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About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 18, 1921)
. a. am rm n ii ii l i n ci it AranL n r m 19 s ft . i aaav a - ii mm & c m " s a mm mm mm . - a ms c m mm ma mm IVlUot VI VIIX, V KJIimi JL JGLJLf life 4 re Unfit to Become Mothers of Englishmen, Mrs. Hamilton, in Her Striking Fishnet Creation. .Aa . 3 . v- r a '' - '... -A 5 It - -' si fws, - "Ki f- - 1 fZ i ' ;UVr V : -;V;-; 4--. f - - - ;;'.tS She Says, Denouncing the Vices o f the Smart Set Mrs. Hamilton, "Britain's Perfect Woman", in ,the Garb She Wore When She Came Within 9 Miles of Swimming the English Channel. - By Mrs. Arthur Hamilton Jf OST of the women I "know squander their lives at cards, J-V-l soak their systems with liquors, smoke cigarettes and Kve for fickle flirtations and flabby frivolities; and not d few deaden their brains and stimulate their nerves with for bidden drugs. The wholesome, healthy, hearty- British woman who mothered a great race seems to have, become almost extinct, Most of the women I know are unfit to "become mothers of Englishmen. Because of Mrs. Hamilton's love for the outdoor life many are disposed to dis count her criticism on that ground. A woman whose days are spent chiefly in swimming, riding and other sports, they say, will not have a fair viewpoint of the pleasures of those who do not go in for the same sort of recreation she does. How can one whose goal in life, was to swim the English Channel a goal, by the way, which she narrowly missed hare any had learned to live life as though the next moment might be theJast, could' not, did not change. There, at its hand, were the sweets It had tasted so swiftly In the war years, waiting to be eaten to the fulL And society, idle for the first time in five years, sat down to the table and gorged. The result has been not merely such orgies of dissipation as London has never known before, but at last an outcry of protest rrom saner neaas. Of such as understanding of people whose ambitions thf.e. Is, Mrs Hamilton ' London. BITISH society, accus tomed to great, criti cism from the outsider with a mere lift of the eye-' brows, has been stirred to the depths by a slashing indict ment of its morals from one of its own inner circle. "Most of the society wom en I know, declared Mrs. Ar thur Hamilton, "are victims of cards, drink, or, drugs. Illicit romances naturally go with these excesses." Had a bishop said that, Lon don would have yawned. Had ' an American tourist said it, London would, have laughed. But because of her prominence in society, Mrs. Hamilton's assertion is the main topic of dispute at town clubs and country estates, and opinion is about equally divided as to whether she Is right or wrong. For Mrs. Hamilton speaks whereof she knows. The daughter of one of the old est families in the Empire, the wife of a Colonel with a valiant war record, herself an athlete of international fame, called "Britain's Perfect Woman," she was cra dled and reared in the aristocracy. When she speaks of "society" it is .spelled with a capital "S", and when she accuses the women she knows she strikes at peer esses and honorables galore. At any time a statement from Mrs. Hamilton was not to be taken lightly. At the moment when society's morals have been under fire from other sources this testimony from one of the chosen came with double force. And since she gave it such astounding revelations have been made by others that Scotland Yard may take matters into tits own hands and launch a crusade against the night clubs, gambling hells and other resorts which London society is reputed to frequent in ever-growing numbers. lie on dry land. And if one chooses to play bridge instead of polo, what of it? Is she to be judged by another whose sympathies admittedly lie in the opposite direction? Thus run the whispers and undertones of resentment in London drawing rooms. Whispers they are because few care to cross lances openly with Mrs. Hamilton. The same outspoken frankness - that prompted her first volley is one of her chief characteristics. She will back up her statements with facts, if necessary, and there are times when London society, does not care for facts, particularly about itself. This is one of them. During the war, when all eyes and hearts were centred at the front, society was forgotten. Nothing mattered- nothing but the fate of the Em- She Is right," declare those among her acquaintances who are fearless enough to admit it. "War habits, war reaction, Idle ness, whatnot have caused an astounding laxness of morals among English women. Particularly Is this true of the upper classes. Not only drinking Is common, but many women actually carry little vani ties for their drug supply. Some of thent cannot attend a dance or a reception with out such stimulant. As for cards, it is a known fact that many English society women go night after night to places in the West End of London where they gam ble thousand of pounds at one sitting." The police, too, declare Mrs. Hamilton has not exaggerated, although they say they can do liUle because of the secrecy with which commercial gambling, drink ing and "dope" palaces are surrounded and were things to be snatched feverishly, tno fact that most of this wild dissipation drained as one tosses off a styrrup cup. goeB on to P"Tate nomes. and flung behind for the grim business 'in The stranger in London finds this side hand. Society, like the rest of London, of life in the world's capital a closed book plunged headlong Into war, and along with it into the dizzy, brief interludes of dissi pation that made life bearable. Great Britain came out of the "war, bat tered but whole, to begin the arduous task of rejuvenation. But society, which Mrs. Hamilton as a Model at a Society Fancy Dress Fete. .'" '""'A ." ; ' I .v i f ..- V ?" TS-'S.- ''Or- j' '-- . . I to him. Most American tourists, stopping here for a week or so, hasten on to Paris. "London is dead after 10 o'clock at night," complained a prominent American motion picture magnate -recently, after he had sought in vain along the main thor oughfares for the gayeties of which ht had heard so many rumors. And yet, had he but known the ropes or had the entree to certain London society people Paris would seem tame to him, as sert those familiar with the real night life of London. They tell stories of clubs, hidden Vhlnd dark shutters in by-streets off the . jand, stories of "dope dens" in Limehouse; of more exclusive "drug pal aces" ' in the West End; of gambling or gies, drinking bouts and strange, vicious practices which go on in these places; stones not cmy or places out or people frequenting them, which Indicate that Mrs. Hamilton has but scratched the surface in her charge. , One of these tales concerns the daugh ter of a dignitary whose name is not un known In the brightest pages of British history and which occupies to-day a prom inent piace in Burse's Peerage. - She was an ambulance driver In the war. It is said she acquired the drug habit first on a leave in Paris, where the Montmsrtre resorts drew her on a night of idle pleasur . ing. There she first tasted'cocalne. She took a few grains back to the front with her as much through: curiosity as any thing else. In the hell of flameshot days and nights the temptation was too much for her. The drug gripped her. For months after her return to London neither famllv nor friends were aware of her secret habit, of her clandestine trips to the West End haunt where, for a few dreamy hours, sh found forgetfumess from the gnawing desire that drove her. Her failing health, her broken beauty they put down to the effects of service overseas. When her father finally discovered her condition she defied him. "I gave myself to England and this is what It did for me," she la said to have told him. "Ton cant help me nor." Nor could he. It was too late. More over, her parent learned, to his horror, that her younger sister was also a drug victim. The double blow broke ym ' He died, leaving a fortune a heritage which the two sisters to-day are wasting In reck less abandon to the drug. It will not be long, predict the gossips, before a coat-of-arms on a dusty window in a fashionable London street will be the sole survivor of one of Britain's most illustrious houses. It is such cases as this, declares Mrs. Arthur Hamilton, that led her to protest England once boasted not alone as pur womanhood as any in the world, but the healthiest. If that reputation is to be maintained it is Mrs. Hamilton's conviction that the aristocracy of England's woman hood must point ttffe way, whereas now its example Is of the worst. The cure she farors is a return to ath letics. Golf, swimming, tennis, games and out-of-door pursuits of ail kinds she urges as the salvation of the British gen tlewoman. The body humming with red blood pumped by wholesome exercises, has no room for narcotics; the mind and muscles healthily tired out from a day la the open seek no further spur. On this theory she would have a reviTal of that type of Englishwoman who, a decade ago, was la her element in the saddle or on the links. What effect, if any. Mrs. Hamilton's se vere arraignment of her countrywomen will have. London Is awaiting with inter est. While here and there women ap prove her words and assert that "some thing ought to be done about it," thers is is yet no organized movement on soci ety's part to change Its ways. Though one might scarcely term Mrs. Hamilton "a lone voice crying in th. wilderness." her compatriot are either tootmsy, too Indifferent or too guilty to d much except talk. "She's right." say some, and let It go at that. "She's wrong." reply others. "What does she know of it. anyway? a woman who Is interested only in sports!" In the meantime, London's night life goes on crimson, flaming, wanton, behind the barred doors and dark shutters that hide It from the stranger within her gates. It will take more than Mrs. Hamilton to change it, declare habitues of the night clubs perhaps the police perhaps society itself. Until then, those who know their London win tell you that not Paris nor Port Said, not Buenos . Ayres, nor the crowded ports of the Far East, nor any city of the two hemispheres can offer mors sin and more suffering, more raptures an-l more debasements London as It is to-day. (C) 193, X&tamattoBti Tnton Berne, too. -fiiMt Briui BM-md, 4. fe4ttt3-ijfcmifdiraSM a --if.-