakfast costs him 4 conts, the gas Consumed being at the expense of the unsuspecting un-suspecting landlady. When ho doesn't have eggs, he eats biscuits, bis-cuits, a tin of which he keeps on hand. At first he was In a quandary as to how ,to dispone of hlB eggshells so that they .should not fall under the shnrp eye of tho landlady, until he hit upon the Idea of doing them up In a wnd of paper, ball ;nape. nnd pitching them out of his window, win-dow, not untidily Into the yard below, but on into space, somewhere. He was a crack pitcher In his collsge .days. Bundny Is hfs "busy day" In his xoom. II .'& "rendu the morning putting his clothes Into shape for the week, i Always there are buttons to sew on and nocks to darn. He knows little nbout doing either nnd ,would scorn the use of a thimble If It occurred oc-curred to him, so he labors under dlftl-cultles, dlftl-cultles, but manages his needle by punch-ling punch-ling It through against a chair. In his first attempt to mend socks he pricked his hand unmercifully, but now darns over n golf ball nnd thinks this n brilliant Idea. Then shades of the West end I he washes his socks, t This Is tho only bit of laundry work he attempts. He knows that economical women sometimes some-times wash their handkerchiefs and srread them on the window pane to clrv, hut such n process does not suit his fastidious taste. In his scheme of things Immaculate, well Ironed handktrchlefs nro as Important Impor-tant as other frch linen. It's the details khat tell. I Next on the Sunday program Is pressing press-ing his trousers. t , At first ho tried the plan of putting '- .them under his matrcss nnd sleeping on 61 them to press them, but ho didn't like tho t r1 result. r ' So he bought n little gas Iron, and. hav ing no table, pressed them on a chair. It wnsn't exietly a merry Jest to successfully suc-cessfully accomplish this feat. Ills thalr table drives him to an uncomfortable un-comfortable kneeling posture, nnd In tho ibt ginning he used one ot tho landlady's 'towels for an Iron milder nnd scorched It. The thing made such n beastly smell ot burned cloth that nn old mnld In the next room Insisted IiIh place wns on lira I nnd he had all ho could do to pacify her nnd prevent her from breaking In. The episode disgusted him, but the jitcsslns had to go on, and he was at his wit's etui for something to grip the Iron with, when suddenly he espied n libretto ' -which an opirn hostess had given him a Xiw nights before. , He put It to Immediate use. To some, this might seem n desecration pf "Tristan nnd Isolde," but to him It faolvod a problem, and now that he's got the hang of thing he presses If not In a professional manner at lenst with professional profes-sional results. Ills coats and waistcoats, as well as his Uousers. are carefully Inspected In the ptronc llRht of his window every Sunday morning, nnd any suspicion of dust or plain Is removed. Kqual cara Is given to his ties. Then lie blnrks his boots. Tho polishing, ot ccurso, occurs every day along with his tehave and his "tub" nnd the other ro OAilsltes of tho well groomed mnn. IJy tho tlmo all theso things nro done It Is nearly noon, so ho arrays himself In npparcl suitable for tho after church parade nnd snuntrs forth to tho avenue, up which ho strolls until ho niects Homo Iwomnn ho knows, whom ho Joins to escort es-cort horns. This InvurlaMy leads to nn Invitation in to lunch. Tho rest of tho day ho puts In ngrecably making calls, and Is rnrely without n dinner or supper Invitation for the evening. even-ing. A limited supplv of clothing Is part of ,hls economy. lie gets along on ono business suit, one 3nlr of dross trousers, which ho weara , iwlthboth dress coat nnd dinner coat, n r r fancy whlto waistcoat, trousers nnd T waistcoat to wear with his frock coat and n couplo of topcoats for fall and wln-Thess wln-Thess nre In txi client tiistc, of finest material and built hy n flrst-rlnss tailor. Tho little ho has Is of the best, for he Jiaa discovered that thero Is no economy in cheap things. ,..,. Ho Is always moro or less In debt to his tailor "as n gentleman should be" but la jnovor dunned, for ho brings tho man Ills' underwear Is of good quality and costs half tho orlglnnl price, becnuso hu rta nlnunr enmlcrh In net It at OIL seaSOftS. yhen It Is marked down. He manages with two pairs ot boots nt B tlmo jn I two hats. 1 His umbrella Is Irreptonchable. Once I lie bought n cheap one nnd found It I Wouldn't roll. Ills sticks nre leglon- 1 tlfts from admiring fcmlnlno friends. Ills extravagances nre ns much a part I f his scheme as are his economics. I Ho belongs to ono of tho most exclusive 1 clubs. This Is his wny of Increasing his acquaintance among men. I Ho does not permit himself to indulge 1 in smoking, drinking or gambling, but lie I Is such a good fellow that theso sins of I omission aro not laid up ngalnst him. I His personal mall goes to the club and I Is so voluminous. In addition to which llv- I fried men with such frequency leave notes I there for him, that he Is greatly respected I by the servants, Ih spite of the fact that 1 he Isn't a "good thing" In the way of tips. I Flowers nnd candy as a slight attention 1 to the women who entertain him nre ex- travaganccs which he very properly calls a Judicious Investment of capital, for they I yield him n stendy Incomo In the way of invitations. Ills popularity m a diner outgrows with cacti senson. Women liko to be taken In to dinner by him, because he has the charming faq- ulty of alwajs rising to what Is expected. - When his dinner partner wants to flirt V he more than sutlsllfs her. When she A W r llkei to discuss books, theaters, music or VI ideas ho rises superbly to the occasion. Ho has Ideas to spare, and, for the rest, keeps up with plays, music and current llteinture bi reading the criticisms In the papers He nlsn permits himself to bo Used by a select few ns it "llller In ' Manv it hostess Is dlstincled by the "re-gnt "re-gnt ' lit the last moment of an expected dinner guest, and this bachelor earns their undying gratitude bv his willingness, when possible, to till tho vacant place. To him there Is nothing so traglo as two dinner Invitations for the same night. He Is In grent demand hIso for house parties, but eyes thtse "week end" Invitations Invita-tions ask nice, for they Involve more ex pense thin he Is oblu to meet The country me ins cloth, s for golfing nnd riding, nnd these he does not possess It also means considerable In the way of tips for the servants A great soclnl leader, who ns jet had not counted him ns among her elect, asked him this autumn to n house pirtv, nnd he determined to go or tile in the nttempt. He knew It mennt n goir nnd hunting crowd, and, he thought, n "bridge" crowd, nnil he wondered how he should keep up with the procession. Suddenly It occurred to him that he could work the thing to perfection for one night nnd then be called awny by wire. And all he would need In tho wny ot raiment would be what he wore nnd his dinner clotlus Ho knew his hostess wns not the sort to recognize business ns nn excuse for departure, de-parture, so he arranged with n trusted Mend to wire, "Come nt once Mother dangerously III " He went to the house party nnd mndo a lasting Impression Arriving ton lnte for ten Friday afternoon, after-noon, he made his first appearance In the drawing room before dinner. At that fistlve meal he was positively brilliant. Later In the evening It turned out to be n "brldgo" crowd, us ho had thought. He didn't make the fatal mistake of nn-noilng nn-noilng his hostess by refusing to play, but staved In the game to the denth and won enough to tip nil the servants on leaving. Tho wire was brought to his room at 10 the next morning with his coffee. He sent It by way of explanation to his hostess and begged her to forgive his hasty departure. de-parture. She replied sympathetlcully by note, said she had Instruct d the servants to look tip trains nnd take him to the station sta-tion that as she never rose until noon she should not sec him. nnd should expect him to Ilnlsh his visit by coming- to her soon for nnother week end. He Is wonderltis what ho will do when she asks him again. Much that Is ludicrous happens to this economist, who has sufllclent sense of humor to enjoy Jokes on himself. Ono night, being without a dinner engagement, en-gagement, he went out In search of food. In the window of n cheap restaurnnt he noticed a man making griddle cakes. They wero suggestive of boyhoods happy davs and lopjsrd appetising. J Ho went In and ordered some, meanlnc to try them as ft srter. hut made his en-tire en-tire dinner off of twelve-beguiled Into two portions because thev tasted good, likewise they were verv fl ling and cheap Alas for the nftermath! They gave him such scute Indigestion that he couldn't eTt fS.-! ?r thr?f,.ny."' nmI na(1 to lfve un-tasted un-tasted two of the best dinners put bcrore him that season -St. I,ouls Hepubllc. |
