ipyfl IT1C
HATS
Can Our Modern Editions of the Stnart Set
Compare With Their
ilnx . I : ' l I . . t . f . ' .... .f
mere any. viucsiocwngs rirc
.f '. bluestockings, , aift Wi t(
"learning and the breeding of the
original iribe, and with the social standing
vhich they possessed when their glory was at
its bright est? ' , ; ,
This, indeed, is the learned age, espe
daily for women, and the ambitious America
boasts of the most .learned women and witty
women to be found anywhere. .
But is there any coterie, any group of
American women whose brilliancy hospitality
and inborn ' cleverness can afford material
for such a distinguished cult of culture as
.graced - England during the eighteenth
century? ' ' ' , '
This modern anecdote is apropos; .;
Consuelo, ducliess of Marlborough, and
IMrs. Willie Waldorf Astor, Jr.,-met this
summer at a London tea. The duchess dis
cussed A merican society .with special refer
ence to our aristocracy, so the story runs, and
cur aristocracy with .special reference to the
yV - ff- 3l ! . , Ar's mi MUl n nf
rci'fl Witi1 i"l i . I v r7W I I I 11.11 - -"--- - i 1 1 i , ., w niiiir 11 III I - AW
ls' p5ii ii 11 11 11 1 1 1 1 1 m mi HiiiiHiii IMTgfil iU5 r ;:-3- 1 1 '
Girls o How
A CERTAIN Miss Johnson, of Missouri Uni
versity, has bewailed the lack of propriety
JL JL amng the girb of this generation, and has '
determined to introduce the study of pro
priety into the college curriculum.
Just what propriety is will doubtless puzzle
jpven Miss Johnson, he proper thing is so much
Hike fashion, changing with the place, the season
tend the climate, like the shape of a skirt, that eveo"
e philosophical pedagogue will find propriety the
liugest thing on the files- - - ' ,--;
'--For inetance, it may be all Tight on Broadway
i r a maiden to assist a gentleman at his lobster up
to midnight or later, while the same in Missouri :
iR'Ould-be more than scandalous.
i i-vcw.jxc-ij 1 is quite niung 10 riue abiriuo
end make the prairie melodious with kiddish yelps
e nd other things : of a -wild west tendency that
would be so scandalous in Poston's Back Bay drives
that the rery squirrels would hide their facest
i ' Fifty years ago, our grandmas, tell us, things ,
were so goody-good that the present liberties of
the fair sex would have been rewarded with little
thort of a publio switching. And then the bathing
ruits. the low necks,' Bpooning in thp park, gum
fliewing and scores of, such thinga wiU all have to
le decided in the propriety department, and will no
tooncr bo settled upon than they will have changed
end new standards set. ' .
The old folks declare that the younger genera
tion does not know how to buhave, and when they
were young they were told the same thing. It is ft
,iiam j i 4UmUf.,i l,- t, v
preat problem,, and we can be thankful that the
I'cdflgogues have taken it up, for now we can rely
vn them to decide tt, tranquilly awaiting their
Itimatum.
T,S TUB days when the boys were partitioned oft
from their sweethearts-In church and It was the
fashionable thing for a maiden to be Just as shy,
modest and blushing In the presence of maacu
Isnity s youthful- spirit would, permit. "the short
...y.wit. tw'tw i m wowr-r no-wrrrrmg-TTtpnr -nnn
nnflfir outfits would have occasioned such a sensation
1 jt the fernaloi world has never experienced. -
And ,et w rsn testify that they were not half so
s t .l w r lu the days of Queen Elixaheth. Wlt
the naughty things they said in pollte "-society
i the shocking things that made up their, reading.
THE OREGON' SUNPAY
ySS i 5' P :: li
Sisters of' Old?
grandeurs of the Vanderbilts., That' left the "
Astors away back, in the woods. . Mrs. WaU
aorf, Jr., who used to be Miss Nannie Lang- '
home, closed the argument: - -
. Lonsuelo: ' she remarked, calmly,
'don't you know the A! stors stopped skin-
ning skunks generations before the Vander
bilts began to collect their f errs tolls?" 1 '
The story may be apocryphal but the
It would seem that propriety travels Jn cycles. In
one age a woman veils her face and must; not be seen
with a man except In tha presence of a icore of mala
t relative and spinsters. , '
The next decade does aWay with tha evll and s';
much more that the old folks throw up their hands
ur norror. ano uie relations between the gins ana
boys are free and companionable.
. Fifty years ago-the Idea of a daughter of the
household and her evening caller turning down the
lights and spooning In the parlor Would have bowled .
llnlB " spooning in the parlor would have oowiei
,ver the entire adult population of the house. In thi
terrible age. the . family smiles and wlnka, and onl;
tnis
only
grandma thinks It-Is so awful. - A
Iong before our grandmothers were bom, however, ,
a certain Italian, Barberino by name, set down rules
for the conduct of ladles which would have wrung
cries pt protest from our prim ancestresses. Among
other remark he made about the -ladies were the
following: ' . - ' : ., -
A girl approaching the marrfageahle age should
not go -out to church, and a woman should never go
Mill n I nn. .....a , V, . a a . ( Ir t tt ftnltt. MXV a
rnr women WJVO "gaa about alter fortune tellers, li
Iris ro to balls whr men are. it must be tn the day
time or "st least inan i abundanoe of. light." With '
regard to the use of osrttetlcs, he says they make the
teeth black, the llps'srreen and the skin prematurely
old-looking; all of which is horrible enough to frighten
any girl. ,
JOURNAL, PORTLAND, SUNDAY MORNING, AUGUST. 7,: 1010
.. xm- . i
) ;" VN'. . 1 I """HI '' a - , 5 V, :
,v, : ; -; .. -
-
wit was ' genuine tand the treat world lus
accepted if as equally .American and old
English in Us bliidzeonlike style.
" ' ' But one hardK kick between friends
. doesn t ' make a bluestocking, and the ' blue-
Nowadays, It Is not considered or regarded as a
mortal, sin If a girl does not "sit upright and squarely
in a chair, with bott eet on the floor; by no means
crossing tha limbs." as the old folks prescribed. The
hands are to be folded In the" lap and the most demure
expression to be donned In the presence of the gen- '
Uemen. ... ... -
, The athletic girl of this immediate' period finds it
essential to dispense with some of the garments and -much
of the primness that used to mark a respect
able maiden, and, again, their increased self-reliance
and the necessity of earning their living has induced
women to go to places, at hours and under clrcum- -stances
that would have been little short of damning
in the enlnds of the mothers In the forties and fifties. ...
. To establish fixed rules and regulations, to write
Mext books on propriety. Is almost impossible In the
light of the constant change , In standards. By the
time the first lectures on behavior are penned who
knows? the ladles for their greater convenience may
be wearing trousers (horrible thought), and the whole
series would certainly; have to be rewritten to fit new
conditions.
Some of the problems which Miss Johnson win have
to settle, according to current reports, are whether it
Is proper to make trysts in the library, whether it is
proper . to play cards or dance every evening after
supper at a boarding house, whether it is" proper to
stroll after dark,' and how late at night a girl may
ask a man to stop in for a time., , -vi i .
A girl would-have fainted from sheer horror fifty
years ago at the thought of receiving a. man In her
room; but there were no girls coming to the city
alone to make their living at that time. There were
no lodging houses without parlors where a girl could
receive her friends. It may not be proper yet, but '
, there are a great army of giVls alone in the cities,
' Jiving under these circumstances, ,who do receive
t callers in this fashion and are not criticised for it -
The laws of morality are absolute,, perhaps, but
the laws of propriety, of gopd or bad behavior, are ':
matters of convention, and ibis hard to say that the
: girls of the present age do not know how. to behave,
that the standards are degenerating, et cetera, a
Girls are free-, but they are also stronger, better
tutored in the ways of the world and better able to
take care f themselves. ' ' .,.'-, .;, ...
Living conditions seem to have made the old pro
priety impossible, although the old folks would never
'acknowledge it. They 'would have the college gin
. play basketball in hoopsklrts, the factory girl keep
aloof from .her fellow-workers and refuse to walk to
:' and from work with the boys, unless the parents were
Well aware of it They would have no woman travel ;
from, city to city seeding ner xortune line a man un
less accompanied by -the proper force of antiquated
cli .v."".' ..;
in fact thev would have so man
y things that are
no longer possible that the girls are the more likely to
rebel in the strengtn ano vigor 01 me y
gor of the young genera-
tlon and tell their grandmas tnatttey
as that-thev are a "mile
behind the procession," or something equally Irrev
erent and equally characteristic of the age.,
0:Beiiave :
ft) " ' 1
3 J&J?sf&wrp
-stocking wit of the; genuine brand must be
I , . , . . . . . .
SOUPht elsewhere thdh tn Amerxr.an snnttv: or
- u..i:.i. '.1 ; ... . "
'English either, for ' that matter.
1
T TosT,orth
J can be ai
those American women living today who'
accounted, learned or clever are saving
sell to the newspapers and magaalnes. -
Mrs. Van Rensselaer Cruger has been, perhaps,
the only one who has essayed the establishment of a
genuine salon; and she went over to London to try It.
She didn't make such a startling success of it whea
he tried. 1 ..''
-Those who are reckoned among the leading lights of
letters -here, like Mrs. Edith Wharton Mrs. Frances
Hodgson Burnett and Mrs. Mary E. Wllklns Freeman,
appear to rind all their energies exhausted by their liter-
ji ary labors, and make little or no. effort to enjoy the
pleasures of conversation on the grand scale that char-
acterizsd their predecessors across the water, ,,. . .
' 1 Many attributes and qualification went to make, a
true bluestocking then, and foremost among them were
social standing and ample wealth.
v Yet on occasion any one of the endowments prised by
their contemporaries seems to have been dispensed with,
if the others were crenent, quite as the heiress to the
millions that began wlth New York ferry tolls has been
received in the- most exclusive British circles, and as tha
- doughty defender of the early skunk skinners has been
. welcomed to her side. ..-':: v v ',..
Ethel Rdlt Wheeler has completed labor of much
. research,-and has done It with much grace and charm,
in. compiling the histories of "Famous Bluestockings;"
the title under which the John Lane Company has pub
lished her work. There one t an find the portrait and the
life of the brilliant Mrs. Thrale,-who ranked the equal of
any blue when the cult was at its height, yet was mora
shamed ef her handsome husband's brewery than either
the duchess of Marlborough can be of her ancestral
v ferrvboat or the Samson courage of Mrs. Astor will ever
, be of the early American skunk. :, ;
A- MAN -OF MUCH DIGNITY
Mrs. Thrale came of a good Welsh family and brought
hgg.huaha.nA a-fair.fortuntt.xf-lfl.00u.-,Mr-.Thrale was a
brewer of note in the trade; repiesented the historic seat.
cuihv,rir r.nui.iv in narllflmnnt: Kent his nacK oi
hounds at Croydon and maintained his residence, sireai
such natural dignity- and force of character that he was
able 'at any time to silence th fulmlnstlOns of tha
redoubtable Doctor Johnson, which w.as going soms for
ham Piuce. in snienaor. tie was a nuMnu ni"
ny host to those who have read their BoswelL
Tet when, after his. death. Ijrs. Thrale concluded tha
.sale of the brewery for 135,000-nearly 700,000-she wrote:
fcrilLZl.Ll" l'arealn purchased peace and a stable
l0" .l my orlRlnal rank In life and a
,u JnmJi i'ftVrbp1 by commercial Jargon, unpolluted
iectior?s- rrauds. undlsgraced by commercial con.
n.WriV,e? a pret,y fa'r ldea f the way baa trade
Wf.h f,rI .hyMPeop 0( on'y 8od birth and endowed
Th2 !?n the pollte lparninK o the year 17SI.
ine ihrale menage, amid the wlini rmnwl of th
in 4t2 .tiM..and Ji' ?Mma to, have. been almost alone
of the VirtnS -?tV.hi? PianS ofJ,tlle tyP'041 British family
the hoSI? ;,iW,Jh.thifhu8b,ln3 "il8Putably the head of
priSrnament " W c prized-Perhap8 too . greatly
.nAr;:,Ealby hf" wialth- nl imposing personality
hi.'S ekai;e08,(;1 his position, never relinquished
until his death the authority and prestige of head of the
hVK.Y?'ICbnWt ntel' he esteemed so highly that
he Insisted on reserving her vitality for social display;
he was not even permitted to manage her own house,
because domestic duties or responsibilities of any kind
were rated too far beneath her genius. '
Nevertheless, her cleverness, and her learning she
knew French, Italian, Spanish, Latin and Hebrewwere
0 famous that It was she whose memory survived
throughout a hundred years, wh her Imposing husband's
ended practically, with hi iif. . ' ; - . "
Perhaps Boawll, as Johnson's biographer, did most
. ef all to perpetuate that fame of hers, but any chronicler
of the times must have taken her Into his reckoning as
woman of exceptional brilliancy and charm. The Thrale
home for nearly seventeen years housed the family wltH
whom Doctor -Johnson, lived on, the terms of closest
Intimacy, as the husband's moqt valued adviser and the
Wife's revered mentor and friend.
A pen picture of the latter half of the eighteenth
century" which portrays Mrs. Thrale and her contempo
raries must present a scene that Is surprisingly suggest
lve. of tha dominance of American society by the Ameri
can woman of today, albeit on a scale much less 'exten
sive than obtains here now,: The husband of theblue
stocking seems to have been as self-effacing as tha Amer
I lean husband is in the twentieth century.
The woman who ranked as the queen of the "blues was
Elizabeth Montague, her husband a member of parlia
ment and a mathematician absorbed in his legislative
. duties on the one hand and his beloved mathematics on
the other, content that his. wife should be as elegant,.
. learned and popular as she wished and quite indifferent
, to it alL
ABLE ESSAYIST
8he,c like so many modern women, was a social leader!
but her leadership was founded la something more sub
stantial than the mere ability to spend the money her
husband furnished and the petty craftinesses by which
one woman seeks to outshine her rivals. At a time when
discussion of Shakespeare's genius raged most acutely
she had the daring to take up the gauntlet of Voltaire,
and her "Essay on Shakespeare" elicited from Cowper
enoomlums on its learning, good sense, sound judgment
and wlL 1 -' ' .-.....--,
She Was a satirist as well, and the lash of her pea
was felt by none more than by the women of fashion,
among whom she was herself a shining light.
1 At her assemblies there were to be found all who
could claim distinction of any kind authors, critics,
artists, orators, lawyers, clergy, tourists and travelers;
Ambassadors and all remarkable foreigner were sought
out by her or sought her; she was the premiere Hon
tamer In the society of her day. Her most lavish enter
tainments followed the completion of her splendid resi
dence In Portman square, where the Inaugural "break
fast'1 entertained 700 guests. v " ' '
The name "bluestocking" remained" a distinction untn
the berinnins- of the last decade of the eighteenth cen
tury. But then it was liable to be a term of reproach.
Implying dull pedantry and grotesque affectation of learn
ing, Instead of the flow of spirit which had previously
relieved from that fatal reproach the reputations of the,
various-leaders .of the cult, . ' j .. v ...
- If tha-blues as a-xlass-hastened-to-flee-from h
derision which was attaching to their accomplishments,
individually they maintained their supremacy to the end
'.of .their days. iH --;"
Mrs. Montague, the most conspicuous as tha combi
nation of Minerva and the grande dame, proceeded 05
her regal way long after it was to- laugh when the word
"bluestocking" was uttered. - ;-' C "
' In -1799 she was receiving two or three nundred
admirers at her famous breakfast parties, giving several
dinners every week,-and was the cherished friend of
further ro. sthe h"n';.0!?.?ris
cesses breakfasting with her at once.
' Fannv Burney. daughter of Doctor Burney, London s
British royalty, than' wmcn snw -niiuuu-
fashionable music master, won her fame as a novelist
v. MAiam tiannr ' Hir was me ca ear
nuite in the modern- manner. - ner v 'f"
romantic, beginning with inBlant acclaim 01 ner grniue
wi-S i-U .'wfiina'" m tmb ished when she was 16 years
old nl ranging through" court life, jntlmacy with the
French emigres In ; Lonaon, mamngo iron mur ,
d'Arblay, one of those penniless noblemen, and residence
in France through the changes and vicissitude, of his-
" ai. . fl Wafer An .
' She survived until 1840, and, linked the minor literature
of two centuries, with friendships extending- from
Doctor Johnson to Sir Walter Scott.
A LEADER IN PHILANTHROPY
Hannah More's name survives with perhaps som
rreater flavor of distinction than attaches .to that ot
S-annv Burney. She, of all among her contemporaries,
rsnresents the modern type of woman whoBe felm It Is to
,eln and benefit the world about , them tn a practical
wav Tha schools she established, limited ss they were
in their usefulness, Vers precursors of the schools for ths
poor with which all nations have since been vitally
0nshenwaa hot only the patron and friend of the poor,
but the valued intimate of such leaders of their life and
time as Newton, Johnson and Garrlck. - - -
' The ' British Museum still treasures , thepapwr
" mosaics" Of Mrs. "Delaney, memorials of the "WtJrnan
- " vVnnj niifira nrntiminped "a trtilv rreat woman
. . or, tVi. Vilo-hot.hrH wnmnn In 1
represent art In tlws bluestocking coterie, while Elisa
' beth . Carter, In spite of the fame-of learning possessed
IIIQ TT"1 I". VW "
bv the otners. sntnes as me reai mincrv ej-.
Tt was she who translated Eplctetus, an achievement,
at a period When Greek was Greek indeed to most women,
which gave her rank in England equal to that of Mme,
GeoffrlS in France, where that gracious hostess' exqul.
site gift of sympathy earned for her a salon of Euro-
peftSomebfew' of" thoie famous bluestockings lacked
wealth? and some others lacked ''birth" as England re
vered it: and one or two of them lacked eve rytr ng ex
cept unblemished reputations and exceptional brains. But
all owned that essential quality of tact which draws ad
mlrsrs from out of the void of frlendlessneas which per
meates all society. In all lands.' ', ;-
"'It may mat wn -wnn, --""
hospitality in the tJnlted States arm to ..tolerate and
really like one another, this country may bring forth a
eoterlj ?f blue,equal to Kn gland s. v .
."tZA 'ear;h; and the other will hesitate -to refer
.fiag-ct Avrikn. .a
to tm minmw mi