Chapter III: Part 3

THE NEWLY RICH ELEMENT

Heroic little bands like this annually advance upon the fashionable resorts, to make an overt attack upon society. These invaders come from the heart of the wilds, where the head of the family (merely a courtesy title) is known locally as the Gravel Roof King. Little family groups of this sort are not considered complete without four daughters, at least, each more painfully unmarried than the rest.

Palmy Days at the Seaside

_Sights at the Bathing Resorts When the Season for Salt Water is Declared On_

FOND MEMORIES

There is, alas, but little of this sort of thing, these days. The spectacle of a venerable waiter, working himself into a healthy glow over the wholesome indoor exercise of bottle-opening is becoming rarer every day. A corkscrew, once the national emblem, will soon be but a relic for a civic museum.

ON THE SIDE LINES

It is such little groups as these that lend a really homelike air to the seaside resorts. These pillars of society know the entire history of the resort by heart; they are specialists on dates, social standing, if any, and previous conditions of matrimony. They are a complete Guide to the closet skeletons of all the married and unmarried guests in the hotel.

THE CINEMA VAMP

This year the movie vampire is on the promenade resting from the outdoor scenes of her new picture, “The Super-Sin,” which will barely get by the national board of censorship. The cinema vampire is highly unpopular with the débutantes at the seaside resort. They seem always to resent professional competition.

THE TENNIS HOUNDS

Any day you may see the tennis hounds assembling at the court for a set of mixed--hopelessly mixed--doubles. The curious thing about most of these strange creatures is that no living-eye has ever beheld them actually playing; they appear on the court with much ceremony, carrying all the properties, and wearing the most technically correct costumes, but that is as far as most of these sartorial creatures ever seem to go.

MIXED FOURSOMES

There is always a liberal assortment of these foursomes scattered over the seaside golf course. They are the slowest-moving bodies known to science; there is a wait of twenty minutes on every tee, while an argument rages as to whether it took Ethel fifteen or seventeen to get out of the rough, every argument, for and against, being carefully considered. Any other players who happen to be golfing on the course at the time, have just about as much chance of passing as the Germans had at Verdun.

THE RECENTLY RICH

The little gatherings of those to whom wealth has all the refreshing charm of novelty are a familiar and well-loved sight in the seaside resorts. They have done nicely for themselves in munitions stocks, and expect to devote the years of peace to well-earned spending.

THE LURE OF THE STAGE

It is simply wonderful how the drama has helped our resorts along. It’s surprising how much a pair of friendly young actresses can add to the charm of a place. The male half of the visitors are unanimous in declaring that the drama is the greatest institution of the age.

SEASIDE PANORAMA

Ask any experienced traveler what impressed him most about the seaside, and he will immediately answer that the welcome committee, which met him at the portals of the hotel, and which bade him a tender farewell, is the memory which he will cherish longest,--even to his dying day.

GLIMPSES WITHIN

How little we know of the “vie intime” of the fashionable stage idols, twinkling stars in the dramatic firmament, far-removed from the orchestra astronomers. It has been our recent privilege to interview, at close range, lovely Angeline Etoille, the famous dancer of two continents, whose throbbing reactions to the simple things of life are indeed a revelation. Her enthusiasm for her art is inspiring. Her whole life, for that matter, may be said to be a lesson in adorable enthusiasms.

An Interview with A Great Dancer

_Privileged Peeps into the Soul of Mlle. Angeline, of Paris_

BARKING BLOSSOMS

“Animals! I adore them,” cried la Belle Etoille. “I could not exist without them. Only see my three canine graces, Rose, Violet, and Lily. My maid sprays each one of them with its name-perfume every morning.”

ALONG THE BEACH

“There is only one word,” said Mlle. A., “which describes the ocean in all its moods of calm and storm, fickle as a lover, rising and falling like the stock-market, as changeable in color as the fashion in hair. It is ‘adorable.’”

THE MOTHER INSTINCT

When we spoke of children, the lovely dancer’s face took on a madonna-like expression. “I adore them,” she faltered. “I often borrow my sister’s twins, for photographic purposes. It is my crown of sorrow that I have none of my own, but, as I am young and unmarried; what would you?”

BUCOLIC BEAUTIES

“One of the most adorable things in an adorable world,” said the dainty danseuse, “is the country. The lowing kine, the bleating lambs, the bosky dells, all within season-ticket distance. It is my dream. I constantly see myself as a shepherdess, strolling through the meadows, whispering my little secrets to the bees and birds.”

THE FLORAL TRIBUTE

“How can I express my love of flowers except by saying that I adore them?” questioned the exquisite Angeline. “They are, with me, a passion, and, do you know, I can gauge a man’s devotion by the way he sends me flowers. If he spends more than his salary--he loves me. If he spends _only_ his salary, I know that he is cold.”

ANGELINE’S ADORABLE ADIEU

It was with real regret that our interviewer rose to take his leave of the dancing idol. The great diva, reclining on the great divan, had given us such a charming close-up of her soul that, for a moment, we felt specially privileged. And then, a fatal moment! we noted, behind the arras, and protruding beyond the lower right-hand cushion, a smartly shod male foot--a well-rounded male knee, and we realized instinctively that others beside ourselves had found Mlle. Etoille--adorable.

Transcriber’s Notes

The chapter titles do not always occur at the top of the respective
chapters.

Inconsistencies in spelling, lay-out, use of accents, etc. have been
retained; only some minor obvious typographical errors have been
corrected silently. Errors in non-English words have not been
corrected.