The Omaha Sunday Bee Magazine Pag
'oji&hiojmble Society ijilJim&g
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Mrs Gait's Modest Dwelling at No.
1308 Twentieth Street,
Washington.
TOTHINO since the news that Fort
lJ Sumter had been fired on has at-
traded so much attention In Wash
ington society as the romance of the Pres
ident and Mrs. Gait Everywhere It Is
the absorbing topic of conversation, but
what Is aatd depends npon who Is doing
the talking.
If you will turn the pages of the Social
Register of Washington you will search
In Tain for the name of Mrs. Norman
Gait, and yet In the next edition of the
Social Register this same woman will be
recognized as the leader of Washington
society I
Those who hare looked superciliously
over their lorgnettes In years past and
said: "Mrs. Gait? Er, a tradesman's
widow, Isn't she? We do, not know her,"'
are In an embarrassing situation. Wash
ington society had no interest In Mrs.
Gait To certain social elements It Is
an unpardonable crime to be engaged In
retail trade. Mr. Gait, the Jeweler, was
not entitled to social position. Ills widow
could not obtain social recognition, espe
cially since it could not be denied that
she still retained an Interest in the
Jewelry shop.
But the roaglo touch of the occupant of
the White House has Instantly changed
all this. The question is, Will the new
mistress of the White House take means
to punish the social leaders who ignored
Iter by the distribution of painful snubs?
That is what Washington Is waiting to
see.
Undoubtedly Mrs. Gait, as "first lady
In the land." will be in a position to ob
tain an ample revenge if she wants It.
For the mistress of the White House
leads Washington society. Her decision
merely to withhold invitations from this
woman or that, where luncheons and
other exclusive entertainments are con
cerned, would be a deadly blow to the
social prestige of the individuals affected.
Nobody except Mrs. Calt knows what
Is going to happen. But, in order that the
whole situation may be understood, It Is
necessary to explain, or at least to give
an outline of, the rather peculiar social
conditions that govern at. the capital.
There Is, to begin with, the fairly ex
tensive and numerous coterie known as
"official" society. It Includes Mombers
cf Congress (and their womenfolk), mem
bers of the Cabinet, and all other persons
In high employment under the Govern
ment Who's Who in
Washington Society.
There Is the Army and Nsvy set the
make-up of which needs no explanation.
There Is the "old Washington set"
sometimes called the "cave dwellers"
representing old families long resident In
Washington.
Finally, there N is the "fashionable
crowd," composed wholly of rich (mainly
new-rich) people and the hangers-on of
the rich plus the diplomats, who are
beloved by the rich because a certain
social prestige envelops them, and who
seek the rjch for the sake of being gor
geously entertained and otherwise
amused.
The boundaries between set and set
are not absolutely and definitely fixed;
they merge Into one another to some
extent Thus there are some members
of Congress, a few, who belong to the
fashionable crowd. But this Is because
they have wealth and are willing to
entertain; the circumstance that they are
In Congress (even though Senators) does
not help them materially, in a social way.
Many is the Congressman's wife who
comes to Washington with the confident
expectation of bing a "high flyer of fash
Ion" at the capital, only to suffer bitter
disappointment ,
The fashionable crowd is very new (aa
at present constituted, and leaving the
diplomats out of question), but none the
lees exclusive on that account It has
been built up mainly by millionaire and
multi millionaire people who, having dis
covered the delights of Washington as a
place of Winter residence, have come
here during the last twenty-five years.
Most of them were nobodies, socially or
otherwise, a generation back.
It will now be understood what the
conditions were as found by Mrs. Gait
when she first came to Washington as
the newly married wife of Norman Gait
who at that time was the city's foremost
jewelry merchant owning (with his
brother) the same shop on Pennsylvania
avenue that Is occupied to-day by the
business.
Mr. Q M was not much older than his
Embarrassing Position of Social Leaders
Who Ignored Mrs. Gait, the
"Tradesman's Widow", and Now Must
Bow to Her as Their Social Superior
wife. He came of an excellent Virginia
family. His father (who started the
business In Washington) had married a
Virginia lady of good family, his cousin.
This elder Mrs. Gait, on coming to Wash
ington, made the unpleasant discovery
that notwithstanding the undeniably good
birth of herself and her husband, she
could not hope to be "received" In society
because the latter had a cast-iron rule
excluding persons engaged In retail trade.
Like a sensible woman, she nade no at
tempt to combat the restriction, and con
tented herself with the company of the
friends, not a few, whom she '.iked end
who liked her.
The situation repeated Itself rather
curiously in the next generation. The
elder Mrs. Gait's aon, Norman (succeed
ing with the brother to the jewelry busi
ness) married a young lady of old Vir
ginia family, Miss Edith Boiling the
same lady whose engagement to Presi
dent Wlleon has startled Washington
society. He brought ber to Washington;
she found herself confronted with exact
ly the aame problem that her husband's
mother had encountered, and she solved
It In the same way. She made no at
tempt to "go out" in society, but was
satisfied with the companionship of her
own little coterie of Southern women of
good birth who recognized her as one of
themselves, shop or no shop.
. Tradesman's
Wife Not Wanted.
Please take note of how the matter ex
actly stood. Mrs. Norman Gait destined,
if she had but known it, to the station of
first lady of the land found herself, as
the Jeweler's wife, Ineligible to the of
ficial set, because her husband held no
official position. She had nothing to do
with the Army or Navy, for a like rea
son. She was Impossible from the view
point of the fashionable crowd because
she had not money enough. Besides, she
was "In trade," which, particularly In the
eyes of the old Washington set placed
ber In the undesirable middle class, with
whom "one does not exchange visits."
In a word, Mrs. Norman Gait was "out
of it" entirely and hopelessly. Her posi
tion was especially peculiar because, If
she had come to Washington unmarried,
as Edith Boiling, descendant of one of
the very best families of the Old Domin
ion and related by cousinshlp to all the
1 really truly F. F. Vs., she would have
been received as a matter of course and
with open arms by the most exclusive
and conservative "cave-dwellers." As
a tradesman's wife, however, she was un
acceptable. Virginia people, to-day as In former
times, are aristocratic and exclusive.
But since the civil war, and owing to
the loss of wealth thereby caused, most
of them have been obliged to work for
a living. In that State It Is not account
ed lnfra-dlg. to keep a ahop. Indeed,
many scions of the best and oldest fami
lies are employed in the stores of cities
and towns as clerks, and none the less Is
thought of them on that account from
a social point of view.
In Washington it Is different Her
retail trade is not tolerated socially, If It
. represents a means of livelihood for the
present and Immediate generation. For
a past generation, even though it be the
one directly preceding, K Is politely lg
nored. Thus, for example, the Letters
are among the leaders of fashion at the
capital, notwithstanding the fact that
"Joe" Letter's father, Levi Z., made his
fortune as a retail shopkeeper in Chi
cago. It has been said that Mrs. Gait comes
of an old Virginia family; but this does
not fully express the fact In her rase.
She is a lineal descendant of the oldest
of all American families, being the great
great great-great-great- great-granddaughter
of the princess Pocahontas, whose
father was Powhatan, ruler of all the
trlbea of Virginia at the time when the
first white people arrived in that part
of the country.
Powhatan in those days waa military
and' civil governor of what is now the
District of Columbia. But hla lineal de
scendant. Edith Boiling Gait has not
found herself acceptable to the persons of
more or less dubious Immediate ancestry
who largely compose the fashionable
aoclety of Washington at the present time.
If proof of this fact be wanted, look
at the Social Register of Washington.
Her name will not be found in it, as al
ready mentioned. Not only is Mrs. Oalt
not of Washington 'a 400; she has not
been rated even among the more distin
guished 4.000! this being approximately
the number of namea Included la the
Social Register.
But now it Is going to be different If
Mrs. Gait feels that la the peat aha has
in v "
If ;c
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vx.- . .II
Children of the Boiling Family and Edith Boiling Gait
at 4 Years of Aee in Prr.
been snubbed snd "left
out, ahe will, as
mistress of the White
House, have plenty of
opportunity to return
the snubs with Interest,
and to Inflict heart
burnings upon those
who have behaved dis
agreeably toward her.
It will be for her to
wave the wand of so
cial authority, and to
say Who Is Who.
The chances are,
however, that she will
do nothing of the
kind. Those who en
joy the privilege of "her
Intimacy declare that
she Is the most ami
able and charming
of women, and the like
lihood seems to be
that she will let by
gones be bygones, treat
everybody as nicely .as
she can, and set at
naught all tears of her
adopting measures of
social retaliation.
m .
But It will be an
amusing situation.
The most snobbishly exclusive women
will forget their horror of a "tradesman's
widow" and will cultivate the favors of
the new mistress of the White House. As
Mrs. Woodrow Wilson looks Into their
eyes and listens to their pretty compli
ments nobody will be better aware thaj)
she of their Insincerity.
i i ,LJ .u --j J ...j
i . J . - '
Science Shows How to Make the Most of
NO matter how good a brain one has
he will not be a good student
unless he learns early In life how
to use his mental powers to the best
advantage. The reason why boys and
girls of mediocre ability outstrip nat
urally brilliant children In school and In
afterlife Is because the former have
learned how to use their brains, while
the latter have not
Knowing how to acquire knowledge
with the least time and effort le as im
portant as knowledge Itself. Too many
children and grown persona as well make
the mistake of thinking that they can
learn by bulldog strength and tenacity
alone. Educators are Just awaking to
the fact that there are right and wrong
1 ways of studying and that it is of the
utmost Importance for everybody to
know the right way. I
Dr. Oeorge Van Nesa Dearborn has re
cently made some very Interesting dis
coveries about efficiency or, as he calls
It, economy in study. What he has found
out Is of great value not only to those
who are still In school or college, but also
to those who have passed that stage.
jCooyrlght ISIS," by U Star Cumpaay. Great Britain Rights Reserve
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Mrs. Gait's
Jewelry
Shop on
Penntyirania
Avenue.
tor the acquisition of knowledge should
never cease until we are dead.
Real Interest In what be wishes to
study Is, Dr. Dearborn finds, the first
step In the making of a good student
Once this interest is really acquired you
learn almost reflexly and without any
great effort because It Is a aJeaaure to
you.
Whatever you have an Intereat In yott
enjoy doing, and that Is the reason why
well-adapted work in the long run Is the
most certain, if not the greatest of hu
man delights. Many people think of
work aa a necessary something disagree
able rather than agreeable, but It la cer
tainly one of life's most permanent and
substantial satisfactions and delights. All
great useful and original work ordinarily
Is done under conditions such that the
work Is enjoyable, there being always
enough Interest about It to make It
pleasurable. It Is under these conditions,
furthermore and generally under these
alone, that the largest amount of energy
Is expended.
There are two efficient ways of ac
quiring knowledge the conscious and
subconscious. Conscious, or deliberate
atudy, la what school children call "grind
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Photograph of Mrs. Norman Gait Taken
Shopping Visit in New
ing," and is essentially a restraining
process. When we study consciously we
must hold back fatigue, the Impulse to
distraction, the stimulus of the senses,
the longing for change, and keep ever
lastingly at the task of forcing our brains
along new pathwaya.
The conscious student must avoid
"false study" In which the eyes are open
while the brain Is shut and, except in a
few Instances, he -must avoid learning
by rote.
Attention should not be concentrated
on a book tor too long a time without
rest Every twenty minutes or so the
student should walk around the room
for a minute or two. This activity will
draw some of the blood of your brain Into
your legs and will relieve the strain on
your eyes.
The other method of acquiring knowl
edge the subconscious consists In sub
conscious observation on one's subcon
scious mind. It is by this method that
most of the endless details of knowledge
are supplied, and without It we could not
understand anything worth learning.
A good example of this kind of study la
a young child learning to apeak. He doea
not at first consciously strive to pick up
During Her Recent Wedding
York.
Your Brains
the marvelous art of speech, bat none
the less he acquires It oulckly, In part
by imitation.
There are three different ways of
learning by this subconscious method
by seeing things, by hearing things and
by actively doing things.
For the student who uses the conscious
and subsconsclous methods of study In
telligently examinations cease to be a 1
bugbear. They simply take care of them-
selves.
"Examinations." says Dr. Dearborn,
"are not intended to trap you, but are
Intended as means to find out how much
you know or do not know; mostly. In
fact, how much you 4o not know
Cramming for an examination la like car
rying wefehta In your pocketa when get
ting weighed; you are cheating yourself.
The economical way la to keep your notes
posted up In your books and In your
uriu. vwvrj amj so mey can associate,
and you learn much faster, giving your "
subconscious faculties a better chance
7mJW.ePi l, kTa,Pln "eas la an ex- fc
tremely valuable one. Pick out the gist
and sense of a running discourse, select a,
the ldeaa and express them in your owaVy "