Page Six

Six                 THE WISCONSIN MAGAZINE
CONFESSIONS OF A SOCIETY EDITOR
                 Giving a few Illustrations
%%no0 tn NTIL the time when the
7zk72t $ managing editor of my
r18leJi!  paper assigned me to the
        task of getting out the
society page, I never deigned to read
that portion of the newspaper. In com-
mon with most men I considered the
society columns mere gush and piffie.
After I had suffered for two years-
and learned through the suffering how
much importance so many good people
place upon the society columns-I fell
into the habit of glancing over the
news of that sort, not cynically, and
not exactly pityingly, but rather with
a sense of keen interest in the manner
in which the different editors handle
their work.
  During the two years of my unwill-
ing service in that capacity, a service
which I now enjoy in contemplation
and which perhaps taught me better
than any other phase of newspaper
work concerning the vanities of human
nature, all sorts and conditions of peo-
ple came under my observation.
  I met, first hand, a splendid example
of the social climber. She had a hus-
band who was almost as excellent a
representation of the type as herself.
   Their aspiration commenced at the
 time when an invention of his brought
 them a moderate fortune; a fortune
 sufficiently large for them to support
 a touring car and an electric runabout,
 build a large and pretentious home on
 one of the best streets, entertain os-
tentatiously, and send their children
away to the more expensive schools.
  In their climbing they employed the
society columns freely, in fact heavily,
regularly, and to me, monotonously.
But then, the people who entertain
other prominent people are the ones
who make newspaper copy.
  After the climbers had been break-
ing into print more and more fre-
quently for about a year the climax
came, unexpectedly, I confess. At 8
o'clock one morning the lady tele-
phoned me.    Her conversation ran
thus:
  "Of course you have heard about the
elegant dinner party we gave last even-
ing at our splendid new   home on
          Street, and at which Judge
and Mrs.          I Judge and Mrs.
        , President and Mrs.      I
and"-and she named about twenty of
the most prominent people in town-
"4were guests. It was, I admit, per-
haps the most beautiful and lavish
party of the season. But I called you
up so early in the morning to beg you
not to print a word about it. I must
insist that nothing be said in the paper.
We so dislike publicity."
   I was too astonished to do anything
 save to say, "yes," "thank you," and
 "good bye."
   She called me again before 9. This
 time she said: "I'm so afraid some of
 Ithe reporters will give you a story
 about our dinner. Of course everyone